Berkshire Eagle, Seven Days, Vermont Standard, Nantucket paper big rural winners in New England newspaper awards

Slide from awards presentation

The Berkshire Eagle scored big in the New England Newspaper and Press Association awards, which were announced Thursday during the group's semiannual online conference.

The Eagle, of Pittsfield, Mass., was judged the best small daily (less than 9,000 print circulation), with The Keene Sentinel of New Hampshire and the Record Journal of Meriden, Conn., as runners-up. 

The Eagle was judged to have the best editorial, "chastising the Catholic diocese in western Massachusetts for trying to subpoena a reporter's notes which would reveal confidential sources" and calling on legislators to pass a shield law like most other states have to protect reporters. 

And the Eagle won two of NENPA's Publick Occurrences awards, named for America's first newspaper and honoring 13 pieces that were judged to be the best in New England journalism in the past year. The rural or rural-impact winners included the Eagle's reports on nursing homes and hazardous-materials shipments on trains that go through its region; projects by Seven Days of Burlington, Vermont, on child care and the pandemic's impact on housing in the largely rural state; the Lewiston Sun Journal's "Homeless in Maine" series; the Concord Monitor's series on police spending and policies all over New Hampshire; and CT Mirror's "Elder Care Reckoning" series that prompted reforms in Connecticut.

The best small weekly newspaper in New England was judged to be the Vermont Standard of Woodstock, with runners-up the Milton Times of Massachusetts and the St. Albans Messenger of Vermont. The best large weekly (over 4,000 circ.) was the Inquirer and Mirror of Nantucket, Mass.; runners-up were the Martha's Vineyard Times and sister papers in Maine, the Mt. Desert Islander of Bar Harbor the Ellsworth American. The best mid-size daily (circ. 9,000-20,000) was The Day of New London, Conn., with Massachusetts' Daily Hampshire Gazette of Northampton and the Greenfield Recorder runners-up. The Concord Monitor was judged best small Sunday paper.

Leaving the United Methodist Church can be more harmful for churches in rural communities

Thousands of United Methodist Churches have disaffiliated.
(Photo by Sarah Melotte, The Daily Yonder)

Amid ongoing debate over sexuality and Christian teaching, the United Methodist Church (UMC) faces more member tensions and congregations seeking to disaffiliate from the organization. The effects could be harder on rural communities," reports Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder. “Disaffiliation, the complex process a congregation may use to leave the United Methodist denomination, is a sore topic. Most churches that recently split from the UMC did so over concerns that the denomination may adopt a more affirming position on homosexuality."

The Rev. Katie Black had been serving her congregation “for less than a year when a member knocked on her office door and told her the congregation had been praying about withdrawing from the denomination,” Melotte writes. Black told her, “I had heard a lot of stories about churches [disaffiliating] in bigger cities and it becoming a very contentious and ugly fight. But this is a small town. There is no room for us to be breaking up friendships and families.”

Disagreements over whether to allow or not allow gay ordination, gay marriage and LGBTQ+ inclusion have tested the denomination. "Since 2019, thousands of congregations have disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church. . . but many rural churches found hope by offering refuge and reconciliation," Melotte explains. "When a church splits in a tight-knit rural community, the pain can ripple throughout the entire town."

Ken Carter, bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference, told Melotte, "More of the churches that are disaffiliating tend to be rural." Melotte reports, "Bishop Carter said that disaffiliation skews rural because of the cumulative effects of the pandemic and political polarization. Polarization worsened, for example, when debates flared about whether masks should be worn in church and how the church should respond to racism, if it should respond at all."

The Rev. Truman Stagg, a UMC minister in Louisiana, commenting on the division, told Melotte, "We should just stop it and just realize that it’s all about loving people. Whoever you are, your sin might be the same as mine, or your sin might be different from mine or what I call a sin. You might not. But that’s for God to straighten out.”

Opinion: The crisis in America's evangelical churches calls for spiritual revival, not nostalgia, leading Baptist writes

Photo illustration by Katie Martin from photo by Roberto
Schmidt, Agence France-Presse/Getty via The Atlantic

American evangelicalism is at a crossroads; it must choose between spiritual revival or continuing in its attempt to recreate the past, and it cannot have it both ways, writes Russell Moore, editor and chief of Christianity Today, in an opinion for The Atlantic.

"The No. 1 question that younger evangelicals ask me is how to relate to their parents and mentors who want to talk about culture-war politics and internet conspiracy theories instead of prayer or the Bible. These young people are committed to their Christian faith, but they feel despair and cynicism about the church's future. Almost none of them even call themselves 'evangelical' anymore, now that the label is confused with political categories. 'Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy,' one pastor said to me just days ago. 'Does no one see that the church is in crisis?'"

Moore recounts his years as head of the public-policy wing of the Southern Baptist Convention: "For years, I dealt with evangelical backlash, including from some of my closest allies and friends, over my opposition to Donald Trump and my views on issues such as racial justice and church sexual abuse. I hardly thought of myself as a 'dissident.' Instead, I believed I was just what I'd always been: a loyal Southern Baptist evangelical trying to apply what I'd learned from children's Sunday school onward about basic Christian morality and justice. Still, I felt like an outcast and a heretic. I felt homeless. And two years ago, I left the Southern Baptist world I loved."

Revival may need to be redefined, Moore suggests: It is "a concept with a long history in American evangelicalism, rooted in the Bible, that says a people who have grown cold and lifeless can be renewed in their faith. It is a kind of resurrection from the dead. . . . Yet the language of revival is now riddled with cynicism, and is associated with some of the worst aspects of American evangelicalism. Entrepreneurial American evangelicalism built a programmatic structure for 'revival'—whether in the spring- and fall-meeting schedules of little Bible Belt churches like the one in which I grew up, or in massive stadium events traveling across the country like rock concerts." Commercialized revival isn't what Moore has in mind, nor does he think returning to "a mythical golden age" is a good choice.

