RNS Morning Report: State Department Summit Opens; Confidence in Clergy Drops; Amazon Workers Strike

Attendees listen at the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom at the U.S. Department of State in Washington on July 16, 2019. State Department photo/Public Domain

Need to know: Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Religious freedom summit opens with stories of religious violence and resilience

Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said the Trump administration wants to ramp up attention to killings and persecution based on religious beliefs and reverse trends that show they are often on the increase in countries across the world.

New poll shows growing view that clergy are irrelevant

Doctors, teachers, members of the military — even scientists — are viewed more positively than clergy. The less frequently people attend church, the more negative their views of clergy.

On Prime Day, Muslim workers and activists are organizing against Amazon

With Amazon’s much-hyped Prime Day sale underway, Muslim workers and faith-based activists are leading major strikes and boycotts of the online retail giant’s biggest discount event of the year.

Remembering Jesse Miranda and the complicated history of Latinx Pentecostals

Jesse Miranda’s dream was to found a quasi-civil rights organization akin to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for Latinx. Such an organization would harness the political power of Latinx Pentecostals and evangelicals along a socially conservative track with exceptions being issues such as immigration, writes Arlene Sanchez-Walsh.

A swan song for Mormons’ Hill Cumorah Pageant

I enjoyed the experience of the Hill Cumorah Pageant, but more for the conversations and earnestness of the event than for the pageant itself, writes Jana Riess.

A push to deny Muslims religious freedom gains steam

Once a fringe argument restricted to extreme anti-Muslim corners of the internet, the idea that Islam is not actually a religion has rapidly gained salience in mainstream public discourse in the U.S. among activists, media commentators, and lawmakers alike.

 


 

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In remote Appalachia, liberal Christians gather at Wild Goose to pray — and plan

As the religious left exerts an unaccustomed influence on politics, this Christian festival has begun to draw recognizable names, including presidential candidates.

Brownback wants ‘like-mindeds’ at religious freedom summit; violators need not RSVP

The Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom will focus on countries that have at least begun to work on improving the rights of religious minorities within their borders, the U.S. religious freedom ambassador told Religion News Service in an interview Monday.

Michael W. Smith, Kevin Jonas to start music center, label at Liberty University

What do Liberty University students have in common with the Jonas Brothers? Come fall, it will be the opportunity to launch music careers with Kevin Jonas, the father and original manager of the sibling rock trio.

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President Trump’s bigotry has gone too far

“Have you no sense of decency?” No, he doesn’t. Some of us don’t have it, either.

The jubilee of the moon landing is a chance to assess technology’s promise

Technology has an almost boundless potential to solve problems, but the Bible's dictum about jubilee celebrations reminds us that technology should also create more prosperity for all, writes Julie Schonfeld.

In Brooklyn, ‘tradpunk’ Christianity meets millennial counterculture

For many religious people, faith has become a countercultural rejection of elements of secular culture. It’s traditionalism as transgression. You might even call it tradpunk, writes Tara Isabella Burton.