A roundup of recent religion-related news.
US election spotlight mostly bypasses mainline Protestants
These denominations, including the Episcopal, United Methodist and Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches, are now deeply engaged in campaigns against racism and voter suppression. Yet they haven’t generated controversies this year as headline-grabbing as those involving evangelicals and Catholics.
Black church leaders demand apology for Trump ad
…as the advertisement ended, it cut to slow-motion footage of former Vice President Biden kneeling at Bethel in front of a group of Black leaders, including Beaman. It was followed by a slide that read “Stop Joe Biden and his rioters” before an audio clip of Vice President Mike Pence said “you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America” accompanied the sound of cackling.
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Beaman said the ad signals that “white folk in general and Trump’s base should fear the Black church,” and “that Black church leaders and thus members of the Black church are “thuggish rule breakers.”
Response the AME Church to Trump campaign ad featuring Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Delaware
We are deeply concerned about this 21st Century atmosphere of white rage and terror. Even now, the FBI is investigating vandalism against multiple AME Churches, and we continue to cope with the tragedy at Mother Emanuel in Charleston, SC. We are apprehensive that the history of burning and bombing Black churches is being stirred up by a political party that has lost its moral bearings. We are deeply concerned that the white supremacist lynchings, murders, and assassinations of Black men and women, boys and girls in the past, is the plan for the present and future.
Black Lives Matter co-founder denounces Pat Robertson for saying the movement is ‘anti-God’
On Thursday, Robertson — host of “The 700 Cub” on the Christian Broadcasting Network — spoke out against Black Lives Matter on his show, saying the movement wants to destroy Christianity by accusing the religion of “being racist.”