(RNS) — Richard Rorty, the late philosophy professor, once claimed that religion is a “conversation stopper” — the ideal way to end any debate. For instance, if someone says in a debate, “It’s against God’s law for anyone to abort their child,” there’s no real way to move forward with the conversation if the discussion partner does not have the same theological perspective. The conversation is, for all intents and purposes, over. There is some data to support Rorty’s claim — at least for some segments of American culture. In 2019, the Public Religion Research Institute in its American Values Survey asked respondents to react to two statements that seem to summarize, fairly succinctly, the two extremes of the religious debate. The first was this: “Religion causes more problems in society than it solves.” The second was: “It is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values.” As you might guess, there are strong feelings about these statements, … [Read more...]

(RNS) — The National Council of Churches has elected an all-female slate of officers for the first time in the ecumenical organization’s 71-year history. Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton, leader of the Fifth Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, on Wednesday (Oct. 13) became chair of the organization, starting a two-year term along with the other officers. She is joined by the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who is vice chair; Kimberly Gordon Brooks, first vice president of the 3rd District Lay Organization, African Methodist Episcopal Church, who is secretary; and the Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens, general minister and president, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), who is treasurer. All but Eaton are women of color. “At this pivotal time in the life of the church in the United States, it is noteworthy that the NCC is modeling inclusiveness in selecting its leaders,” Jefferson-Snorton … [Read more...]

(RNS) — While evangelicals are the group most often criticized for equating American identity with adherence to Christianity, white progressive Christians have work to do to address their own Christian nationalism, experts said at an ecumenical gathering this week. “It’s very easy to look at (Donald) Trump, to look at Trump’s followers, to look at Jan. 6 and say, ‘This is white nationalism. This is bad,’” Miguel De La Torre, professor of social ethics and Latinx studies at Iliff School of Theology, said during the Christian Unity Gathering of the National Council of Churches on Tuesday (Oct. 12). “Liberal Christians are just as complicit with white nationalism that the Trumpites were that we saw on Jan. 6.” De La Torre, author of “Decolonizing Christianity,” was one of several speakers on a panel examining Christian nationalism at the two-day virtual gathering. Clergy, scholars and authors said religious leaders had to answer for their relative silence and lack of action … [Read more...]

(RNS) — Ronnie Floyd, the embattled president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, has resigned, effective at the end of October. Floyd, a longtime Arkansas megachurch pastor, was elected as head of the Executive Committee in 2019, with high hopes of rallying the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to focus its energy on evangelism and missions. But his plans were overshadowed by infighting among Southern Baptist leaders as well as controversies over racism and sexual abuse. In his resignation, Floyd said that his reputation was being harmed by serving as the committee’s president. “In the midst of multiple challenges facing the SBC, I was asked to come here because of my proven personal integrity, reputation, and leadership,” he said in his resignation letter, which was made public Thursday (Oct. 14). “What was desired to be leveraged for the advancement of the Gospel by those who called me here, I will not jeopardize any longer because of serving in … [Read more...]

(RNS) — A new survey of 15,278 religious congregations across the United States confirms trends sociologists have documented for several decades: Congregational life across the country is shrinking. The most recent round of the Faith Communities Today survey, or FACT, found a median decline in attendance of 7% between 2015 and 2020. The survey, fielded just before the coronavirus lockdown, finds that half of the country’s estimated 350,000 religious congregations had 65 or fewer people in attendance on any given weekend. That’s a drop of more than half from a median attendance level of 137 people in 2000, the first year the FACT survey gathered data. As Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the survey’s author, put it: “The dramatically increasing number of congregations below 65 attendees with a continued rate of decline should be cause for concern among religious communities.” Produced by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, … [Read more...]

(RNS) — The longtime general counsel for the Southern Baptist Convention has decided to cut ties with the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. The decision came after members of the SBC’s Nashville-based Executive Committee decided to waive attorney-client privilege as part of a sexual-abuse investigation. That decision means that records of conversations on legal matters among Executive Committee members and staff would no longer be confidential. That decision made it impossible for the denomination’s legal counsel to continue its role, wrote attorneys James Guenther and James Jordan of Guenther, Jordan & Price. “We simply do not know how to advise a client, and otherwise represent a client, with the quality of advice and representation the client must have, and in keeping with the standard of practice our firm tries to uphold, when the client has indicated a willingness to forego this universally accepted principle of confidentiality,” Guenther and Jordan wrote … [Read more...]