"A generation ago, one evangelical leader said that the goal of the religious right should be 1950s America, just without the sexism and racism. . . . The idea of revival as a return to some real or imagined moment of greatness is not just illusory but dangerous," Moore writes. "Crisis shakes up an old order—ripping apart, as the apostle Paul put it, what's made of 'wood, hay, stubble' (1 Corinthians 3:12). Now every moment is a possible apocalypse—in which what's been around us all the while is revealed—and thus every moment is an hour of decision."

The answer to the crisis is founded in God's recent actions, Moore says: "Those who wish to hold on to the 'Old Time Religion' must recognize that God is doing something new. The old alliances and coalitions are shaking apart. And the sense of disorientation, disillusionment, and political and religious' homelessness' that many Christians feel is not a problem to be overcome but a key part of the process. . . . The insight of evangelical Christianity, at its best, is that any pilgrimage cannot start with a road map of certainty but must begin with the cry of faith that says, like the noble disciple Thomas wrongly labeled as a doubter, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' (John 14:5)." More says nostalgia "cannot protect religious faith, because it uses religion as a tool for worldly ends, leaving a spiritual void. The Christian Church still needs an organic movement of people reminding the rest of us that there's hope for personal transformation, for the kind of crisis that leads to grace."

Church grows as many shrink, maybe because all welcome

Pastor Grant Myerholtz sings with his congregation.
(Photo by Will Crooks, The Washington Post)

T-shirts, tattoos and a universal "Y'All are welcome" message keep pew seats filled at Mt. Hebron Baptist Church in Hartwell, Ga., pop. 4,500, reports Alison Miller of The Washington Post. "At a time when many houses of worship are struggling to sustain themselves — with church membership and attendance both at all-time lows in this country — [Pastor Grant] Myerholtz seems to be pulling off a miracle of sorts: Tiny Mt. Hebron is flourishing. Barely a dozen people showed up for his first sermons in fall 2020; these days, sometimes 100 faces are looking up at him."

Myerholtz, who normally preaches in a T-shirt and jeans, offers an "interpretation of scripture [not] traditionally heard in a conservative community," Miller writes. "For instance, Myerholtz gave the opening prayer at the Hartwell Pride festival — which already had weathered a backlash from area churches over a proposed spring drag show." The organization's president, Collin Graham, who is trans, told Miller: "There's a community of people that guard their religion and say, 'It's not for you. You're a sinner. You can't love God like that.'. . . So I think it was important to have [Grant] out there to show people that you can be a Christian and you can be gay or trans."

Hartwell is in the "heart" of Hart County in
northeastern Georgia. (Wikipedia maps)

"Hartwell is the seat of Hart County, where chicken farming is the major industry, and massive broiler sheds house millions of birds. Downtown businesses include a store for ax throwing as well as an art gallery. American flags abound," Miller reports. "Church is, and has always been, the community's backbeat. . . . Myerholtz is a native son, with a family history several generations deep. He said he became weary of [preaching within] denominational doctrines, which he felt got in the way of Jesus's teachings. He stepped away." Myerholtz told Miller: ""If it were up to me, a representative of every ministry in this town would be there with arms wide open. We have the easiest job on the planet as Christians if we want to accept it. That is simply to love everybody."

Including everyone has not helped Myerholtz "win over other Baptist leaders in the area," Miller reports. "On the day that Myerholtz prayed at the pride festival, the Rev. Andy Buchanan of Liberty Baptist Church opened its doors and invited the community to pray for 'those who are engaged in this evil.'. . . . By contrast, Myerholtz showed a movie clip from Disney's The Lion King and then quoted 1 Peter 5:8. The verse warns that the devil prowls about like a 'roaring lion' looking for someone to devour. The exhortation that follows is to stand firm in faith, knowing that others in the world are dealing with similar suffering." Myerholtz told Miller: "In God's kingdom, it doesn't matter what color we are. It doesn't matter what party we are. What does matter in God's economy is how we treat one another."

Southern Baptist Convention upholds expulsions of two churches with female pastors; many more seem likely follow

Delegates voted at the convention in New Orleans.
(Photo by Christiana Botic, The New York Times)

Southern Baptist Convention delegates voted to uphold the denomination's previous expulsion of churches with women pastors who had appealed their "disfellowshiped" status, report Liam Adams and Katherine Burgess of The Tennessean. "The nation's largest Protestant denomination took a major stand this week on the role of women in the church, emphatically making clear that the office of pastor is reserved for men only. . . . Voting delegates upheld the ouster of Saddleback Church in Southern California and Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., for having women in lead or senior pastor roles and took steps to enshrine in its constitution a prohibition on female pastors. . . . The decisions made clear that the conservative denomination will kick churches out with women pastors."

"Until now, the fight was limited to pastoral leadership and was included in theological statements, not the group's official legal documents. The amendment must be passed again next year for it to go into effect," report Ruth Graham and Elizabeth Dias of The New York Times. "The constitutional amendment threatens to unleash a crisis for the denomination ahead of next year's final vote. Bart Barber, who was re-elected president of the SBC on Tuesday, acknowledged that the faction pushing for the change was poised to file complaints against every church that they believed violated the tightening standards — potentially an estimated 1,900 churches who have women pastors."

Mike Law, a young pastor who proposed the amendment, said, "speaking from a microphone in the convention hall, 'Now is not the time for half measures or delay.' He framed voting against the amendment as being afraid of the Bible," the Times reports. "The dramatic clash over the place of women in leadership is the result of moves by an ultraconservative wing of the SBC to reverse what it sees as a liberal drift. More than 90 percent of the delegates voted in favor of Fern Creek's expulsion, and almost as many voted to confirm the removal of Saddleback, which was founded by the prominent preacher and author Rick Warren."

Two years ago, the ultrconservatives were considered a fringe minority. Some compared themselves to pirates who wanted to 'take the ship' and steer the church in a new course on issues of race, gender and politics," The Times reports. "Evidence of the denomination's rightward turn could be seen in their rejection of Warren, Saddleback's founder. . . . Warren noted that the denomination's theological statement was 4,032 words long. 'Saddleback disagrees with one word,' he said on Tuesday. 'That's 99.99999999 percent in agreement! Isn't that close enough?'. . . The crowd shouted back at him, 'No!'"

