Thursday’s Religion News Roundup: Baptists show restraint * Akin moment * anti-Semitic app

Southern Baptists did not urge churches to cut ties to the Boy Scouts. An Arizona Congressman says incidents of pregnancy from rape are "very low." A new smartphone app allows users to report anti-Semitic and racist incidents.

Columbia Studio album cover by Bob Dylan, via Wikipedia.
A Bob Dylan record cover.

Columbia Studio album cover by Bob Dylan, via Wikipedia.

Southern Baptists stepped back from the ledge, showed some restraint, and did not adopt a resolution urging churches to cut ties to the Boy Scouts at their annual meeting in Houston. Instead, they condemned the decision to allow openly gay Scouts while acknowledging the right of churches to remain in Scouting.

As Robert Zimmerman said, the times they are a changin’.


Meanwhile, the Scouting Ministry Office of the United Methodist Church said any of the 3,981 Scout units dropped by Southern Baptist churches would be warmly welcomed by neighboring United Methodist congregations.

Why would the Republican Party hire a strategist to engage with evangelicals when nearly 80 percent of them voted Republican last year? Sarah Pulliam Bailey offers four reasons.

Pope Francis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will meet in Rome tomorrow. Our own Alessandro Speciale says relations between Rome and Canterbury could be primed for a reset after several years of tension.

Francis, aka Uncle Frank, now has more Spanish speaking followers on Twitter than English-speaking ones:

A Philadelphia couple that believes in faith healing over medicine was ordered to stand trial on murder charges in the second pneumonia death of one of their children. The couple is a member of the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia.

Remember Todd Akin? Well, it appears Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) had an Akin moment when he told a committee hearing that incidences of pregnancy from rape are “very low.” He is sponsoring a measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued an Illinois trucking company for allegedly violating the religious rights of two former employees. It appears Star Transport, Inc. fired two Muslim truck drivers for refusing to deliver alcohol in 2009. The lawsuit contends the company failed to provide the men “with a reasonable accommodation.”

That new NBC sitcom with Anne Heche? Religion-on-the tube expert Mark Pinsky says “Save Me,” which features a suburban housewife who sees herself as a prophet of God, may have a fatal flaw: It’s not religious enough.


Lots of international headlines today: Sunni rebels tore through a Shiite village in eastern Syria, killing dozens while documenting the rampage with videos, and a Syrian military helicopter struck a pro-rebel Sunni town in Lebanon.

Iranians are going to the polls tomorrow. The Washington Post has an interesting story on the declining influence of its Shite clerics.

Mayors of several Mexican cities have made public pronouncements in which they “give the city to Jesus.” The ploy, orchestrated by the Assembly of Pastors, is an effort to gain ground among Protestants, and especially evangelicals: Only 6 percent of Mexicans call themselves evangelicals, compared with 82 percent who say they are Catholic.

A French nonprofit launched a smartphone app for reporting anti-Semitic and other racist incidents. The application, released by the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, allows users to photograph evidence such as offensive graffiti and send a picture to the league for processing and removal by the authorities.

Meanwhile in Israel, police say vandals have defaced graves at a Christian cemetery in Tel Aviv. The perpetrators appear to be a fringe minority of Jewish extremists that calls itself “price tag.”

Washington is under severe thunderstorm watch this morning. Take cover and subscribe to the Roundup.


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