RNS Updated Budget — Thursday, April 8, 2021

Facebook deceived Congress, civil rights groups and consumers over its commitment to take down hate speech, including hateful and anti-Muslim content, that violate the platform’s own standards, according to a lawsuit by the national civil rights organization […]

NEWS STORY
RNS-Facebook-Muslims: Civil rights group sues Facebook for failing to remove anti-Muslim content from platform
(RNS) — Facebook deceived Congress, civil rights groups and consumers over its commitment to take down hate speech, including hateful and anti-Muslim content, that violate the platform’s own standards, according to a lawsuit by the national civil rights organization Muslim Advocates. By Alejandra Molina. 450 words. (category: a)

NEWS STORY
RNS-Vaccine-Hesistancy: Adapting a faith-led effort to fight opioids to encourage vaccinations
(RNS) — When vaccines were sent to fight the spread of COVID-19, the Clinton Foundation turned to their network of faith leaders they had recruited to help people in the opioid crisis, realizing that the same model could be adapted to defeat vaccine hesitancy. By Paul O’Donnell. 582 words. (category: a)

NEWS STORY
RNS-Francis-Draghi: Pope Francis and Mario Draghi share commitment to reform, but might disagree on China
(RNS) – In the Vatican’s Apostolic Library on March 27, Pope Francis had his first official meeting with Mario Draghi in his role as Prime Minister of Italy. An ally across the Tiber river could prove beneficial for the Vatican, but it might require that this pontificate move its barycenter away from the East and toward the Atlantic once again. By Claire Giangravè. 1,300 words. (category i)


NEWS STORY
RNS-Moore-Complementarian: Beth Moore apologizes for supporting theology of male leadership
(RNS) — First she shook the evangelical world by leaving the Southern Baptist Convention. Now Beth Moore, the evangelical world’s most famous Bible teacher, has begged forgiveness for subscribing to the theology of male headship rooted in many evangelical cultures and acknowledged she was complicit in it. By Yonat Shimron and Bob Smietana. 900 words. (category: a)

NEWS STORY
RNS-Texas-Elections: Faith leaders speak out against Texas elections bills
(RNS) — Faith leaders in Texas condemned a pair of controversial elections bills working their way through the state legislature on Wednesday, decrying provisions of the proposed legislation and accusing lawmakers of trying to “dress up Jim and Jane Crow in a tuxedo.” By Jack Jenkins. 821 words. (category: a)

NEWS STORY
RNS-Refugee-Delay: Faith-based agencies share impacts of delay in changes to U.S. refugee resettlement program
(RNS) — President Biden has promised his administration will raise the number of refugees allowed into the United States from 15,000, a historic low set by the former president, to 125,000 in the new administration’s first full fiscal year. But in the meantime, that number hasn’t budged. And faith-based groups that work with refugees are concerned about the impact of that delay. By Emily McFarlan Miller. 900 words. (category: a)

COMMENTARY
RNS-Burton-Oped: If a Dr. Seuss book offends us, why not pluck it out?
(RNS) — Sometimes we are attracted to ideas, or people, or even books, for the wrong reasons. Our own ability to perceive both the good and the bad, in the world and in ourselves, is all too easily warped by our own fallible cognition. A book we loved in childhood — a book we may even still love — might at once offer us solace and reflect, or even reinforce, morally noxious ideas: be they sexist, racist or other forms of evil for which we do not yet have a cultural vocabulary. By Tara Isabella Burton. 822 words. (category: k)

COMMENTARY
RNS-Cho-Oped: How the church can be a better evangelical witness to displaced people
(RNS) — Our mainstream discourse, far from encouraging us to show the displaced the welcome they deserve, is driven by political agendas, bigotry and half-truths to talk about refugees and other displaced people in a narrative of fear and outrage. This cycle of negativity may generate clicks, but it doesn’t generate compassion.  The church can and must be a better witness. By Eugene Cho. 821 words. (category: k)