The Tennessean explains, "At the national level, the decisions about Saddleback and Fern Creek sets a precedent for the SBC Credentials Committee, an oversight group that evaluates churches’ affiliation with the Nashville-based SBC, to recommend disfellowshipping more churches with women pastors in the future. The SBC Executive Committee decides whether to approve those recommendations. . . . Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry, said in a statement, 'These votes devalue the worth and callings of women to participate in God’s work through the local church. . . . The emotional, spiritual, and physical safety of women is further threatened when they are not only devalued, but used in a political denominational battle.'"

 

Southern Baptist Convention faces issues of declining numbers, women pastors, use of 'abuse reform' database

Saddleback Church has a broad reach. (Photo via saddleback.com)

The Southern Baptist Convention faces pivotal decisions on female pastors and sexual abuse oversight at this week's yearly gathering in New Orleans. "Messengers, as representatives from thousands of Southern Baptist churches are called, will vote on whether to sustain the convention's executive-committee decision to expel some churches from the denomination because they had women serving as pastors," reports Adolfo Flores of The Wall Street Journal. "This year's election for president is being seen as a referendum on the denomination's efforts over the past year to hold abusers accountable and protect members of the church."

In February, the convention's Executive Committee voted to exclude Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville "for having a woman pastor — the same issue it cited for expelling four other churches," including the huge Saddleback Church in Southern California, reports Peter Smith of The Associated Press. "All Baptist churches are independent, so the convention can't tell them what to do; however, it can decide which churches are 'not in friendly cooperation,' the official verbiage for an expulsion."

The issue of women as lead pastors is emotionally and theologically debated. "The SBC's official statement of faith says the office of pastor is reserved for men, but this is believed to be the first time the convention has expelled any churches over it. Both of the congregations say Baptists should be able to agree to disagree — while making a common cause for evangelism," Smith reports. Rev. Linda Barnes Popham, pastor of Fern Creek for the past 30 years, told him: "I want to worship under that same umbrella and do missions together like Southern Baptists have done all of these years. . . .We want women to rise up and be able to answer God's call, just like men do."

Convention members will also decide whether to approve continuation of the convention’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force, Flores writes: "The task force is expected to present a database it has been developing over the past year of pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees and volunteers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse." Jason DeRose of NPR notes, "Parts of this church are under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department because of the way it handled earlier sexual misconduct. And all of this is happening at the same time as an election to decide the [convention's] next president. . . . The incumbent is facing a challenger."

The deployment and use of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force's database is a sticking point in the election, alongside declining membership. "Bart Barber, the sitting president, is being challenged for a second term by an opponent who has questioned aspects of the database," Flores reports. Mike Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Ga. . . . said he sought the nomination, in part, because an audit of the SBC Executive Committee found that it was on an unsustainable financial trajectory. The troubling finances, Stone said, are part of an overall decline in the number of members and churches that he said he would rectify through an evangelistic outreach initiative."

United Methodist Church is losing 'about half' its Kentucky member churches due to LGBTQ+ inclusion by some

The Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church continues to splinter over LGBTQ+ inclusion practices that the denomination's Book of Discipline does not support as Christian, but that some members and clergy have openly defied, Jack Brammer reports for the Kentucky Lantern. "Last December, the Kentucky conference announced that 57 of its churches had disaffiliated. Over the last four years, 80 have left the United Methodist Church in Kentucky." And now 289 of the remaining 663 more are leaving, following last night's 89 percent vote of approval by the conference on the first day of its annual meeting in Owensboro, lay delegate and Eastern Kentucky University journalism professor Ginny Whitehouse reports on Twitter and Facebook.

Lu-Ann Farrar, a member of Lexington’s First United Methodist Church, told Brammer, "It’s a very sad time for our denomination." In Arkansas, more than 15% of churches have left. Leonard Fairley, resident bishop of the Louisville Area, which includes the Kentucky Conference, said before he announced the vote approving disaffiliation, "This is not about winning or losing; none of us should feel victorious." He asked delegates "to seek out those with different views and pass the peace," Whitehouse reports, quoting him: "We are not going to leave this place enemies."

Disagreements over whether to allow or not allow gay ordination, gay marriage and LGBTQ+ inclusion have tested the denomination. "Even though the denomination has repeatedly voted to keep its traditional stance on marriage as only between a man and a woman, conservatives complain that progressives in the denomination have repeatedly ignored the rules," Brammer reports. "The debate reached a boiling point in 2016 after hundreds of United Methodist clergy across the nation came out as gay and when a Western regional conference elected the first openly lesbian bishop. . . . In 2016, at the denomination’s worldwide meeting, held every four years and known as the General Conference, a special commission was formed to review the church’s policies on sexuality. . . . The General Conference signed off on a plan at the 2019 session to allow churches to disaffiliate based on views on sexuality. Disaffiliation votes have been occurring over the last few years. They are to end this year."

Debate over prayer in public schools has resurfaced; some are worried protections for the non-religious will be eroded

(Photo by Camilla Forte,
The Hechinger Report)

Should adults be allowed to promote prayer in U.S. public schools? The hotly debated question has resurfaced as Christian legal campaigns seek to legalize the practice; schools in one Louisiana county may point to what other schools might expect, reports Linda K. Wertheimer for The Hechinger Report, which covers education.

"In 2018, four parents sued Bossier Parish schools for promoting religion and coercing students to participate in prayer. They argued that the prayer was a violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause, which calls for a separation of church and state. The lawsuit listed more than 100 church/state violations, including teacher-led prayer in classrooms, prayer at sporting events and faculty- and administrator-led prayer at graduations. "It was all flatly unconstitutional," Richard Katskee, former legal director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who represented the Bossier Parish plaintiffs, told Wertheimer.

The plaintiffs won, and a federal judge "ordered the nearly-23,000-student school district to stop promoting religion," but "A different lawsuit was winding its way through the courts, backed by organizations that had long supported school prayer, over the right of a high school football coach to pray on the field after games," Werthheimer notes. "Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in favor of the coach, Joe Kennedy, who sued the Bremerton, Washington, school district after it disciplined him when he refused to end the practice of praying at the 50-yard line following games. . . . The decision described Kennedy's prayer as a quiet, personal act," but Wertheimer reports, "Katskee told me that students who declined to participate 'got harassed and harangued'."

