“The Weekend Wanderer” is a weekly curated selection of news, stories, resources, and media on the intersection of faith and culture for you to explore through your weekend. Wander through these links however you like and in any order you like.

“‘We’re trying to fix it’: People in Kenosha turn to faith, art to start healing from violent, destructive week” – It’s not often that southeastern Wisconsin grips international news, and usually if it does it’s related to the city of Milwaukee. Not so this past week when the Kenosha, Wisconsin, took center stage as the setting for the latest shooting of a black man by police. There have been protests and riots that continue to highlight the racial tensions that are boiling over in our nation. A follow-up shooting by a young white man killed two others and left a third person injured. The Milwaukee Bucks, favorites for the NBA playoffs, chose not to play their playoff game on Wednesday  night, which brought a cascading cancellation of all the NBA finals gamesas well as matches in MLB, WNBA, and MLS. There is much happening here and we could certainly use your prayers in southeastern Wisconsin, even as we lament over the great grief and pain gripping our nation right now.

“What a Leading Racial Reconciliation Advocate Learned from Her Critics” – “In her anticipated new release, Becoming Brave: Finding the Courage to Pursue Racial Justice Now, Brenda Salter McNeil invites readers not only to learn from her as a teacher and a guide but to gird up the courage to join her in the fight against racism and systemic injustice. In a book that is both necessary and prophetic—composed of equal parts history, biblical commentary, and personal narrative—Salter McNeil offers a distinctly pastoral approach. Her book is an exhortation to storm the gates, an admonition beyond heart and into the realm of action.”

“11 Back-to-School Prayers” – From David Taylor at Christianity Today: “The following is a collection of prayers related to the start of school. As both a professor of worship and a parent of two school-age children, I tried to imagine the sorts of things that parents and kids, teachers, school administrators, and community leaders might be feeling in light of the unpredictable realities that face them this fall.

“America’s Summer of Viral Meltdowns” – A word about viral outrage from Kaitlyn Tiffany in The Atlantic: “Social media treats everything as equally shareable, and part of the same broad, never-ending story about the terribleness of people. ‘Viral videos beget more viral videos,’ Katherine Cross, a doctoral student studying online toxicity at the University of Washington, told me. ‘They’ve become part of the culture.’ This vortex of outrage isn’t entirely organic: Once uploaded, these interactions quickly get reposted by enormous meme accounts, amplified by algorithms, and monetized by sites that specialize in spreading them. The videos have become so popular and ubiquitous that this is how the physical world appears to so many of us now: an astonishing array of potential viral interactions. Anywhere you turn, you might see something stupid, cruel, or worse—and the immediate impulse is to take out your camera and film it.”

“Turkey Turns Another Historic Church into a Mosque” – “The Turkish government formally converted a former Byzantine church into a mosque Friday, a move that came a month after it drew praise from the faithful and international opposition for similarly turning Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia into a Muslim house of prayer. A decision by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, published in the country’s Official Gazette, said Istanbul’s Church of St. Saviour in Chora, known as Kariye in Turkish, was handed to Turkey’s religious authority, which would open up the structure for Muslim prayers.”

“The fall of Falwell: A timeline of the ups, downs and scandals of his Liberty University presidency” – Jerry Falwell, Jr., resigned from Liberty University this past week after a series of scandals that put him at odds with the university’s Board of Trustees. Falwell has been one of the most public faces of a wing of evangelicalism allied with the Republican party, perhaps even more than with Christ. What happened? Emily McFarlan Miller and Jack Jenkins offer this timeline of Falwell’s presidency of Liberty since he took the position in 2007 to his resignation this past week.

Music: Peter Gabriel (featuring Kate Bush), “Don’t Give Up,” from So.

[I do not necessarily agree with all the views expressed within the articles linked from this page, but I have read them myself in order to make me think more deeply.]