Your Most Important Identity + Today’s Digest

Our daily rundown of the articles from around the web that we feel our readers would enjoy and appreciate. We hope to highlight the best of what’s around.

Public Square Bulletin recommends:

President Nelson tells young adults to focus on three fundamental truths, including ‘who you are’

Tad Walch—Deseret News

President Russell M. Nelson told a worldwide audience of young adults that they have three primary identities 1) Child of God 2) Child of the Covenant 3) Disciple of Christ. You can read more of our coverage.

USCIRF Calls on Iran to Remove Restrictions on Golrokh Iraee Following Release from Prison

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Iran has released religious prisoner Golrokh Iraee from prison. She had advocated for the end of stoning. She continues to have travel and speech restrictions, and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has called for those restrictions to be removed.

Being a Political Journalist Made Me a Better Christian

Jon Ward—Christianity Today

Yahoo’s Chief National Political Correspondent writes about how his career in journalism has helped him increase his faith. His journey is useful to all people of faith seeking to find a way to balance their interaction in the public square with their convictions and relationship with Christ.

5 Ways Pastors Can Care for Those Struggling with Sexual Identity

Carl R. Trueman—Crossway

Carl Trueman, author of the new book Strange New World, has written about ministering to those dealing with issues of sexual identity. His article is directed to pastors but is applicable to all folks looking for a way to navigate these issues in a caring and Christian context.

Making Sense of the Racist Mass Shooting in Buffalo

Isaac Chotiner—The New Yorker

The New Yorker has a useful explainer of what influenced the senseless racist shooting in Buffalo. By Common Consent has a take on how Latter-day Saints might appropriately approach the kinds of media that influenced the shooting.

On Key

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General Conference Recap: Civility

General conference is one of my favorite things in life, and this time was particularly important to me. Messages about Jesus, faith, Easter, and holy week, but this time a further message about how the disciple of Christ has an obligation to be a peacemaker. I loved it. Not just civility, something deeper: the call to peacemaking. I suspect we’ll talk more about it in coming episodes, so for now, a highlights reel.

Religion as a Healer in the Media

Much has been said about the Christian nationalism present in the hate crime mass shooting in Buffalo, including by us in the Public Square Bulletin. In fact a search for “Buffalo Shooting” and “Christianity” all center on the Christianity of the shooter, whether decrying the role religion played in leading to the shooting or taking efforts to separate religion from the actions of the shooter. But little has been said about the faith of the victims and community. This is a common thread in media reporting on tragedies, focusing on the way religion influenced perpetrators, but not how it helped heal victims. Religion News Services interviewed Rev. Denice Walden about the attack, and she was able to turn the focus to just those too-often underreported questions. Walden said, “We’ve also put out a call to clergy to just be a presence in this community. Just be a presence of peace, a presence of comfort, a presence of love in this community. Because at the end of the day, that’s what’s going to help us start to process. That’s what’s going to help us start to heal.” After the climax of a tragedy has passed, and the journalists move on, those remaining are often left with the long work of healing and community building, and it’s there where religion shines.

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