Since previous court decisions separate church and state, based on the First Amendment, how can adults legally promote prayer in public schools? The amendment guarantees "free exercise" of religion, so they campaign in the name of religious freedom. Wertheimer writes, "The way they define that freedom could lead to prayer becoming commonplace at public schools."

With the Kennedy decision, “The other side is emboldened, and the other side is not individuals,” said Andrew Seidel, spokesman for Americans United. “It is a group of well-funded Christian nationalist legal outfits looking for these cases and seizing upon them so they can take them to court.” Wertheimer adds that First Liberty, which helped win the Kennedy case, "rejects the 'Christian nationalist' label," saying it also represent non-Christian religious groups.

"Attorneys from First Liberty and Liberty Counsel, another prominent conservative legal organization, told me the door has opened to bring prayer back to schools across the nation, at least when it comes to school-sponsored events," Wertheimer reports. Keisha Russell and Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, note that the Kennedy decision "overruled the so-called Lemon test, a three-pronged standard set out in a 1971 ruling that delineated criteria the government must meet in order to comply with the clause defining the separation of church and state. One prong states that the government can assist religion only if there is no 'excessive entanglement' between church and state. Justices later generally interpreted this to mean that a public entity cannot endorse religion. Liberty Counsel’s lawyers recently analyzed court rulings since 1971 and found at least 7,000 citations of the Lemon test. Staver said all of those cases must be reexamined. His firm hopes to reverse the 1992 ruling Lee v. Weisman, for example, which prohibited clergy-led prayer at public school graduations partly on the grounds that the graduates in attendance were coerced to participate because they had to be at the event. Staver said that argument no longer holds."

Even in death, the Rev. Tim Keller challenges Christians to think broadly and widely – and to not blend politics and faith

Keller’s passing leaves a void.
(Photograph by José A. Alvarado Jr, Redux)

How can we begin to fix a world so fractured? The life, faith-filled words and writings of the late pastor Tim Keller, who died at 72 Friday, may provide a "blueprint" of what healing might look like, suggests Michael Luo in The New Yorker. He says Keller was "perhaps the most gifted communicator of historically orthodox Christian teachings in the country," and in The New York Times, conservative columnist David Brooks calls him "one of the most important theologians and greatest preachers of our time," two things that rarely coincide. 

Luo recalls a visit to Keller's Redeemer Presbyterian Church when he was the Times' religion reporter: "He stood well over six feet tall. . . . His mannerisms and tone were that of an English professor. With a sheaf of notes on a music stand, he preached a thoughtful disquisition on Jesus' healing of a paralyzed man, drawing on readings from C. S. Lewis, the Village Voice, and the George MacDonald fairy tale The Princess and the Goblin." Brooks recalls, "Tim could draw on a vast array of intellectual sources to argue for the existence of God, to draw piercing psychological insights from the troubling parts of Scripture or to help people through moments of suffering."

Keller had a résumé that resembled that of perhaps no other Christian minister in America. "Early in his career he pastored a church in the small town of Hopewell, Va., where only 5 percent of the high school graduates went on to college," Brooks notes. Luo reports, "In the late 1980s, officials with the Presbyterian Church in America, a relatively young denomination based in a suburb of Atlanta, began searching for a pastor to start a congregation in Manhattan. . . . Only after two other candidates also declined did he agree to take the job. His limited preaching experience in a small-town church in the Bible Belt made him an unlikely fit for New York City. Within three years of its founding, however, Redeemer had swelled from 50 people to 1,000. By the mid-aughts, it had become a beacon, around the world, for pastors interested in ministering to cosmopolitan audiences." By 2017, it "had more than 5,000 worshippers across multiple services every Sunday, making it one of the largest Protestant churches in New York City. Keller also was a best-selling author, publishing more than twenty books, including 2008's The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, and writing regularly for major publications such as the Times, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker."

Keller avoided blending religious teaching and politics, Luo reports: "In a 2017 Times op-ed, Keller explained that he had come of age in the early '70s, when 'the word evangelical still meant an alternative to the fortress mentality of fundamentalism.' But the meaning of the term had changed radically, no longer describing a set of historic Christian doctrines. 'Evangelical used to denote people who claimed the high moral ground,' he wrote. 'Now, in popular usage, the word is nearly synonymous with hypocrite.'. . . He expressed optimism for a future shaped not by white evangelicalism, whose core was aging and declining, but by a more diverse, global cadre of leaders who defied political categorization." In a later Times op-ed, he warned that Christian faith should never be aligned with a single political party."

So now, as the prophet Isaiah quoted God, the question is "Whom shall I send?" Keller left some words to live by, including a farewell essay in The Atlantic. "One of his final projects, completed earlier this year, was an 83-page white paper called "The Decline and Renewal of the American Church," Luo reports. "It offers a wide-ranging set of prescriptions for what he viewed as the profound afflictions of the evangelical movement. . . . The document is an exhaustive blueprint, but the question now is who will carry it out. Keller's passing leaves a void in the nascent movement to reform evangelicalism, and today's social and political currents make the prospects for change seem dim. . . . Keller observed that, in the past, significant revival movements in Europe and North America often began with 'pace-setting individuals'––in other words, people like Keller. Yet he was careful to add that 'ultimately no one can control' what would capture the imagination, fortify the spirit, and become 'an organic, significant movement.' In his view, this was the role of the divine."

