A preacher's quest to ban books and the broader movement
Welcome to the 19th edition of North Carolina Religion Roundup: Efforts to reopen Shaw University's mosque, Jewish parents speaking out against antisemitism, closed churches on the market, and more.
Happy Saturday! Thanks for reading the 19th edition of North Carolina Religion Roundup, a newsletter that highlights major religion news and trends in the Triangle and greater NC.
I’m a reporter covering community colleges, postsecondary access, and faith at EducationNC, and a M.Div. student at Duke Divinity School. I hope your March is off to a good start, and you’re enjoying the sunny glimpses of spring. There’s a lot of religion news from the last month to catch up on since my last edition – efforts to reopen Shaw University's mosque, Jewish parents speaking out against antisemitism, closed churches being put on the market, and more.
As always, I’d love any thoughts or feedback on this roundup. Plus, I’d love it if you’d share this newsletter with a friend or on social media. AND, if you’re a religion writer or faith leader who is interested in contributing in any way to future editions, please reach out. Thanks for following along!
This week:
In a Nutshell, I highlight some NC religion stories from the last month-plus, starting with how a preacher’s efforts to ban books fits into broader Republican-led legislation to do so.
And in What I’m Reading, I feature Religion News Service’s feature on Bart Ehrman’s givings to charity. Ehrman is a renowned New Testament scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill who debunks many Christian “myths.”
In a Nutshell:
A Robeson County preacher is on a quest to ban books. The school district says no way, Border Belt Independent
Last year, I explored the Christian roots of American book bans, and the influence of Christians in current book challenges. I wrote the newsletter following a recent spike in book bans and challenges — in school and public libraries alike — the majority of which target books about racism or sexuality, especially when the latter feature LGBTQ+ characters. The challenges surround broader debates about what should be taught in schools in the first place. In that edition, I identified the religious rhetoric used by many Republican lawmakers sponsoring such efforts, including Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s explicitly stated beliefs that homosexuality, adultery, fornication and pornography are sinful, and therefore books about such topics should be banned in schools.
Fast forward to this year, and several states have seen the fallout from implementing similar book bans. In North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has previously vetoed legislation that would’ve limited how teachers could discuss race and history in the classroom. State Republicans recently revived that legislation. And in the meantime, a few N.C. counties and/or school districts have taken matters into their own hands by creating local policies.
The Rev. Nicholas McNeill (center), pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church in Rennert, has been hosting community meetings to inform parents of books he wants off the shelves of schools, including “Patient Zero” and “Nasreen’s Secret School.” Other pastors, including the Revs. Lawrence Garner (left) and Hedrick Jones (right), have joined his efforts. Photo by Ivey Schofield, Border Belt Independent
In Robeson County, the Border Belt Independent recently highlighted a different scenario: vocal proponents of book bans having such requests denied by local boards of education. Here’s an excerpt from that article, which I recommend reading in full:
The Rev. Nicholas McNeill, a Southern Baptist, said he was angry when he found out his third-grade daughter read a book about Islam at the Robeson County school she attends. “I want them just to teach my child reading, writing and math,” McNeill said, “not undo what I’m doing at home.”
The Robeson County Board of Education denied McNeill’s request in November to remove “Nasreen’s Secret School,” a book about a girl who attends a school for young women in Afghanistan.
When McNeill appealed the decision, the board denied his request again.
That’s when McNeill, who once taught Exceptional Children courses for high school students in Robeson County and now serves as pastor at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Rennert, began to research other books being read by Robeson County students. He was particularly concerned, he said, about “Patient Zero,” a story about epidemics and pandemics that includes a chapter about AIDS and addresses LGBTQ issues.
In February, McNeill began hosting community meetings to inform parents and grandparents about the books their students were reading. Hundreds have attended.
More Republican-led legislation/policies related to faith:
Surry County’s Board of Commissioners established the county as “a sanctuary for life,” Mt. Airy News wrote last month, voting to approve the non-binding resolution that had been requested from some members of the community last year.
The North Carolina House approved House Bill 49, named “Protect Religious Meeting Places,” which would change current law to allow people with concealed carry permits to carry handguns to places of worship that also serve as schools, or have attached schools. Guns still wouldn’t be allowed during school operating hours, or if the building has a notice prohibiting concealed carry on the premises.
And, Republican state Rep. Ben Moss says his bill, which seeks to display the words "In God We Trust" in the legislative chambers, would remind lawmakers that votes are "an act of service to the Lord our God and to help advance His Kingdom in our elected capacity."
And for more on book bans and the importance of reading, check out this thread from my boss, EducationNC’s CEO Mebane Rash, on books, access to controversial content, and authors of color. (As a reminder, this newsletter is a personal project, and not affiliated with EdNC or my role there.)
