Editor’s note from Religion Unplugged: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.
ORLANDO, Fla. — At the Equip Conference last weekend, most people saw no need to wear a mask.
Fully vaccinated myself, I enjoyed the feeling of normalcy as nearly 1,000 worshipers sang and prayed in a Central Florida hotel ballroom.
“It’s great, especially being vaccinated, to feel safe to shake hands with everyone, to give hugs, to talk and be in close proximity,” church planter Roslyn Miller told me at the regional gathering of Churches of Christ. “I’ve seen so many old friends and people I’ve known for years.”
But since then, concerns that vaccinated people may spread COVID-19’s highly contagious delta variant have kept rising.
“The war has changed,” according to an internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document cited Thursday night by the Washington Post and early today by the New York Times.
Oh boy, here we go again.
Houses of worship “are weighing the benefits and potential backlash of mandating masks again,” the Post ‘s Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports. However, some religious leaders remain skeptical of the virus.
Skeptical
White evangelical Christians “are more resistant to getting the vaccine than other major religious groups,” the Wall Street Journal‘s Ian Lovett notes in a story on new survey data.
On the positive side, “America’s religious communities have played an important role in upping acceptance of vaccines designed to thwart COVID-19,” the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner explains, quoting the same Public Religion Research Institute study.
While some houses of worship contemplate a return to COVID-19 safety protocols, others never ceased such measures, The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton points out.
In an open letter to fellow Christians, a Missouri church elder makes a biblical case for getting the vaccine.
When will this pandemic finally end?
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. Facebook’s next target: the religious experience: The social media giant “has been cultivating partnerships with a wide range of faith communities over the past few years, from individual congregations to large denominations, like the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ,” the New York Times’ Elizabeth Dias reports.
At Reuters, Elizabeth Culliford writes that “Facebook decided faith groups are good for business. Now, it wants your prayers.”
2. Sermon via hologram? California preacher ‘visits’ Auckland congregation using ‘teleportation’ video: “As a die hard Trekkie, I love to see the church engage technology, innovation, and science all within the confines of our amazing faith to change the world with the gospel of Jesus,” the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr. said on Twitter.
The Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner explores this holy Trekkie — er, tech — development.
3. In 2010, the U.S. apologized to Native Americans. A new spiritual movement aims to recognize it: Religion News Service’s Emily McFarlan Miller delves deeper into the Indigenous boarding schools story that Plug-in first highlighted last month. (Insight Editor's note: At thhe 2016 General Conference, The United Methodist Church formally apologized for the Sand Creek massacre of 1868 that was organized by a Methodist military pastor).
This follows Associated Press religion writer Peter Smith’s story last week on U.S. churches reckoning with the traumatic legacy of Native schools.
In related news, the Wall Street Journal’s Vipal Monga and Kim Mackrael report on Canadian churches burning in suspicious fires following the discovery of Indigenous unmarked graves.
BONUS: Are you watching the Olympics?
ReligionUnplugged’s own Hamil R. Harris catches up with 1996 gold medalist Dominique Dawes, who talks about the mental challenges of the Games and offers her support for U.S. gymnast Simone Biles.
Also here at ReligionUnplugged, Liza Vandenboom Ashley opresents a guide to Olympians of faith competing in Tokyo.
Bobby Ross Jr. is a veteran religion journalist. This column is republished with permission from Religion Unplugged.