Making headlines this past week: A tornado has devastated the Texas Panhandle town of Perryton, killing three people and injuring at least 75. As always, look for the “faith-based FEMA” to be among the helpers.
In Rome, Pope Francis has left the hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier. His surgeon says the pontiff is “better than before,” The Associated Press’ Francis D’Emilio reports.
This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with five key takeaways from the Southern Baptist Convention’s big annual meeting in New Orleans.
What To Know: The Big Story
1. No women pastors: As nearly 19,000 people — including 12,737 registered messengers — attended the SBC meeting, the nation’s largest evangelical denomination expanded restrictions on women in leadership.
See coverage by the New York Times’ Ruth Graham and Elizabeth Dias, Religion News Service’s Adelle M. Banks, the USA Today Network’s Liam Adams and Katherine Burgess, the Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca and the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner.
2. Saddleback out: The SBC rejected an appeal by Rick Warren to reinstate the California megachurch that he founded.
The reason for its ouster: It has women pastors. Also denied reinstatement: a smaller church with a female pastor in Louisville, Kentucky.
See coverage by The Associated Press’ Peter Smith, Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt, the Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton, RNS’ Banks and Bob Smietana and the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein.
3. Sex abuse reform: The debates about women’s roles threatened to push the issue that dominated last year’s meeting to the background.
But the slow work to address the abuse issue plodded on, as Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt explains.
4. The Rev. Bart Barber reelected: The small-town pastor from Farmersville, Texas, will serve a second one-year term as the SBC’s president.
Barber received 7,531 votes, 68% of the 11,014 vote total, beating out Georgia Baptist pastor Mike Stone, a more conservative challenger, who received 3,458 votes, or 31%.
(Barber came to New Orleans a grieving man. His mother, Carolyn Ann Barber, died Sunday. She was 78.)
See additional coverage by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Frank Lockwood.
5. What it all means: Beyond the decisions on women pastors and abuse reforms are “more fundamental questions … such as what it means to be an autonomous church and still affiliate with the denomination.”
That’s the big picture, via the Tennessean’s Liam Adams and the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s Katherine Burgess.
Finally, at least one other major question was left unanswered in New Orleans. Kudos to Christianity Today’s Shellnutt for seeking answers.
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. Battle for Oak Flat: How did Apache opposition to a copper mine become a religious liberty test?
Reporting from Arizona, the Los Angeles Times’ Kevin Rector delves into that intriguing question.
2. Slavery and reconciliation: In a Georgia farming community, “family friends grapple with a difficult truth: One ancestor was enslaved by another.”
That’s the compelling subject of a Christianity Today cover story by Melissa Morgan Kelley.
3. First full pilgrimage after COVID-19: “Millions of Muslims from around the world will start converging next week on Mecca in Saudi Arabia to begin the several days of rituals at holy sites in and around the city. For pilgrims, it is the ultimate spiritual moment of their lives, a chance to seek God’s forgiveness for their sins and walk in the footsteps of revered prophets like Muhammad and Abraham.”
The Associated Press interviews several pilgrims from far-flung places as they prepare for the landmark Hajj.
CONTINUE READING: : “5 Key Takeaways From The Southern Baptist Convention's Annual Meeting In New Orleans” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.