Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
By Andy Hale
Jack Jenkins does not shy away from writing on difficult topics. Just read some of his titles from recent articles. Last month he wrote an editorial response to the Las Vegas Shooting. “America has a skewed perception of what qualifies as terrorism” was a hard look at the research that say Americans react differently depending on a perpetrator’s race, religion, and methods. “The God whisperers: The most powerful Trump advisers you’ve probably never heard of” is a report on the unofficial faith council in the White House.
We sat down with Jack, the senior religion reporter for ThinkProgress, to talk about the motivation behind his writing and what gives him creative energy.
“The responsibility of the journalist, when writing about the intersection of religion and politics, is to relay accurate information. The goal is to not make the people you are writing about happy,” Jenkins said. He added, “If you wrote the write story and it is accurate, sometimes that will make people mad.”
We also asked him about the most difficult aspects of his work, along with what gives him the most life.
Jack served previously as the senior writer and researcher for the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at American Progress. He has also written for the Religion News Service, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Christian Century, and The National Catholic Reporter. Follow Jack at www.thinkprogress.org and @jackmjenkins on Twitter.
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CBF’s podcast shares stories from across the Fellowship and innovative practices of those working to renew God’s world. The vision is to share ideas, stories, and innovations from ministers, authors, and practitioners.
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Sponsorship:
This podcast episode is brought to you by The School of Divinity at Gardner-Webb University, Campbell University Youth Theological Institute, CBF ChurchWorks, and CBF Reference and Referral.
Andy Hale leads Church Starts Initiative and hosts the podcast of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Hale is a CBF church starter who serves as pastor of Mosaic of Clayton in Clayton, N.C. Follow on Twitter @haleandy
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