Wednesday's News & Ideas - 6/16/2021

Ed Litton, a pastor known for racial reconciliation, is surprise winner for SBC president
Religion News Service: Litton, an Alabama pastor known for his work on racial reconciliation, is a relative unknown despite serving in several prominent SBC posts since the early 2000s.
Christianity Today: Southern Baptists elect Ed Litton as new president

The tragedy of Russell Moore
Religion & Politics: What if Moore’s story is a Shakespearean tragedy where the hero’s fall is caused by the hero’s own flaws? Perhaps this all should be understood not as an isolated case of denominational martyrdom but as a warning about the dangers of fundamentalism often at work in U.S. religion and politics.

Canada’s Muslims call for action against Islamophobia*
The New York Times: After the targeted killing of a Muslim family in London, Ontario, the community is demanding a summit on Islamophobia.

Outgoing SBC president affirms conservative values while decrying legalism
Baptist News Global: In his last address as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, J.D. Greear urged leaders and members of the denomination to support sexual abuse victims, stand with people of color in their struggle against racism and to stop equating politics with spiritual truth.

US bishops set collision course with Vatican over plan to press Biden not to take Communion
The Conversation: A rift between conservative American bishops and the Vatican could be laid bare on June 16 as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets amid talk of a growing divide in the church over Pope Francis’ leadership.

The Spark

It’s all in the angles
In Joan Didion’s writing, she may not tell us what she means, but we can certainly sense how she feels,* The Nation says.

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