By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged Is this heaven?: No, it’s Iowa. But not the one with Kevin Costner. “The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Spring Kick-off event on Saturday represented the first cattle call of the year, a forum for GOP candidates to court an indispensable voting bloc,” Christianity Today’s Kelsey Kramer McGinnis explains. The key takeaway of McGinnis’ interviews with voters: “The world … Continue reading 🐘 Faith and freedom: For GOP presidential candidates, it’s cattle call time again 🔌

Making sense of senseless deaths, yet again. By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged Three children, three adults slain: Once again, a mass shooting at a school shocked all of us and surprised none of us. At a Wednesday night vigil in Nashville, “Each speaker echoed the names of those who did not return home earlier this week.” The children who died were Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs, all 9 years old. The … Continue reading ⛪️ Tears and faith after the Covenant School shooting in Nashville 🔌

Adherents of Islam abstain from food and water from dawn to dusk. By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged Islam’s holy month: The new crescent moon Thursday marked the start of Ramadan, as the Washington Post’s Morgan Coates and Adela Suliman report: Almost 2 billion Muslims around the world will observe a month of abstaining from food, drink, smoking, gossip and sexual relations during daylight hours — from dawn to … Continue reading ☪️ For 2 billion Muslims, fasting month of Ramadan has started 🔌

Godbeat pros are meeting in the D.C. area. By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged BETHESDA, Md. — Greetings from just outside the nation’s capital. The Religion News Association’s annual meeting started Thursday, and I’m enjoying the opportunity to connect with old friends and make new ones. I attended my first RNA conference in Nashville, Tennessee, in the fall of 2002, just a few months after joining The … Continue reading 🏛️ #RNA2023: The news that has religion writers’ attention this week 🔌

Shooter identified as a former member with ‘ill-feelings.’ By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged Good morning, Weekend Plug-in readers! Among the stories we’re following this week: A South Carolina church held a prayer vigil after two members of its community were abducted and killed by a Mexican drug cartel, as WPDE-TV’s Jenna Herazo reports. Here in my home state of Oklahoma, voters trounced — somewhat surprisingly — … Continue reading 🇩🇪 At least six dead, plus unborn baby and gunman, in Jehovah’s Witnesses shooting in Germany 🔌

But some praise Eric Adams’ remarks at an interfaith breakfast. By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged Big Apple, big controversy: “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body. Church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies.” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that at an interfaith breakfast this week — remarks called “unhinged and … Continue reading 🇺🇸 No separation of church and state? NYC mayor sparks a furor 🔌

Thousands seek God at Asbury University: something old and something new. By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged Good morning, Weekend Plug-in readers! It’s the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This week’s roundup explores former President Jimmy Carter’s faith and Saddleback Church’s removal from the Southern Baptist Convention. But we start with a story Plug-in already covered last week. I explain why in 3, 2, 1 … Read the full … Continue reading 📰 Surprise! Spiritual revival is big news, from New York Times to Christianity Today 🔌