Muslim congregation mobilizes to reopen Shaw University’s mosque after the pandemic, the News & Observer
Shaw University’s mosque was built in 1983 with a $1 million donation from King Khalid of Saudia Arabia. In March 2020, Shaw and the mosque’s board voluntarily closed the place of worship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the N&O reports, though most aspects of regular life have resumed, the Raleigh university has not reopened its mosque to the public. Members say the continued closure is discriminatory, and fear the university could be locking them out as a stalling measure while it seeks rezoning to redevelop parts of its historic campus. The group has recruited the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, to help get it reopened.
Jewish parents decry antisemitic vandalism, threats reported at NC middle school, the N&O
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is being asked to investigate three incidents of harassment and threats were reported at a middle school this year, the N&O reported Feb. 24. In November, antisemitic graffiti directed at two 7th-grade boys was found on the bathroom wall at Culbreth Middle School on two separate occasions. A third incident was reported in February when the same boys were threatened by name in a message written on the bathroom wall that said: “I’m going to make your life a living hell, watch your back.” Last year, the school system developed the “Protocol for Responding to Racial Slurs and Hate Speech,” and also collaborates with community partners and faith groups, who are members of the Superintendent’s Interfaith Advisory Council, which was formed in 2021.
Groundbreaking Episcopal priest Pauli Murray will be featured on US quarters, the Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Pauli Murray, the first African American woman to be ordained a priest and a pioneer in the struggles for racial and gender equality, will be featured on U.S. quarters in 2024, the U.S. Mint announced on Feb. 1. Murray, who spend much of her early life in Durham, will be honored with four other women next year as part of the Mint’s American Women Quarters series, celebrating the contributions of women to American history. Murray, whose feast day is celebrated on July 1 in The Episcopal Church’s calendar of saints, was also a lawyer, writer and co-founder of the National Organization for Women.
'It's a part of me that nobody can change': MSA celebrates World Hijab Day, the Daily Tar Heel
Wednesday, Feb. 1, was World Hijab Day, an international holiday to raise awareness and celebrate Muslim hijabi women. The UNC Muslim Students Association set up a tent in the quad to commemorate the day. Blue letter balloons that read ‘World Hijab Day’ adorned the front side, the DTH reported. “A lot of people just assume a lot of things about Islam, like that it's a terroristic religion, or that it's really violent or really strict,” first-year MSA member Sarah Nayel told the DTH. “And I think just being able to share the hijab, which is one of the more beautiful, yet misunderstood parts of our religion, is something that's really special about World Hijab Day.”
Churches across Carolinas forced to sell as they grapple with low attendance, WSOC-TV
Instead of a full house on Sunday mornings, some churches are sitting empty.
It’s a crisis for many churches and “For Sale” signs are going up across the Carolinas, WSOC-TV reported last month. Some of their price tags exceed a million dollars. According to Lifeway Research, 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019, outpacing for the first time the number of churches that opened.
Autopsy: Death of ex-state NAACP president ruled a suicide, the Associated Press
A civil rights advocate and former president of the North Carolina branch of the NAACP died by suicide in his Greensboro home last summer, the AP reported according to an autopsy report released last month. The Rev. T. Anthony Spearman, 71, who also served as president of the N.C. Council of Churches, was elected North Carolina NAACP president in 2017 and served one four-year term.
Spearman’s family issued a statement following his death last year, calling him “a man of strong conviction who loved his family with every ounce of his being.”
BLM pastor found not guilty on appeal of Alamance County protest charges, the N&O
An Alamance County jury acquitted a pastor and Black Lives Matter activist on a misdemeanor charge last month that followed a 2020 march to the polls where police peppered sprayed participants. The Rev. Gregory Drumwright organized a march to the polls on Oct. 31, 2020, which coincided with the last day to register to vote in the 2020 election.
Why Isn’t the Civil Rights Movement Considered a Revival Movement? Opinion piece in Church Leaders
Derwin L. Gray, founding and lead pastor of Transformation Church near Charlotte, questions what counts as a religious revival, given the history of racism that accompanied many U.S. revivals. “In 1957, the Civil Rights Movement was started by Black Christians in the South “with the goal of redeeming ‘the soul of America’ through nonviolent resistance” in response to the evils of racism and injustice,” Gray wrote. “I cannot imagine how deep a person’s discipleship must be to stage sit-ins in restaurants and other nonviolent protests in the face of lynching, brutal beatings from police, dogs ripping into your flesh, church bombings, and racial injustice, all for simply wanting to exercise my rights as an American.”
