By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged Protecting all faiths: “Prayer and contemplation will accompany pomp and celebration on Saturday when King Charles III is anointed with vegan holy oil consecrated in Jerusalem and the Archbishop of Canterbury places the St. Edward’s Crown on his head for the first time,” the Washington Times Mark A. Kellner notes. Saturday’s coronation “will not be the ‘woke’ mash-up some … Continue reading 👑 Faith and the coronation of King Charles III: What to know about a changing Britain🔌

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 🔌