NEWS STORY
RNS-Loritts-Inquiry: SBC president JD Greear’s church launches inquiry into past actions of Bryan Loritts
(RNS) — The Summit Church, led by Southern Baptist Convention president JD Greear, will look into the actions of Bryan Loritts, a pastor on its staff. Loritts was formerly pastor of a Memphis megachurch when his brother-in-law confessed to secretly videotaping women in a church bathroom. Questions have been raised about how the incident was handled.
By Bob Smietana. 450 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Holocaust-Atone: German teens go to Israel to atone for their families’ Holocaust history
JERUSALEM (RNS) — March of Life, a German movement that actively atones for the Holocaust through volunteerism, fights anti-Semitism through activism. A descendent of Nazis, one teen who has visited Israel eight or nine times, knows she cannot undo the past. But, she said said: “I’m thankful I have the opportunity to do volunteer service and work with Jewish children.” By Michele Chabin. 854 words. (category: i)
NEWS BRIEF
RNS-Hatmaker-Apology: Jen Hatmaker apologizes for line in inaugural prayer critiqued as erasing Native Americans
(RNS) — Jen Hatmaker was “proud” to offer the final prayer in the liturgy for the inaugural interfaith prayer service Thursday (Jan. 21) hosted virtually by the Washington National Cathedral. The popular Christian author, speaker and podcaster has also apologized for it — at least for the first line of the prayer, which began, “Almighty God, you have given us this good land as our heritage.” “This is a shiny version of our actual history. If God gave this land to anyone, it was to the Native community who always lived here,” she said. By Emily McFarlan Miller. 550 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS -McKissic-CRT: Southern Baptist Dwight McKissic leaves Texas group over critical race theory stance
(RNS) — Texas pastor Dwight McKissic, a Black Southern Baptist leader, talked with Religion News Service about why he’s leaving the Southern Baptist Convention of Texas and what he thinks could lie ahead for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. By Adelle M. Banks. 850 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Tolkien-Center: Tolkien fans hope to turn his house into a “Rivendell” for writers and filmmakers.
(RNS) – Fantasy novel enthusiasts wish to turn the house of famed Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien in Oxford, where he wrote the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, into a meeting place for writers, screenwriters and filmmakers from all cultures and faith backgrounds. By Claire Giangravè. 800 words. (category: i)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Kuttab-Oped: Capitol attack may complicate Biden’s plans for Middle East peace
(RNS) — The victory of democratic institutions will do little to erase the images at the Capitol, or the conviction that those scenes reflect the true spirit of America’s foreign policy, not only in the Middle East but everywhere. The attempt to demand democracy and human rights in China, in Latin America or in Israel will now have to overcome indelible stain of Christian nationalist ideology. By Daoud Kuttab. 560 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Patel-Oped: Seeking unity, Biden should look to Nelson Mandela
(RNS) — The new president should craft a strategy that welcomes the willing from the other side back into the circle of decency, as Mandela did in partnership with Bishop Desmond Tutu after the fall of apartheid. He should look to rebuild the American big tent that every president from Ronald Reagan to Obama has extolled. By Eboo Patel. 1,120 words. (category: k)