Churches donated to candidates with conservative agendas; town rejected their picks; donations are under investigation

Campaign signs outside polling location at Willis Church of
Christ in Abilene, Texas. (Photo by Johnathan Johnson, ProPublica)

The issue of local churches' involvement in elections, often present but rarely highlighted, has come to the forefront in Abilene, Texas, Jessica Priest of ProPublica reports. While the Internal Revenue Service has consistently looked away from churches donating or even sermonizing in support of candidates, some in this city of 125,000 did not. "Voters in West Texas decisively rejected three conservative Christian candidates who campaigned on infusing religious values into local decision making. . . . But the support the candidates received from local churches during the race has prompted calls for state and federal investigations and triggered a local political reckoning," Priest reports. Weldon Hurt, who was elected mayor over one of the candidates, told Priest, "I think there should definitely be some penalties. . . . I think there has to be a way to curtail this from happening again. . . . I think there should be some discipline to these churches."

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported a day before the May 6 election that "three churches had donated a total of $800 to the campaign of Scott Beard, a pastor who was running for City Council," Proest writes. The donations violate The Johnson Amendment, a measure named after its author, former president Lyndon B. Johnson, when he was Senate majority leader, which prohibits nonprofits from intervening in political campaigns. "Beard, a senior pastor at Fountaingate Fellowship, said the donations were a mistake and that he would be returning the money. But within days after Beard's defeat to retired Air Force Col. Brian Yates, a national group that espouses the separation of church and state demanded that the IRS revoke the churches' tax exemptions."

Among the three conservatives who lost "touted their involvement in an effort to get abortion outlawed in Abilene. . . . . And all three candidates spoke about the need to prohibit family-friendly drag shows within the city limits and establish community standards. . .   [to] protect children. Beard said in interviews that those standards should be based on 'Judeo-Christian principles' that he believes serve as the nation’s foundation," Priest reports. "Yates, Beard’s opponent, said it was overly simplistic to cast the election as a fight between religious conservatives and fiscal ones. He said he too is a Christian who opposes abortion. A key difference, he said, was that he and his allies don’t believe that establishing community standards is the role of government. . . . .The local Republican Party endorsed Beard. . . In the end, the three candidates each lost by at least 29 percentage points, according to unofficial final results."

While Beard's Johnson Amendment violations may go unchecked -- there is only one publicly known example of the IRS revoking a church's tax exemption -- "The church donations may also violate Texas election law, which prohibits both nonprofit and for-profit corporations from making political contributions to candidates or political committees," Priest notes. "The Texas Ethics Commission is charged with investigating such violations and can assess a civil penalty of up to $5,000 or triple the amount at issue, whichever is greater, said J.R. Johnson, the commission's executive director. . . . Violations are considered third-degree felonies. Beard has had at least two pending state ethics complaints filed against his campaign."

Arkansas United Methodists allow 67 more congregations to leave; conference has lost more than 15% of its churches

Wye Mountain United Methodist Church in Bigelow, Ark.
was cleared to disaffiliate. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette photo)

UPDATE, Oct. 16: The Arkansas conference voted to let another 62 churches leave, the Democrat-Gazette reports.

Amid continued debate over sexuality and Christian teaching, the annual Arkansas conference of the United Methodist Church voted to allow 67 additional congregations to disaffiliate from the denomination, "bringing the total number that has left in the past six months over 'issues related to human sexuality' to 102," reports Frank E. Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "Though there was plenty of debate, none of the congregations wishing to leave were forced to stay. . . . [after this decision] the Arkansas conference has lost more than 15% of its local churches."

Disagreements over whether to allow or not allow gay ordination, gay marriage and LGBTQ+ inclusion have tested the denomination "for a half-century, revisiting the issue every four years," Lockwood explains. In 2019, Paragraph 2553 was approved for the denomination's Book of Discipline. "It allowed local churches to disaffiliate if they were dissatisfied with the denomination's stand on issues such as same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay clergy. . . . Thus far, theological conservatives have repeatedly triumphed ... ensuring that the denomination continues to define 'the practice of homosexuality' as 'incompatible with Christian teaching'. . . . They have struggled, however, to get some church officials to uphold provisions in their Book of Discipline."

Roy Patterson Smith, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Little Rock, told Lockwood, "I realize there are people who are going to leave and need to leave. The thing I want to do is to see that processes are fair, that we pay attention to all the people in the church -- whether they want to stay or whether they want to go, ultimately -- and that people make decisions out of good discernment, not misinformation, disinformation or fear tactics." Lockwood reports, "Conservatives, including many of the Arkansans cutting ties with the denomination, are frustrated by the flouting of church discipline in some of the U.S. church's 54 regional bodies. . . . Progressives are fed up with denomination-wide positions they view as unjust. . . . Although Methodist congregations traditionally hold their property in trust for the broader church, Paragraph 2553 created a temporary exit ramp."

Not all past exits have gone smoothly. "Thirty-five congregations were allowed to disaffiliate in November, while three others were blocked," Lockwood reports. "Each of the churches completed a discernment process of not less than three months before deciding to depart. . . . . Two of the three denied disaffiliation, Jonesboro First United Methodist Church and Searcy First United Methodist Church, subsequently filed suit. . . . Thus far, the conference has spent $212,147.76 on legal costs. . . That figure could well double if the Jonesboro case proceeds to trial in January, as currently scheduled. . . . [Paragraph 2553] sunsets on December 31, 2023."

To keep the faith and the peace amid gay-rights debate, largest Methodist church in Arkansas splits three ways

Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas 
(Photo by J.T. Wampler, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

To follow their faith and avoid further disaffiliation efforts, Fayetteville Central United Methodist Church members approved a compromise that split the church into three churches, reports Frank E. Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette. "The two new congregations both favor traditional church teachings on gay marriage and ordination." The United Methodist Church has internal tensions over homosexuality. "Some members feel strongly that the church should uphold its current stances regarding gay clergy and marriage," its website notes. "Others strongly advocate for inclusion of LGBTQ Christians in all aspects of life in the church." Under a provision in the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline that was added in 2019, U.S. congregations can disaffiliate 'over issues related to human sexuality.'"

Before the split, Fayetteville Central was Arkansas' largest United Methodist congregation and one the nation's largest. The "Amicable Reconciliation and Separation Agreement" spells out the terms of the division: Fayetteville's Central United Methodist Church will remain part of the United Methodist denomination. Genesis Church, the congregation's South Fayetteville satellite campus, will spin off, becoming independent. . . A third congregation will also be formed in the coming months. Carness Vaughan, the current senior pastor, said that he and other members will be leaving to launch what they're calling Christ Church."

