Surprise! I mentioned earlier that I’d be on an international reporting trip and unable to produce today’s Plug-in.
Alas, I ran into a visa issue, so here I am. So, today’s news includes:
• Muslims celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday amid joy and tragedy, via The Associated Press’ Abby Sewell.
• Conservative Anglican leaders calling for a break with the Archbishop of Canterbury over same-sex blessings, via the Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca.
• An Iowa GOP event this weekend that represents a key test of former President Donald Trump’s hold on the U.S. religious right, via the Washington Times’ Seth McLaughlin.
That’s just the start of this week’s best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Let’s keep rolling!
What To Know: The Big Story
High court seeks compromise: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reviewed “the case of a part-time mail carrier who quit his U.S. Postal Service job after he was forced to deliver packages on Sundays, when he observes the Sabbath.”
A majority of justices “expressed interest … in a compromise intended to balance religious rights in the workplace with the burden they might impose on employers and co-workers,” the Washington Post’s Ann E. Marimow reports.
CNN’s Ariane de Vogue explains:
A lower court had ruled against the worker, Gerald Groff, holding that his request would cause an “undue burden” on the USPS and lead to low morale at the workplace when other employees had to pick up his shifts.
Not just Christians: Conservative Christians aren’t the only ones asking for accommodation in the mailman case, Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron notes.
“Religious minorities — Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Seventh-day Adventists — have filed briefs asking the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that gutted a civil rights statute’s protections for religious accommodation,” Shimron’s story points out.
Important context: The Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner recently interviewed Larry Hardison, whose “name was chiseled into American legal history 46 years ago when the Supreme Court ruled against him in a landmark religious accommodation case.”
For more insight, see “A brief history of American Christians fighting Sunday mail” by Christianity Today’s Daniel Silliman.
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. Gangs and God: A crackdown by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has paid little attention “to the evangelical pastors who believe gang members can change.”
Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent Leila Miller reports the compelling story from San Salvador.
2. A story of hope: The Jewish community in Nashville, Tennessee, helped reunite an Afghan family torn apart in 2021. The Tennessean’s Brad Schmitt shares the riveting details.
CONTINUE READING: “Does Requiring A Mail Carrier To Work On Sunday Violate His Religious Freedom?” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.