Thread by @jackmjenkins

1. Gonna share some @RNS content to help y'all prepare for Ecclesiological Meeting Week: The Southern Baptist Convention *and* the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are gathering over the next few days, and both are fielding controversies and/or scandals as they begin.

2. First up: the SBC (the largest US Protestant denom), whose meeting has basically begun.

But in the days/months before, some things happened.

First, @bobsmietana broke that Beth Moore, a hugely prominent SBC member, was leaving the denomination: religionnews.com/2021/03/09/bib…

3. Actually, to back up a bit: It was back in Dec (i.e., a lifetime ago) when Pastor Charlie Dates explained in an @RNS editorial why his church was ending its affiliation of the SBC, accusing SBC leadership of "alienate(ing) Black and brown Christians." religionnews.com/2020/12/18/we-…

4. Fast-forwarding again, it was in May that @bobsmietana broke Russell Moore (no relation to Beth Moore) was leaving his post at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the SBC's political arm, to work at @CTmagazine. religionnews.com/2021/05/18/rus…

5. THEN @PaulODonnellEIC and @bobsmietana broke a leaked email from Moore in which it was suggested that tension between him and other leaders wasn't rooted in his opposition to Trump, but Moore's stances regarding the SBC’s take on race and sexual abuse. religionnews.com/2021/06/02/lea…

6. If you want to read the full email — which, by Moore's standards, is pretty fiery — you can find it here: religionnews.com/2021/06/02/rus…

7. Pressure quickly mounted to launch an independent investigation into the SBC Executive Committee's handling of abuse claims, which Moore suggested they *mis*handled in his leaked email. religionnews.com/2021/06/09/mor…

8. A short time later, an SBC pastor released audio of a meeting that appeared to corroborate claims that SBC leaders were reluctant to take action against churches accused of mishandling abuse. religionnews.com/2021/06/10/rus…

9. BTW, for even MORE background on the church's discussion of abuse that helps explain some of the references in Moore letter, see here: religionnews.com/2019/10/05/at-…

10. By last Friday, the SBC Executive Committee announced it had retained the firm Guidepost Solutions to “conduct an independent review of its processes." religionnews.com/2021/06/11/sou…

11. All of this is in *addition* to expected debates regarding race and "wokeness," a conservative campaign aided in part by an atheist hoaxer: religionnews.com/2021/05/18/jam…

As well as the fact that the SBC has lost 2 million members since 2006: religionnews.com/2021/05/21/sou…

12. If you're curious to see how things go down this week, I'd suggest following @bobsmietana, who is at the SBC conference in Nashville.

13. MEANWHILE, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is ALSO slated to meet this week.

The upshot: there's a simmering debate over whether or not bishops should deny communion to Catholic politicians who back abortion rights.

You know, Catholics like President Joe Biden.

14. As @ClaireGiangrave explains, this debate technically goes back to at least 2004, when then-Sen. John Kerry, who is also Catholic, ran for president but was dogged by bishops who suggested they would deny him communion because of his abortion stance. religionnews.com/2021/06/07/com…

15. Fun fact: this led to a dynamic where reporters would post up in the backs of Catholic Churches to see if he was denied communion.

They called it “Wafer Watch.”

Shameless plug: I wrote about in chapter 2 of my book American Prophets—now in paperback. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/006293…

16. ANYWAY, it doesn't appear Kerry was ever actually denied communion because of his abortion stance that year.

But you know who reportedly was?

Then-candidate Joe Biden, while running for president in 2019 in SC.

Yet it barely garnered attention. religionnews.com/2019/11/05/has…

17. Which is why it surprised some when, shortly after Biden's election as the second Catholic president, US bishops reacted with a cautious tone that not only focused on POTUS-elect's abortion stance, but also clashed w/the Vatican's celebratory approach. religionnews.com/2020/11/17/cat…

18. There were calls to, again, deny Biden communion.

But newly-minted Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington told @RNS he would still grant Biden communion, saying: "I don’t want to go to the table with a gun on the table first." religionnews.com/2020/12/11/car…

19. Gregory actually ended up participating in Biden's inauguration events (he prayed at a vigil for those felled by COVID), and Biden's inauguration had a lot of faith in it — including taking several other politicians with him to mass. religionnews.com/2021/01/20/for…

20. But calls to deny Biden—and other Catholic Dems, who make up the majority of Catholics in Congress—persisted.

The biggest push came from SF Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (Pelosi's home bishop), who published a 17-page letter on the topic in May. religionnews.com/2021/05/05/cat…

21. As @alemolina pointed out, most U.S. Catholics think Biden should receive communion (although it varies a bit when broken down by political party), and individual Catholics showcase a spectrum of views regarding the Eucharist. religionnews.com/2021/05/18/cal…

22. Meanwhile, Pope Francis met w/Kerry recently, and seemingly couldn't stop smiling: religionnews.com/2021/05/28/bis…

And as @ClaireGiangrave noted, the bishops' overall stance contrasts sharply with the Vatican and essentially serves as a challenge to the pope: religionnews.com/2021/05/28/bid…

23. Which may be way the Vatican's theological watchdog sent a letter to the head of the USCCB in May straight-up suggesting the group tap the breaks on a planned discussion of the issue at their spring meeting: religionnews.com/2021/05/10/vat…

24. Fast-forward to last week, when me, @ClaireGiangrave & @alemolina reached out to every US Roman Catholic diocese to ask about the communion debate.

Bishops that've spoken out against denying communion mostly didn't respond, but many conservatives did: religionnews.com/2021/06/11/wha…

25. All of which brings us to this week's meeting.

Technically they won't be voting on whether to deny communion to pols—just whether to draft a document about communion. Unlike the SBC, it's also virtual, which means much of the debate may happen behind (virtually) closed doors

26. And remember: No matter what the USCCB does, each individual bishop still has the power to decide the communion question for their own diocese. The USCCB doesn't "run" the bishops.

But politically speaking, a firm statement—even a contested one—could impact Biden/Dems.

27. So keep an eye on both gatherings this week. Their decisions stand to impact a pretty massive subset of religious Americans: Catholicism = largest single US faith group, and SBC = largest Protestant denom.

What's the best way to do that? By following @RNS, of course!

28. Oh! And I forgot to mention: @AMBankstw banks is *also* at the SBC meeting this week (my colleagues are apparently *everywhere*), and wrote a really helpful primer regarding proposed CRT statements: religionnews.com/2021/06/11/at-…