Introducing Faithful Kentucky
Plus Afghan refugees, Festival of Faiths, and the Texas abortion ban
Welcome to Faithful Kentucky, a newsletter that’s a weekly roundup of religion articles for the Bluegrass State. This newsletter is curated by me, Chris Hughes, a writer and minister based in Louisville, KY. For more than a decade, I’ve been obsessed with the intersection of religion, culture, politics, social justice, and public life. This is a newsletter dedicated to exploring that intersection here in the Bluegrass State.
One of my professors in seminary once said that Louisville could be summed up as one-third Baptist, one-third Catholic, and one-third everything else. The same could be said of Kentucky’s rich religious history. From the Baptist preacher turned bourbon trailblazer Elijah Craig to Thomas Merton, one of the most prodigious Catholic writers of the 20th century, and everything in between, Kentucky was formed and continues to be shaped by a powerful religious landscape.
As someone passionate about religion and the role it plays in our everyday lives, I want to share the religion news stories impacting the Commonwealth. Each week, this newsletter will feature a curated roundup of local religion stories with a little analysis here and there, as well as national stories that have a Kentucky bent. Please be sure to subscribe so that you can get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox. Thanks so much for checking it out!
And now, for Kentucky’s week in religion:
Democratic state lawmakers call for resettlement of Afghan refugees in Kentucky
Last week, state lawmakers called on the federal government to act quickly to evacuate vulnerable Afghans out of their country and into resettlement programs in Kentucky in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
“The Afghan people who protected your sons and daughters, who provided us food, contractors, safe passage, information so we could stay safe, now require our support,” Rep. Pamela Stevenson (D-Louisville) said.
The Pentagon says 17,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul in the past week, but as many as 100,000 Afghans are still trying to escape.
Despite the many Biblical texts that call for Christians to extend hospitality to foreigners, a PEW research poll found that 68% of white evangelical Christians believe the U.S. does not have a responsibility to house refugees. Importantly, the refugee resettlement system in the U.S. is an intricate system of NGOs and a large network of faith-based ministries. In Kentucky, Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) is set to welcome three Afghan families in the coming days and has already welcomed 140 Afghans to Louisville and Lexington since 2016. The International Center of Kentucky in Bowling Green announced it expects to receive as many as 200 Afghan refugees in the coming weeks. Catholic Charities, another agency assisting with refugee resettlement, held a virtual educational discussion on Afghanistan on Sept. 2.
Louisville hosts ‘Festival of Faiths’ in November
After a year hiatus, Louisville will host the Festival of Faiths — a nationally acclaimed interfaith event of music, art, poetry, film, and dialogue featuring renowned spiritual leaders, thinkers, and practitioners — November 18-20 at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. The multi-day festival titled “Sacred Change: Essential Conversations on Faith and Race” will focus on the power of the Black religious experience while facing slavery and genocide. The theme is inspired by the protests for racial justice in response to the unjust killings of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minneapolis. In May, activists and protestors marked 365 days of continuous protests in Louisville’s Jefferson Square Park.
The festival will include sessions presented by Simmons College, a private HBCU in Louisville, Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Spalding University, and the (Un)Known Project. The event is hosted by the Center for Interfaith Relations.
Not Kentucky but could affect Kentucky - Texas passes restrictive abortion law that some clergy fear may target them
The Supreme Court was asked to weigh in on Texas’ restrictive abortion law and finally issued a late night, 5-4 ruling on Sept. 1, allowing the law to go into effect. The law is the most far-reaching in terms of restricting abortions and the punitive measures it places on those who may help someone get one.
First, the law criminalizes any abortion procedure after a fetal “heartbeat” can be detected, generally thought to be around the six-week mark when many women do not even know they are pregnant yet. The term “heartbeat” is misleading, as the embryo has not even developed a heart at that stage.
Second, the law essentially deputizes private citizens, allowing them to bring up a suit against anyone they find performing the procedure or anyone who “aids and abets” it. According to Baptist News Global:
The law not only deputizes, it also incentivizes reporting people. Those who successfully report accomplices to an abortion could receive $10,000 rewards from the state. And those found to be in violation could be fined up to $10,000.
Proponents of the law hope this enforcement mechanism will be a workaround from the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, as that decision prohibits states from intervening.
The language of the law is so broad that it has social workers and pastors concerned that they could be caught up in its sweeping language, as they often counsel women deciding whether or not to get an abortion.
The law goes further than a similar “heartbeat” bill passed in Kentucky in 2019 that was struck down by a U.S. District Judge, and the “Human Life Protection Act” signed into law in Alabama, which banned abortion in all cases, and added punishment for doctors providing the abortion, with sentences ranging from 10 years to 99 years in prison. That law is currently delayed while it is challenged in court.
The Supreme Court ruling basically allowed the law to go into effect on procedural grounds, but will likely be challenged on its merits. Republicans in red states are already looking to replicate it. With a Republican supermajority in Kentucky’s legislature, it’s possible that we could see a similar law taken up when they come back in session in January.
Good reads to check out:
‘The meanness of this moment’ in America (and its churches) by Bill Leonard
I don’t want to be a soldier by Milton Brasher-Cunningham
Covid mask and vaccination mandates aren’t Christian persecution by Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
“Faithful Kentucky” is a weekly roundup and analysis of religion news for the Bluegrass State. It’s curated by Chris Hughes, a minister and writer in Louisville. To connect with him about the newsletter, please email chris.hughes34@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter, @HughesTopher.