RNS Morning Report: Matt Queen, SBC pastor and former seminary professor, pleads guilty to lying to FBI

Top Stories Matt Queen, SBC pastor and former seminary professor, pleads guilty to lying to FBI (RNS) — Queen is the first SBC leader to be charged in an ongoing DOJ investigation into the nation's largest Protestant denomination.   World Methodist Council’s first female head talks about what holds a fracturing church together (RNS) — A bishop in the United Methodist Church since 2012, the Rev. Debra Wallace-Padgett will lead an umbrella group of more than 80 Methodist denominations around the world.   After UMC approves same-sex marriage, unrest breaks out in Liberian church (RNS) — Protests broke out on Sunday at the New Georgia United Methodist Church in Monrovia over the suspension of the Rev. Leo Mason, the church’s senior pastor and an outspoken critic of same-sex marriage. The protests spread to other churches in the capital, prompting riot police to intervene.   Faith-based environmental groups take on fossil fuels as ‘a sacred duty’ (RNS) — Over the summer GreenFaith, a faith-based environmental activist group, condemned Citigroup investment bank for financing fossil fuel projects, calling the bank’s actions a direct participation in moral wrongdoing.   RNS Opinion Amid Jewish vulnerability, Sukkot offers a lesson in dependence (RNS) — No matter how fragile our physical fortresses may be, we give harbor to neither despair nor insecurity.   Going home again: A childhood synagogue, a Talmudic classroom and ‘Our Town’ (RNS) — Someday, somewhere in the back row, I’ll sit with Moses, my father and Emily Gibbs, smiling.   ICYMI Religious school choice advocates envision next steps after significant wins (RNS) — ‘After more than three decades of incremental growth, the tide has turned in the battle for parental choice and education,’ said Nicole Stelle Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.   ‘The Mystics Would Like a Word’ finds the practical lessons in ancient feminine wisdom (RNS) — ‘Studying the mystics can help us learn to mine the depths of ourselves and learn how to discern what we trust within ourselves,’ said Shannon Evans of her new book based on the lives of Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, Thérèse of Lisieux and others. In Other News Local bishop encourages the faithful following raging fire that destroyed church in Chile Pope Francis to publish Hope, the first memoir from a sitting pontiff   Talk to Us We want your feedback on the RNS Morning Report — what you think we're doing right and what we should be doing differently. Send us an email at Comments@ReligionNews.com Subscribe to other RNS Newsletters. Forward this email to a friend. View the archive of past newsletters. RNS is free to read, but it's not free to produce. If you value our reporting, please consider making a donation today at religionnews.com/donate. If you prefer to mail a donation, please address to: Religion News Foundation, PO Box 1808, Columbia, MO 65205. Yes, I support the work you're doing! Forward this email to a friend