Celebrating 40 years of Duke’s Jewish Baccalaureate, Duke Student Affairs
The first Jewish Baccalaureate at Duke started as a walk-out protest by a handful of Duke seniors in 1983. Forty years later, the article says, it has since transformed into an annual ceremony to recognize and celebrate the contribution of graduating students to Duke’s Jewish community, taking place in the home for Jewish Life at Duke, the Freeman Center. “Jewish students today shouldn’t take for granted a wonderful event in their collegiate lives for which my classmates and I had to fight,” said Rob Satloff, T’83, One of the Organizers of the first Jewish Baccalaureate at Duke.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA celebrates Black History Month across the US, Religion News Service Press Release
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, USA (HSS) celebrated Black History Month along with prominent members of the African American community in New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, California, and Oregon. In an event organized by HSS’ Concord chapter in North Carolina, Willie Fleming, the Founder and President of International Minority Coalition (IMC), called the gesture to celebrate Black History Month and recognize the struggles of the African American community as a “great step forward”. In another event organized by HSS and Hindu Society of North Carolina, four speakers from different streams, including religious, social service, and political, shared their experiences and challenges.
Presbytery of New Hope elects Rev. Dr. Bruce Grady as Executive Presbyter, Press release
The Presbytery of New Hope has elected Bruce Grady as Executive Presbyter. In this capacity, he will serve as chief executive to the Presbytery, Head of Staff, pastor to and on behalf of the Presbytery, and as Presbytery's representative at all Council levels. The Presbytery of New Hope spans 33 counties, with 111 congregations representing 23,457 members. It is a Mid-Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA) serving eastern North Carolina.
Oklahoma Catholics could open the door for religious charter schools, the Washington Post
The Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is fighting to make St. Isidore the nation’s first religious charter school. The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board is weighing whether to approve the school. If it does, the archdiocese would get public funds to set up and run a school that intends to serve “as a genuine instrument of the Church,” according to its application. The challenge comes, the Post reported, as a North Carolina lawsuit that could upset how charter schools are governed makes its way through the courts. Three girls filed a federal lawsuit against Charter Day School of Leland, N.C., in 2016 over its dress code, which required girls to wear skirts as part of its aim “to preserve chivalry and respect among young women and men,” according to the school’s founder.
~What I’m reading ~
His popular blog debunks Christian myths. With the profits, he does the Christian thing, RNS
Bart Ehrman, a renowned scholars of the New Testament and early Christianity at UNC-Chapel Hill, is known for challenging established Christian teachings. But, RNS reports, there’s a part of him that still honors his abandoned Christian faith and what he sees as its moral obligations, such as giving to charity. Here’s an excerpt from the piece:
Ehrman, who calls himself both agnostic and atheist (he doesn’t know if there is a God, but he doesn’t believe there is), insists he’s not out to undermine anyone’s faith. He’s a historian who methodically and systematically works to analyze and evaluate primary sources.
But there’s a part of him that still acknowledges and honors his abandoned Christian faith and what he sees as its teachings — such as giving to charity.
Last year Ehrman’s blog (The Bart Ehrman Blog) took in $503,000 in subscription dues — all of which he donated to five charities: Doctors Without Borders, CARE (an international humanitarian agency) and three North Carolina-based nonprofits that provide food, housing and reading instruction.
Since he started the blog in 2012, he has raised an estimated $1.9 million for charity. He expects to top $2 million next month. “Ten or 12 years ago, I felt bad I wasn’t doing much for charity, like volunteering in a soup kitchen,” Ehrman said. “Then it occurred to me, ‘Maybe I could use my distinctive skills as a way of doing something for charity.’ This is something I can do that others can’t.”
The blog is based on a four-tiered membership structure that begins at $29.95 a year and goes up to $200 a year for a platinum membership, which includes occasional Zoom lectures and allows members to contribute an occasional post.
The piece includes interesting context on Ehrman, who, like him or not, sets a fascinating example of how to engage in discussions about religion with those whom you disagree with. Read the full piece here.
And, also check out, A Minister’s Protest at Midnight, the Assembly’s January feature on Duke Divinity School’s Peter Storey, who ministered to South Africa’s political prisoners and fought apartheid.
That's it for this week's edition of North Carolina Religion Roundup. Thanks for reading. Until next time. And in the meantime, I gladly welcome any tips, feedback or news you think I haven’t included but should in future editions. — Hannah
We will all grow and learn more this way Pastor Nick. Thank you. We will be better people for not learning about or respecting other cultures. It makes sense to ban, burn, or ignore any belief that isn’t aligned with our own. It’s what Jesus would do….wait…it isn’t. What a pity so much energy is used to fight against differences instead of trying to understand and accept.