Attention all RNS staff: There’s a new boss in town. Actually, two new bosses. My kids stopped by yesterday for a visit to Daddy’s office and as you can see they’re already shaking things up. Annual bonuses will be paid in cookies, milk and extra episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
So it’s Wednesday, midway through the weekly spectrum. Here’s where the news is at, from left to right:
FROM THE LEFT:
Is “Interstellar” a religious film, or totally not a religious film? I saw it last Friday and struck me as the most “humanist” film I’ve ever seen. The Atlantic breaks it all down here:
There’s also a lot of talk of good and evil. There’s a lot of talk of faith. There’s a lot of talk of love—love that is explicitly not romantic (Interstellar is as asexual a blockbuster as you’ll find), but that is, in its best manifestation, selfless.
Apparently there’s a fight brewing at evangelical Wheaton College outside Chicago over its Army ROTC program; the ever litigious Mikey Weinstein is questioning Wheaton’s requirement that the head of its ROTC chapter be a Christian. (FWIW: I usually take anything Todd Starnes says with a grain of salt).
I was on Rachel Maddow’s show last night, breaking down the stunning collapse of Cardinal Raymond Burke’s career in Rome:
Speaking of Rome, American bishops wish they could capture a piece of Pope Francis’ media mojo. From our own David Gibson:
“The priority of our conference has to be to proclaim the joy, the mercy and the love of Jesus Christ at all times and in all places and to all people,” Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Coyne said. “When you have that as your communications starting point, it changes the tenor of what we say and how we are perceived.”
Can you support gay marriage and still call yourself an evangelical? Jacob Lupfer probes the shifting boundaries of evangelical identity through the lens of the gay debate. Eliel Cruz, meanwhile, says there are ways for conservative Christians to talk about homosexuality in ways that aren’t hurtful or offensive.
Tom Ehrich says the Republican rout in the 2014 midterm elections should be a wake-up call for progressive Christians.
FROM THE RIGHT:
Is the Family Research Council considering a boycott of Apple now that CEO Tim Cook is publicly gay? Sure seems that way.
A Baptist church in Louisville got booted from the Kentucky Baptist Convention for being open to marrying gay and lesbian couples. Says state Baptist leader Greg Faulls:
“To give approval to what the Bible clearly states is sin is not only an offense to the scripture, it is an unloving act toward sinners, an act that leaves them in danger of God’s judgment.”
D.C. Rabbi Barry Freundel — he of the alleged spy camera in the women’s mikvah — will have his first court appearance today.
Catholic bishops in Kenya are urging women not to get tetanus vaccines amid conspiracy theories that the shots are a stealth attempt at covert birth control. Or something like that.
Did the late Yasser Arafat become a Christian on his deathbed? One British evangelist says the Palestinian leader “found Jesus” after watching Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” (oy):
[RT Kendall] said that while he could not be certain that Arafat was “saved”, he believes he may have become a Christian. “It wouldn’t surprise me to see him in heaven.”
Mormon missionaries in Bologna aren’t going door to door to spread the faith; they’re using sidewalk chalk drawings to attract converts. Speaking of Mormons, Jana Riess probes the mixed messages the church sends to women.
SAVE IT FOR THE WEEKEND:
You’ve heard of Elf on the Shelf. Now meet The Mensch on a Bench. Yes, even Jewish holidays can be corrupted by shameless marketing and invented traditions.
And with that, it’s back to work. Make sure we have your email address below so we can continue sending you the Roundup every day, for free.