Vaughan told Lockwood, "God has been at work throughout this process. There's no way we could have done it without that. I really do believe that God is going to bless what's happened here." Lockwood notes, "By finding a compromise, Central members avoided the need for a lengthy discernment process and a divisive congregation-wide vote on whether to 'disaffiliate.'"

Bill Kincaid, a leader of United for Central, told Lockwood, "There is sadness around those who may depart, but we will keep them in prayer as we all seek to serve our community. Bruce Johanson, a leader of Central Wesleyans, which had favored disaffiliation, also welcomed the outcome. He told Lockwood, "We are also thankful that Genesis Church is now an independent south Fayetteville church."

Higher religious participation linked to fewer deaths of despair; research suggests it's the social ties that matter

National Bureau of Economic Research working-paper graph
shows underlying cultural trends that preceded the opioid edpidemic

In 2000, the label "death of despair" did not exist. The phrase is now common and often attached to the opioid epidemic, but a deeper understanding of its root causes is still being explored. "A new paper by Tyler Giles of Wellesley, Daniel Hungerman of Notre Dame and Tamar Oostrom of Ohio State bolsters the case that deaths of despair stem in part from weakening social ties. It shows that mortality from these causes among middle-aged whites stopped falling around 1990—well before the rise in opioid use," The Economist reports. "What changed at that time? The authors studied attendance at religious services. They found that states with more participation had fewer deaths of despair and that the faster religious attendance fell in a state, the more such deaths rose. A paper in the Journal of American Medical Association in 2020 also showed that of 110,000 health workers, those who went to services were less likely to die from these causes."

To study the relationship between deaths of despair and religious participation, "The authors tried to isolate the impact of religion by studying blue laws, which banned commerce on Sundays to encourage churchgoing," The Economist reports. "Whenever a state repealed a blue law, religious attendance tended to plummet, creating a natural experiment. And sure enough, deaths of despair rose unusually quickly in the few years following these repeals. Although legalizing alcohol sales on Sundays may account for some of this trend, the biggest increase in mortality came from suicides."

A Google search of "Why go to church if I can pray at home?" yields pages of responses. And yet, this study "strikingly found that private prayer was not linked to lower deaths of despair," The Economist notes. "This suggests that the risk reduction stems not from belief, but rather from the interpersonal connections that organized religion provides. Although secular groups like charities or labor unions also produce such 'social capital,' the JAMA authors say that faith-based networks provide unusually potent protection."

The phrase "death of despair" comes from a 2015 milestone paper published by Anne Case and Angus Deaton that analyzed death rates in America and found deaths of despair to be disproportionately rural. "The economists found that mortality had been rising among middle-aged whites, thanks to a surge in drug overdoses, alcohol-related illness, and suicides—causes they deemed 'deaths of despair,'" reports The Economist. Since 2015, academics have sought tease out the root cause of these deaths -- are they caused by mental anguish or opioid abuse -- the answer is yet to come.

Conservative Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod may respond to white nationalists by excommunicating them

Rev. Matthew Harrison (Photo by Erik M. Lunsford, LCMS)

"This is evil. We condemn it in the name of Christ." So said the Rev. Matthew Harrison, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, in calling for the excommunication of unrepentant white supremacists in the church’s ranks.

Amid congregational disturbances and online threats to church leadership, Harrison is "rebuking an extremist effort to exert influence within the conservative Lutheran denomination," report Jack Jenkins and Emily McFarlan Miller of Religion News Service. "In a recent letter . . . Harrison said he was 'shocked to learn recently that a few members of LCMS congregations have been propagating radical and un-Christian views via Twitter and other social media . . . . He noted far-right members were causing 'local disruption' for congregations and alleged that LCMS leadership and deaconesses had fallen victim to online threats."

Merriam-Webster defines "alt-right" as "a right-wing, primarily online political movement or grouping based in the U.S. whose members reject mainstream conservative politics and espouse extremist beliefs and policies typically centered on ideas of white nationalism." In his letter, Harrison adds a more detailed view. "Harrison went on to rebuke the 'horrible and racist teachings of the so-called ‘alt-right,’" listing ideologies such as "white supremacy, Nazism, pro-slavery, anti-interracial marriage, women as property, fascism, death for homosexuals, even genocide," RNS reports. "He noted that while the LCMS is 'not a top-down institution,' he would work with local pastors and district presidents 'to address this matter wherever it arises among us and reject it.' Citing Scripture, he called on those spewing hateful ideologies to repent."

RNS explains, "The letter comes in the wake of an article published this month by anti-fascist group Machaira Action alleging the 'rise of a white supremacist faction within the Lutheran faith.' The post singled out Corey Mahler, who has reportedly been active in far-right circles and has posted about whiteness and 'white genocide' on Twitter. Mahler also identifies as a Christian nationalist. . . .
Asked whether Mahler would be excommunicated, a representative for the church he allegedly attends in Tennessee said the matter was being handled internally but declined to comment further."

Harrison's letter also addresses "a recent controversy over a new edition of Luther’s Large Catechism," RNS reports. "Earlier this year, the president asked Concordia Publishing House, the denomination’s publishing partner, to pause distribution . . .  citing an 'online disturbance.'" The disturbances came in the form of Amazon reviews of the new edition. "A one-star review complains, 'Women, forbidden from teaching according to Scripture, are afforded extensive opportunities to do just that in this sorry compilation.'. . . Others slam the accompanying essays as 'woke' and accuse them of promoting pedophilia."

In response to the harsh reviews, Harrison responded with a written update. “I have had time to re-evaluate the controverted sentences and found that while some things might have been expressed more clearly, nevertheless, there is nothing in the content of the volume promoting critical race theory, confusion of sexuality issues, or any theological position at odds with biblical and confessional Lutheranism."

Church affiliation keeps falling, except nondenominational; if a denomination, it would be largest Protestant one in U.S.

