News & Ideas

Wednesday's News & Ideas - 12/9/2020

  • Slow change for women pastors
  • Biden at church
  • Trump’s religious exemptions
  • Kim Jackson to GA Senate
  • Feasting is Christian
  • Reviving sugar cane syrup

Congrats, America, you elected a female vice president. Now put a woman in your pulpit.
Religion News Service: While women are changing the world of electoral politics, their progress in the world of religion is downright glacial.

Joe Biden goes to church. Politics remains outside.*
The Washington Post: Because the cameras don’t follow him into the sanctuary, the broader public doesn’t have the opportunity to observe Biden in prayer or devotion. And so the performative nature of the outing is reduced.

Trump’s new religious exemptions for employers an invitation to discriminate, critics say
NBC News: With just six weeks left in his term, President Donald Trump looks to cement his legacy on religious liberty.

Kim Jackson: The Black lesbian pastor headed to Georgia’s state Senate
Sojourners: In November, Rev. Kim Jackson, an Episcopal priest, won a seat representing Georgia’s District 41 in the state Senate.

Isolated for the holidays? You should feast anyway.*
Christian Century: Even during a pandemic, feasting is central to Christian worship.

The Spark

Reviving a crop and an African-American culture, stalk by stalk
On the Georgia coast, Maurice Bailey is making sugar cane syrup* as a way to preserve a tradition, and the community, of his enslaved ancestors, The New York Times says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers

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