NEWS STORY
RNS-Extremism-TikTok: Antisemitic and anti-Muslim content is flourishing on TikTok, report finds
(RNS) — The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based nonprofit that tracks extremism online, released a report on Tuesday (Aug. 24) that found TikTok “operates as a new arena for violence-endorsing, hateful ideologies.” Videos that portrayed Muslims as supporters of terrorism, that celebrated support for Holocaust denial and that glorified the mass shooters behind the Christchurch and Tree of Life attacks. By Alejandra Molina. 625 words. (category: a)
NEWS ANALYSIS
RNS-Britney-Purity: Britney Spears: An icon for purity culture’s wounded women
(RNS) — Britney Spears’ rise and fall from grace in the secular and Christian media in many ways ways, experts on evangelicalism argue, mirrors the rise and fall of the evangelical purity movement. Experts see in Spears’ personal experience a universal symbol for adult men and women recovering from purity cultural. By Renée Roden. 1,250 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Priest-Kabul: 14 disabled children flee Afghanistan with the help of Catholic priest and nuns
(RNS) – As tensions rise in Afghanistan following the takeover Taliban forces in mid-August, threatening the small Christian community in the country, a Catholic priest managed to flee with a group of disabled children and nuns on Wednesday. By Claire Giangravè. 500 words. (category i)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Church-Coup: A South Carolina pastor quit his church. His followers revolted to get him back.
(RNS) — In August, Todd Elliott, pastor of a popular South Carolina church, agreed to quit after he and elders at Beach Church in Myrtle Beach could not agree on how things should be run. He got a year’s salary in severance. Then his followers staged a coup to bring him back.
By Bob Smietana. 1,800 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Stetzer-Oped: Don’t confuse military action with the mission of God
(RNS) — It was deeply jarring for me and other Christians to hear Isaiah 6:8 used by President Biden in his recent address. I understand the desire to turn to Scripture to make sense of the tragedy in Kabul, and this is a good thing. However, while men and women were sent on a mission, it was certainly not the mission we read about in Isaiah. Conflating these two is deeply problematic and harmful in the long run for three reasons. By Ed Stetzer. 1,222 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Pagitt-Oped: Most Americans favor welcoming immigrants. Why don’t Christians?
(RNS) — One group of Christians in particular consistently misses the mark in viewing immigration policy through a Christian lens: white evangelical Protestant Republicans. This begs the question, are evangelical voters nationwide having a crisis of faith, or are they simply allowing the politicization of immigration policy to cloud their Christian duty? By Doug Pagitt. 957 words. (category: k)
