Monday's News & Ideas - 9/16/2023

Haitians in Ohio find solidarity at church after chaotic week of false pet-eating claims
The Associated Press: For many Haitian immigrants, Sunday mornings in Springfield, Ohio, are spent joyfully worshipping God as they sing and pray in their native Creole. This Sunday, they needed that uplifting balm more than ever.
Christianity Today: Ohio Haitians feel panic, local Christians try to repair divides*

Immigrants, pets and the sin of slander in an age of social media
Religion News Service: Though there’s no verifiable evidence of any case of a Haitian immigrant eating a pet — to say nothing of a trend that will soon threaten your pet — rumors spread quickly.

Seminary endowments: Mainline has more money, Southern Baptists have more students
Juicy Ecumenism: Southern Baptists have more students but mostly declining Mainline Protestant seminaries have more money, according to data collected by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS).

His work was used to exclude LGBTQ people from church. He argues the opposite
NPR: Prominent Christian theologian Richard B. Hays’ work was often cited as a reason for not allowing same-sex relationships in Christian churches. In a new book, “The Widening of God's Mercy,” co-written with his son Chris Hays, he reverses course, and cites Biblical support for allowing LGBTQ relationships in Christianity.

A rabbi protested the war in Gaza. Her activism came at a high price.*
The Washington Post: Rabbi Lonnie Kleinman joined more than 300 protesters to call for a cease-fire in Gaza. Weeks later, she was fired from her job.

The Spark

The war crimes that the military buried
The largest known database of possible American war crimes* committed in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that the military-justice system rarely punishes perpetrators, The New Yorker says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers