Wednesday's News & Ideas - 6/29/2022

Prayer on the 50-yard line: Supreme Court reshapes church-state relationship*
Christian Science Monitor: Echoing views that have been emerging on the Supreme Court for over a decade, the ruling argued that the school district’s actions did not constitute a proper concern for the separation of church and state: They in fact discriminated against people of faith.
Slate: Neil Gorsuch to non-Christian kids who don’t want prayer in public school: Get over it*

The Episcopal saint whose journey for social justice took many forms, from sit-ins to priesthood
Religion News Service: July 1 is the annual feast day for Episcopal saint Pauli Murray, the first Black woman to be ordained by the denomination. Throughout her life as an activist, author, lawyer and priest, Murray developed new ways of thinking about justice and identity.

Archbishop asks church to be in solidarity with migrants who died in truck
Catholic News Service: News of the deaths reached Pope Francis, who tweeted that he was offering prayers for those who died in Texas as well as at least 23 sub-Saharan migrants who died June 24 while attempting to flee Morocco by scaling a border fence.
The Washington Post: Deaths of 51 migrants in Texas stoke grief, fears of a deadly summer*

4 post-Roe policies worth pushing for
Christianity Today: Rehabilitating the family unit should absolutely be the top priority for Christians. But as we encourage this, we must also be open to complementary, immediate solutions to problems that have arisen precisely because of the decline of the family. And yes, some of these solutions must come from the government, writes Daniel Bennett.

Daniel Vestal writes of the changing chapters of life and faith
Baptist News Global: Vestal, who served as Cooperative Baptist Fellowship executive coordinator from 1996 to 2012, shares his experiences in his new book, “This Treasure Within: A Memoir.” It includes reflections on child evangelism, his theological education at Baylor University, lessons learned as a pastor and as an early leader of the moderate cause in the Southern Baptist Convention and the subsequent birth and early years of CBF.

The Spark

The 10-year-old tweet that still defines the internet
A tweet from the account @Horse_ebooks, posted 10 years ago, was astounding in its clarity and salience. “Everything happens so much,” the account tweeted on June 28, 2012. The tweet was an immediate success, generating thousands of retweets and spreading across the site like a copy-pasted prayer, says The Atlantic.*

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