‘Faith-based FEMA’ — religious groups rush to help others after Hurricane Ian — GetReligion
Among the help on its way to Florida: tractor-trailer rigs full of food and emergency supplies from Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee. Also: two field kitchens staffed with about 20 volunteers from the Southern Baptists of Texas’ disaster relief ministry.
“This captures the spirit of our volunteers,” Scottie Stice, the Texas group’s director, told the Houston Chronicle. “We’re a faith-based organization and have been praying against this hurricane, but we stand ready to serve the needs of the survivors in Florida with hot meals and recovery operations afterwards.”
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. For suburban Texas men, a workout craze with a side of faith: “In a Houston suburb, men have been flocking to a workout group that promises more than just a sweat session; together, they aim to ease male loneliness,” the New York Times’ Ruth Graham reports.
Graham’s exceptional front-page story inspired interesting reflections on “the crisis of masculinity” by David French at The Dispatch.
2. Bolsonaro campaign to evangelicals: Brazil’s soul at stake: This story is the first of a two-part package by The Associated Press’ David Biller on the intersection of politics and religions in South America’s largest country, which has a population of roughly 215 million.
Read the second part: “In sacred Brazil dunes, critics see evangelical encroachment.”
In a piece republished here at ReligionUnplugged.com, Amy Erica Smith writes for The Conversation that “religion is shaping Brazil’s presidential election — but its evangelicals aren’t the same as America’s.”
CONTINUE READING: “ ‘Faith-Based FEMA’: Relief Organizations Mobilize To Help After Hurricane Ian“ by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.
