Wednesday, April 29, 2026

RNS Weekly Digest: Evangelical broadcasting group asks FCC to investigate ABC over Jimmy Kimmel joke

Evangelical broadcasting group asks FCC to investigate ABC over Jimmy Kimmel joke

A group of evangelical broadcasters has asked the Federal Communications Commission to open an investigation into ABC over a Jimmy Kimmel comedy routine about first lady Melania Trump. On Tuesday (April 28), the federal agency, whose chairman was appointed by President Donald Trump, announced it would challenge the TV station’s broadcast license, according to reports by CNN and Semafor.

The FCC decision came as criticism of Kimmel’s recent sketch on his “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late night show about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner piled up from his critics, including the president.

Last week, Kimmel joked about the first lady having “a glow like an expectant widow,” during a sketch about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that aired two days before the actual reception held in Washington, D.C. The sketch prompted backlash after a shooter allegedly targeting the president and other administration officials opened fire at the event on Saturday. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, who reportedly thanked his church in his manifesto, has since been charged with attempting to assassinate the president.

 Religion & Politics

Muslims perform zikr, a Sufi devotional practice, inside the war-damaged Sheikh GaribAllah Mosque in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In Opinion
And finally, New imaging uncovers hidden text in ancient Christian manuscript

An international research team has recovered 42 lost pages from Codex H, a sixth-century Greek New Testament manuscript of St. Paul’s letters, using multispectral imaging and carbon dating.

The new discovery, led by Garrick Allen, a professor of divinity and biblical criticism at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, offers insight into how early Christians read and understood Scripture — and provides a point of connection for contemporary Christians.

Monks annotated the letters of St. Paul with poems, prayers and reflections at the remote Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. Codex H is also one of the earliest-known examples of the Euthalian Apparatus, a system of chapter lists and headings to organize Paul’s letters, relied on long before the chapter and verse system used today. 

“We mark up our own Bibles or make annotations or think about the complexities of these texts that were part of a much longer tradition of people who have been doing this same activity for 2,000 years,” Allen told RNS in an interview Monday (April 27), after the university announced the discovery days earlier.

Support our responsible reporting on religion
  • Forward this newsletter to a friend
  • Make a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit newsroom here
  • Or mail us a check: Religion News Foundation PO Box 1808 Columbia, MO 65205
  • Email membership@religionnews.com with a news tip or a comment
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Email
LinkedIn
YouTube
Copyright © 2026 RNS, All rights reserved.

No comments:

Post a Comment