RNS Morning Report: State of the Union; Pastor Andrew Brunson; Environmentalist Priest in Peru

President Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., watch on Feb. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Need to know: Thursday, February 7, 2019

Trump’s State of the Union garners mixed reactions among faith groups

"We can make our communities safer ... our faith deeper and our middle class bigger and more prosperous than ever before,” President Trump said.

As Southern Baptists mull executive vacancies, will diversity play a role?

Two former SBC presidents, joined by a Las Vegas pastor, took the unusual step of sending a letter to the search committee for the new president of the SBC Executive Committee, inquiring about the breadth of efforts to fill the position.

Andrew Brunson, back in US after detention, hopes to return to Turkey one day

The evangelical pastor recalled at an event hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that its commissioners were among the first people to visit him in prison after his arrest in 2016.

Environmentalist priest in Peru says little has changed since pope’s visit

The Rev. Xavier Arbex has warned for years about the devastating impact of rapacious mining in the mineral-rich country.

There are no real evangelicals. Only imagined ones.

There are, in fact, many evangelicalisms and each has a different center and different boundaries, writes Kristin Kobes Du Mez.

Darwin in America: The evolution debate in the United States

About one-in-five U.S. adults reject the basic idea that life on Earth has evolved at all. And roughly half of the U.S. adult population accepts evolutionary theory, but only as an instrument of God’s will.

 


 

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Pope publicly acknowledges clergy sexual abuse of nuns

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — The acknowledgment comes just two weeks before he hosts an unprecedented gathering of bishops to craft a global response to the scandal of priestly predators.

Canadian evangelical school adapts LGBTQ rules, says donations, enrollment are up

A Canadian evangelical college made its lifestyle covenant for students — which bars same-sex relationships — voluntary after a high court ruled the school's policies were discriminatory.

‘We’re not the enemy’: Muslim fans respond to Chicago Cubs patriarch’s emails

Muslim fans say they’re disappointed after leaked emails from Joe Ricketts, the billionaire patriarch of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs, revealed him sharing racist, anti-Muslim jokes and conspiracy theories.

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Yechiel Eckstein was a bridge to Christian evangelicals

"The whole world hates us." Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein proved that wrong.

How blackface became a “thing”

A forgotten aspect of American Jewish history -- and its puzzling implications.

Most evangelical college students appreciate LGBT people even if trustees don’t

Clashes between trustees and students at evangelical institutions over the last few years are explained by a longitudinal survey of young Christians' attitudes toward marginalized groups, write Kevin Singer, Alyssa Rockenbach, Laura Dahl and Matthew J. Mayhew.