Thursday's News & Ideas - 9/14/2023
- Remembering the Birmingham bombing
- Protestant clergy & their congregations
- Views on decline of marriage
- Anti-anti-Christian nationalism
- Expiration of poverty programs
- Childhood amid addiction
Lessons from Birmingham: 60 years after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
NPR: The city is remembering one of the nation’s darkest chapters in civil rights history. On September 15, 1963 the Ku Klux Klan bombed a downtown church, killing four Black girls and rocking the conscience of the nation.
White Protestant clergy more progressive than their congregations
Axios: White mainline Protestant clergy are more supportive of LGBTQ rights, abortion rights and racial justice than their congregations, according to a new survey that reflects how political divisions are roiling many American churches.
PRRI: Findings from the 2022-2023 Mainline Protestant Clergy Survey
Across U.S. religious groups, many see decline of marriage as negative
Pew Research Center: Large numbers of Americans in many different religious groups express concern about fewer people getting married.
The problem with anti-anti-Christian nationalism*
Christianity Today: Moderate Christian nationalists shouldn’t be smeared. But neither should extremism be defended.
The latest US Census figures show the harm done by letting poverty programs expire
Religion News Service: The success of COVID-era programs followed by an immediate reversal after they ended makes clear that the persistence of poverty is a political choice.
The Spark
I never called her momma
Jenisha Watts writes about her childhood* in a crack house for The Atlantic.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
