“He is risen!” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey posted on his official Facebook page on Easter.
Thus began a church-state controversy that resulted in the Arizona Republic quoting sources who said the post violated the First Amendment.
The story was almost as interesting as the Twitter exchange between the governor and Republic journalist Maria Polletta:
With respect to your “experts,” people don’t lose the right to free speech when they run for office. So, no, we STILL won’t be taking the post down. Not now, not ever. @mpolletta https://t.co/p7aEGWy63b
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) April 30, 2019
It’d be nice if you employed free speech to respond directly to press inquiries regarding this issue, rather than having staff send a tweet hours after you’re asked for comment.
— Maria Polletta (@mpolletta) April 30, 2019
With that, let’s dive into the Friday Five:
The killings in Poway and Pittsburgh are part of an increasing trend in physical violence against Jews. A new Anti-Defamation League report says that that anti-Semitic assaults tripled in 2018 https://t.co/WQbSHhGrDo
— Jaweed Kaleem 🦅 (@jaweedkaleem) April 30, 2019
1. Religion story of the week: Saturday’s deadly shooting at a Southern California synagogue was the week’s top religion story. Tied to that, the Los Angeles Times’ Jaweed Kaleem reported that the attacks in are Poway, Calif., and Pittsburgh six months ago are part of an increasing trend of physical violence against Jews.
Among GetReligion’s posts on the shooting, Julia Duin examined the initial media coverage, and Terry Mattingly noted that the shooter, John Earnest, put “the Christian label into play” and said that’s half the equation that reporters need to cover.
In a separate post, tmatt delved into the “weaponized Calvinism” of the accused shooter who apparently believed his salvation was assured no matter.
‘Strollerville’ trends: Religion ghosts in epic quest by New Yorkers to find that extra bedroom? https://t.co/lxuG705W6I
— GetReligion (@GetReligion) April 29, 2019
2. Most popular GetReligion post: Religion ghosts in “Strollerville?”
Yep, said tmatt, in a post tied to a faith-free New York Times story on New Yorkers’ “epic quest to find that extra bedroom.”
A crucial paragraph from that post, which was our most-clicked commentary of the week:
Let me be clear: I am not saying that this Strollerville story is a “religion story.” I am saying that religion is one factor in this equation and that it deserved one or two (maybe three!) paragraphs in a long, long feature.
— G. Jeffrey MacDonald (@gjmacdonald) April 30, 2019
3. Guilt folder fodder (and more): An important story from the Wall Street Journal notes that anti-Christian violence is surging in Egypt, prompting an exodus:
In one recent incident that echoed many others, residents of central Egypt’s Sohag province were seen in a video recorded earlier this month and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal beating their male Coptic Christian neighbors with sticks as women screamed, leading to the shutdown of a local church, according to Coptic groups and a human-rights organization that documented the incident.
Also, the BBC has a story out today reporting that “Christian persecution ‘at near genocide levels” in parts of the world.
As The Associated Press notes, President Donald Trump said this week that violence and terrorism against people of all faiths must end, and that “all civilized nations must join together in this effort.”
4. Shameless plug: We need to plug two former GetReligion contributors this week: Dawn Eden Goldstein and Mollie Hemingway:
Thanks, @ericmetaxas for having me discuss my memoir (https://t.co/LX0swLCimu) on @EricMetaxasShow.
I share re —@BrianWilsonLive at 6:45@OfficialNilsson @NilssonArchive at 8:55@GKCdaily @chestertonsoc at 16:30
Briefly noted: @tmbg & @thevandykeparks https://t.co/QO3TKjRk9W— Dawn Eden Goldstein (@DawnofMercy) April 30, 2019
Today @Heritage announced that Mollie Hemingway will receive the Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship! Her tireless reporting and fierce refusal to buy into groupthink make her a star. We are so honored to work with @MZHemingway at @FDRLST!
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) April 30, 2019
5. Final thought: This week’s kicker comes to you courtesy of Rob Downen, one of the Houston Chronicle reporters behind the big “Abuse of Faith” investigative project on sex abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Don’t wanna freak anyone out ahead of the Southern Baptist’s annual meeting in Birmingham, but: pic.twitter.com/IIv93v3M7g
— Robert Downen (@RobDownenChron) May 1, 2019
Be careful out there, folks, especially in Birmingham!
Happy Friday, everybody! Enjoy the weekend!
ybvdadminuser
