Monday's News & Ideas - 8/30/2021

NRB spokesman Dan Darling fired after pro-vaccine statements on ‘Morning Joe’
Religion News Service: Daniel Darling, senior vice president of communications for the National Religious Broadcasters, was fired Friday (Aug. 27) after refusing to say his pro-vaccine statements were mistaken.
Business Insider: A pastor from National Religious Broadcasters was fired for promoting the COVID-19 vaccine on TV
Christianity Today: Daniel Darling fired from NRB after pro-vaccine remarks

On death row in Texas, a last request: a prayer and ‘human contact’*
The New York Times: Scheduled for execution on Sept. 8, John Henry Ramirez is suing to have his Baptist pastor lay hands on him as he dies.

Afghanistan’s religious minorities live in fear of Taliban, brace for persecution
NBC News: “I try to live in the shadows,” Ali, a member of the minority Hazara community, said. “Sooner or later, they will come for me.”

Camping in churches has a record year as UK staycations boom
The Guardian: As conventional campsites fill up, more holidaymakers are discovering the joys of “champing” — and silent nights.

Beauty from ugliness on the US-Mexico border*
Christian Century: For more than 35 years, the Presbyterian Church on both sides of the border has assisted residents who seek both to create beauty and to counteract the forces of death and oppression.

The Spark

The only bookstore on Najafi Street
Four years after the Iraqi city of Mosul was liberated from ISIS, Daud Salim is the first — and the only — bookseller to return to the storied street, says Atlas Obscura.

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