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July 29, 2020

Volume 137, Issue #16

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Features

Opinion

What if COVID-19 changes nothing?

People keep saying we’ll be forever transformed by this pandemic. I’m skeptical.

by Martha Tatarnic

First Person

The pandemic calls for closed hymnals

Forgoing congregational singing as a spiritual discipline

by L. Roger Owens

Critical Essay

Why there is no quest for the historical Mr. Rogers

Knowing the real Fred means seeing the unseen.

by Mark Schwehn

Reflection

What Christian hope looks like during a pandemic

Living into the desired new creation is our work—and God’s promise.

by Jesse Zink

Opinion

Maybe this really is a time of divine judgment

Amid pandemic and protest, will we turn to each other and live?

by Bailey Pickens

Critical Essay

What it means to be a body in Hong Kong

The protests confront us with a difficult question.

by Richard Wu

Books

Is LGBT equality economically beneficial for all?

Crunching the numbers with M. V. Lee Badgett

by Andrew W. Stevens

Interpreting Jesus’ healings as a conflict with purity laws is dead wrong

Jesus’ conflict, Matthew Thiessen argues, was with the forces of death.

by Greg Carey

Envisioning part-time clergy as a blessing rather than a sign of decline

Revitalizing lay leaders to bring congregations new life

by Abby Norman

What’s behind dehumanization?

A book about the psychology and politics of doing terrible things to one another

by David P. Gushee

Departments

In the black Atlantic region, religious identity is formed by routes rather than roots

Faith shaped by migration, diaspora, and slavery

by Philip Jenkins

Faith Matters

What does it mean to worship an all-powerful God?

These times call into question the nature and morality of power.

by Debie Thomas

On Art

Our Lady of Ferguson, by Mark Doox

Recently, faith leaders have been carrying prints of Mark Doox’s Our Lady of Ferguson to protests in cities across the country in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and numerous other black men and women....

art selection and comment by Lil Copan

First Words

Is the destruction of monuments a rewriting of history?

Holding in tension our achievements and failures as a nation

by Peter W. Marty

From the Editors

Why is Betsy DeVos taking CARES funding from underprivileged schools and giving it to private schools?

Our nation’s public schoolchildren deserve better.

News

US Supreme Court lifts ban on state aid to religious schools

The Supreme Court elated religious free exercise advocates and alarmed secular groups with its June 30 ruling on public funding for religious education, a decision whose long-term effect on the separation of church and state remains to be seen....

by David Crary and Elana Schor

Survey: Most Americans are not ready to return to in-person services

A new study examining Americans’ response to COVID-19 shows that with the exception of white evangelicals, a majority of Americans are not comfortable returning to in-person religious services....

by Yonat Shimron

Former Methodist leader, facing charges of sexual misconduct and abuse, no longer ordained

Donald Heckman, who goes by Bud, withdrew from West Ohio Conference membership June 10 under complaint, the conference announced. That means he surrendered his credentials as an ordained elder....

Church music composer David Haas accused of ‘sexual battery’ and ‘spiritual manipulation’

At least two religious publishers have cut ties with Catholic composer David Haas after nearly a dozen women have accused him of sexual and spiritual abuse....

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

Latino clergy, faith leaders rally behind Black Lives Matter movement

To pastor Rosa Cándida Ramírez, it’s evident that the same institutional systems that dehumanize immigrants perpetuate the mistreatment of black Americans....

by Alejandra Molina

Museum or mosque? Turkey debates historic structure’s status

In its more than 1,400-year existence, the majestic domed structure of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has served as the Byzantine Empire’s main cathedral, as a mosque under the Ottoman Empire, and as a museum in modern Turkey, attracting millions of tou...

by Suzan Fraser and Ayse Wieting

People

VeggieTales creator creates viral video explaining racism

In June, Phil Vischer—creator of VeggieTales and voice of Bob the Tomato in the popular Christian animated series—posted a now viral video called “Race in America” that attempts to answer the question: “Why are people so angry?”...

by Kathryn Post