Photo by Nicholas Smith, Getty Images, via Pew Research Center

Americans' "church membership, church attendance and belief in God all declined during the pandemic years," but the growing membership in nondenominational Christian churches gave that largely unorganized group its first plurality among U.S. believers, Daniel de Visé writes for The Hill's "Changing America" series. 

"At least one-fifth of Americans today embrace no religion at all," DeVisé notes, citing polls. "A similar share tell pollsters they do not believe in God, an all-time high. The lone, striking counter-trend is a steep rise in nondenominational Protestants." They became a plurality among U.S. Protestants in 2021, "signaling a new era of churches and clergies untethered from religious tradition."

DeVisé reports, "Since the 1970s, the share of Americans who identified as Baptists, Methodists and other Protestant denominations has slipped from more than 30 percent to around 10 percent. In the same span, the share of nondenominational Protestants has exploded. The 2020 U.S. Religion Census found 6.5 million more nondenominational congregants and thousands more churches than in 2010." DeVisé quotes Daniel Silliman, writing in Christianity Today: “If ‘nondenominational’ were a denomination, it would be the largest Protestant one, claiming more than 13 percent of churchgoers in America.”

This is a fundamental change in a key element of American society. DeVisé notes, "Multigenerational communities formed around the Baptist and Methodist churches that dominated town squares for generations. By contrast, nondenominational churches often thrive on their otherness, attracting congregants who mistrust ancient American institutions."

The pandemic spurred the decline of traditional church affiliation. "In-person church attendance plummeted by 45 percent in the pandemic, according to an ABC News analysis," DeVisé reports. "Most churches have reopened, but not all congregants have returned. . . . The share of Americans who belong to churches dipped below half in 2020, a historic low, according to Gallup polling."

At the same time, many of those who say they identify with no religion say they consider religion important in their lives, DeVisé reports.

Christmas on Sunday is a challenge for many Protestants; some churches cancel, change or cut back activities

Most Protestant churches will meet in some fashion on Christmas, but an increasing
number appear to be opting out. (Photo by Joanna Kulesza, The New York Times)

Part of the joy of Christmas Day is getting up, celebrating and hanging out in pajamas. It's time to relax, unless Christmas falls on a Sunday; then there's a dilemma: "Christmas is considered by most Christians to be the second-most significant religious holiday of the year, behind Easter. But most Protestants do not attend church services on Christmas Day when it falls on a weekday," notes Ruth Graham of The New York Times. "If everyone from the pews to the pulpit would rather stay home, what is a practical house of worship to do? This year, some Protestant churches are deciding to skip Sunday services completely."

Timothy Beal, a professor of religious studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, told Graham, "Christmas morning and Sunday morning are sort of in tension with each other. Most people who are churchgoers think of Christmas morning not as a religious time but as a family time: stockings and brunches and staying in your pajamas until midday or later." Beal's wife, a Presbyterian pastor, plans a "more relaxed" Sunday service in a smaller sanctuary, perhaps because she expects fewer congregants to attend, and that seems to be the approach of many Protestant congregations; others are dropping Sunday school and other activities.

"The Catholic Church considers attendance at Sunday Mass nonnegotiable, and the same goes for Christmas Day, no matter the inconvenience of the calendar," Graham notes. "Among nondenominational evangelical pastors, who tend to be informal and pragmatic in their approach to church matters, the numbers hosting Christmas Day services are significantly lower: Only 61 percent say they will do so, according to Lifeway research survey."

Some pastors disagree with canceling Christmas Day services. Kevin DeYoung, the pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, N.C., told Graham, "If anything, with an extra-special day we ought to be more eager to worship, not less eager. It’s one more time to sing those Christmas songs before they go away for a while.”

Methodists splitting amid sexual and theological debates

A gay pride rainbow flag flies with the U.S. flag in front of the Asbury United
 Methodist Church in Prairie Village, Kansas. (Photo by Charlie Riedel, AP) 

Methodists are fracturing over sexuality and theology: "At the heart of the schism is a decision by the United Methodist Church to allow for the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy and for churches to host weddings and other celebrations of same-sex unions. It’s often described as a liberal-versus-conservative debate," reports Martha Quillin of the Raleigh News & Observer.

The decision pushed some congregations to leave. Last month, the church's North Carolina Conference "approved a split that clears the way for nearly a third of its churches to separate from the denomination over its more inclusive LGBTQ policies." Quillan writes. "The move, decades in the making, allows congregations that voted earlier this year to leave the United Methodist fold to join the new Global Methodist Church."

Much the same is happening elsewhere in the nation and abroad. "In annual regional gatherings across the U.S. earlier this year, United Methodists approved requests of about 300 congregations to quit the denomination, according to United Methodist News Service," reports Peter Smith of The Associated Press. "Large United Methodist congregations are moving to the exits, including some of the largest in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas."

Bishop Thomas Bickerton, president of the church's Council of Bishops, told AP, “The United Methodist Church is not interested in continuing sexism, racism, homophobia, irrelevancy and decline . . . What we are interested in is a discovery of what God has in mind for us on the horizon as the next expression of who we are as United Methodists.”

The Global Methodist Church was formed as "Conservatives grew impatient with the lack of clarity over the issue and launched a splinter denomination for congregations that wanted to stick with the Book of Discipline’s language on homosexuality," Quillin writes. Churches could also join another denomination "or become non-denominational."

IRS looks away while church leaders endorse candidates

"For nearly 70 years, federal law has barred churches from directly involving themselves in political campaigns, but the IRS has largely abdicated its enforcement responsibilities as churches have become more brazen about publicly backing candidates," report Jeremy Schwartz and Jessica Priest of the Texas Tribune, in a story co-published with ProPublica.

The two news organizations say they reviewed "dozens" of church services posted online, and "Many readers shared sermons with us." They say they found 18 examples "over the past two years that appeared to violate the Johnson Amendment, a measure named after its author, former President Lyndon B. Johnson [when he was Senate majority leader]. Some pastors have gone so far as to paint candidates they oppose as demonic."

