The Presbyterian Outlook

(RNS) — A common theme running through our religious traditions is the idea of restoration: What exactly is wrong with us and the world around us? How did the Edenic ideal go awry? And how will God set things aright, redeeming his creation and reconciling it to the divine? We seem to share a sense that in our era of road rage, online insults and distrust of authority in all its forms, there has been a waning capacity to put things back together, even as brokenness abounds. At the same time, a common religious literacy, vocabulary and salience have waned. We have perfected the art of viewing others skeptically and not being surprised when people let us down and when leaders or institutions have moral failings. But when things fall apart, like when religious leaders enter areas of sexual sin or when men abuse their power and strength to victimize women (or both), we are not so good at repairing relationships. In fact, we are at a loss for how to begin. The Catholic sex abuse … [Read more...]

(RNS) — Aretha Franklin, a singer who began her career with gospel music and was later crowned the “Queen of Soul,” died Thursday (Aug. 16) after battling a range of health issues. She was 76. Often simply called “Aretha,” Franklin got her start in the Detroit church of her pastor father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin. She was first recorded at his New Bethel Baptist Church on the album “Spirituals” at age 14. “Aretha, like Al Green, is one of the few artists who is universally accepted in the black church,” Bil Carpenter, author of “Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia,” told Religion News Service. “The church often shuns artists who sing R&B as backsliders and reject them when they come back and sing gospel. However, Aretha’s always been given a pass.” When Franklin, a Memphis, Tenn., native, who was raised in Detroit, was awarded the 2005 Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President George W. Bush, the citation noted: “Her instantly recognizable voice has … [Read more...]

(RNS) — To the World Relief volunteers in a mobile welcome center parked outside the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., it was clear that the woman released from the center moments before had been separated from her children while seeking asylum at the United States border with Mexico. The woman, called “Karla” to protect her identity, was smiling as she got into a car with Robin Jacobson, a board member with Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest, which runs the welcome center. But as soon as the car door closed, Karla burst into tears. In the short drive to Jacobson’s home, it all spilled out, with help from the Google Translate app: how Karla and her family had fled gang violence in El Salvador, how she’d been separated from her two daughters, how the 6-year-old hadn’t wanted to let go, how Karla hadn’t known where her 13-year-old was for 25 days, how the time spent in detention was marked by “unexpected suffering.” Now Karla had a plane ticket to … [Read more...]