Screenshot of video from Texas Tribune

That's what Dallas-area pastor Brandon Burden called the Frisco City Council in a sermon last year, also saying, “I got a candidate that God wants to win. I got a mayor that God wants to unseat. God wants to undo. God wants to shift the balance of power in our city. And I have jurisdiction over that this morning.” The story also cites examples from Alaska, California and New Mexico.

The law limits the charitable and religious tax exemption to organizations that do "not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office." It allows churches to host political speakers and discuss political issues, "but because donations to churches are tax-deductible and because churches don’t have to file financial disclosures with the IRS, without such a rule donors seeking to influence elections could go undetected, said Andrew Seidel, vice president of strategic communications for the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State," Priest and Schwartz report. Seidel told them, "If you pair the ability to wade into partisan politics with a total absence of financial oversight and transparency, you’re essentially creating super PACs that are black holes."

The Internal Revenue Service declined comment, but there is only one publicly known example of it revoking a church's tax exemption, Schwartz and Priest report: A New York church ran newspaper ads attacking Bill Clinton days before his 1992 election, starting "a long legal battle that ended with a U.S. appeals court siding with the federal agency. . . . The Congressional Research Service said in 2012 that a second church had lost its tax-exempt status, but that its identity “is not clear.”

In a country that is already starkly divided on many issues, partisan church rhetoric may increase the divide. Andrew Whitehead, a sociologist at the University of Indiana-Purdue, who studies Christian nationalism, told Schwartz and Priest, “It creates hurdles for a healthy, functioning, pluralistic democratic society . . . It’s really hard to overcome.”

Retired Methodist minister says his dwindling denomination could save itself by online outreach where churches close

The loss of rural population and communities that began with mechanized, large-scale farming has been hard on the United Methodist Church, retired Rev. Mel West of Columbia, Mo., writes for UM News, a denominational publication.

"We did not realize the impact the tractor would have upon our community, our rural populations and our beloved church, but the cycle was started across the U.S. . . . As larger tractors came, my brother Olin, a college-educated farmer, said, 'Melvin, that is not good. It will destroy our neighborhoods and communities.' He was reflecting upon what the prophet Isaiah (5:8) said thousands of years ago: 'Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place; that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth.'

"While our method of agriculture has changed dramatically in the last 100 years, our method of churching has remained the same. In 1965, when I began working with Methodist churches statewide, congregations numbered 1,320. Today, we have fewer than 700, with about 16 closing a year. Some 250 of those 700 churches have fewer than 25 worshipping each Sunday."

The Rev. Mel West

West doesn't mention the schism in his dwindling denomination over gay marriage and clergy, which has prompted many churches to go independent. But he offers what he calls “A plan to re-church rural America,” which he says can benefit more than just the denomination.

"We assume that everyone has a right to an opportunity to worship in their own way. We provide such for prisoners, soldiers and hospital patients," he writes. "What then, should we provide for our rural citizens who live in “spiritual deserts” after their church has closed? How do we provide such opportunities for rural Christians who, for reasons such as distance, lack of transportation, health, poverty or age, cannot go to the county-seat town or other places where organized religion is offered?"

West offers these ideas:

• Provide a weekly, hourlong worship service available for livestreaming on YouTube or another video-sharing outlet.
• Strive to be ecumenical, with opportunities directed to people of the mainline denominations.
• Contain the elements of worship, Bible study and mission.
• Include people and groups from rural churches across the United States for music, prayers, calls to worship and benedictions. For purposes of continuity, have the same pulpit person each time.
• Be self-supporting, once launched, with 10% of received offerings going to worship service costs and 90% for selected mission projects such as Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity, Rainbow Network, Mobility Worldwide, food banks and the like.
• During each worship service, include on the screen a brief report from one of those missions.

"The worship hour would be by, for and with rural churches. The studio that presents the service would encourage cooperating rural churches to record choral and other music, prayers, calls to worship and benedictions of selected members to include," West writes. "Participants would invite neighbors and friends to worship with them and to enjoy refreshments or a meal afterward. This could lead to starting house churches. After several house churches are begun, they could start a community church, rebuilding the spiritual foundation of the region and reopening closed church buildings."

Churches are needed not just for denominational reasons, but as community-building institutions, West writes: "Rural hospitals are closing. Professionals — doctors, lawyers, teachers, veterinarians — do not want to go there. State officials are working to restore and maintain needed services to that huge area of declining population. What will the church do?"

A relative moderate with rural roots is elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, by a wide margin

Pastor Bart Barber (Baptist Press photo via Kentucky Today)

An exurban pastor with rural roots and a relatively moderate stance on issues facing the Southern Baptist Convention was elected president of the nation's largest Protestant denomination Tuesday night.

Bart Barber is pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, population 3,612, an exurb of Dallas. He is from Lake City, Ark., pop. 2,326, just east of Jonesboro.

Barber, who strongly supported conclusions of the SBC's Sexual Abuse Task Force, was elected on the second ballot, defeating Pastor Tom Ascol of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., by 61 to 39 percent. Barber got almost 48% on the first ballot. Other candidates were "former foreign missionary Robin Hadaway of Oceanside, Calif., and Pastor Frank Cox of North Metro Baptist Church near Atlanta, a last-minute entrant into the race," reports Frank Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

"Ascol, favored by Baptists who want to move their denomination further to the right, had adopted the campaign theme 'change the direction.' Barber, on the other hand, urged fellow Baptists to set their differences aside and focus on the gospel, calling on 'an army of peacemakers' to help unify the 13.7 million-member body."

Lockwood gives Barber's Baptist bio: "Barber was 5 years old when he responded to the altar call at Bethabara Baptist Church, a small congregation on the east side of the St. Francis River, roughly four miles north of Lake City. He was 11 when he first felt the call to ministry, a call that was confirmed while attending summer church camp three years later. While still in high school, he was 'licensed to preach the Gospel' by First Baptist Church in Lake City. Barber preached his first sermon while in high school and soon was asked to serve as interim pastor at New Hope Baptist Church near Black Oak, according to [Traci] Smith, his sister. Barber went to Texas to attend Baylor University, preaching at a small country church on the weekends. He's been ministering ever since." For more bio, from Baptist Press, click here.