Roberto Clemente Book Removed From Florida Public Schools Pending Review Over Discrimination References

Nicole Acevedo for MSNBC reports that a book about late Afro-Puerto Rican MLB legend Roberto Clemente is among more than 1 million titles that have been “covered or stored and paused for student use” at the Duval County Public Schools District, according to Chief Academic Officer Paula Renfro. This comes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed laws last year that require schools to rely on certified media specialists to approve which books can be integrated into classrooms, blocking topics such as critical race theory. Roberto Clemente “often denounced racism and discrimination in his native Spanish language” in his time as a professional baseball player, and he also left a legacy of humanitarian work. In Duval County, more than 30 book flagged by school officials were by Latino authors or focused on Latino characters and narratives, including Julie Maren’s “Sonia Sotomayor (Women Who Broke the Rules Series)”. In 2021, PRRI found that more than 3 in 4 Americans (76%) agreed that “Teaching children about the history of racism in America will help our country move toward a healthier future.”

A Third of Americans Are Christian Nationalists and Most Are White Evangelicals

Yonat Shimron for Religion News Service reports on the PRRI/Brookings Institution study, which found that roughly a third of Americans are adherents or sympathetic of Christian nationalist views. Shimron writes that the vast majority of Americans (70%) do not think the government should declare America a Christian nation, and nearly 60% do not think its laws should be based on Christian values. However, she notes that Christian nationalists have an outsized influence in American politics as more than half of Republicans can be categorized as Christian nationalist adherents or sympathizers. Shimron highlights that Christian nationalists also tend to be older, with about two-thirds of Christian nationalists and their sympathizers over the age of 50, and are also less educated than other Americans.

The Downballot: When Is a Poll a Quality Poll? With Natalie Jackson

David Nir and David Beard for the Daily Kos recently spoke with Natalie Jackson, research director at PRRI, discussing, among other things, what indicators Jackson uses to determine whether a survey is worth taking seriously and why white evangelical Christians are the real outliers when it comes to religious groups’ views on abortion. With respect to abortion attitudes, Jackson highlights that “[T]here are a lot of differences between religious affiliations and their views on abortion. Of course, the real outlier is [the] white Christian evangelical group.” Jackson notes that PRRI research has found “Jewish people, religiously unaffiliated people, other non-Christian religions, are those we usually find in the 70% to 80% range in favor of having abortion legal in most or all cases.”

The Truth Behind the ‘He Gets Us’ Ads for Jesus Airing During the Super Bowl

AJ Willingham for CNN reports that “He Gets Us,” a campaign to promote Jesus and Christianity, ran twice during last night’s Super Bowl which is part of a staggering $100 million media investment. Following a national launch in 2022, the campaign portrays Jesus as an immigrant, a refugee, a radical, an activist for women’s rights and a bulwark against racial injustice and political corruption. Willingham underscores that the “He Gets Us” website features content about of-the-moment topics, like artificial intelligence and social justice. Critics have noted that some of the campaign’s major donors have ties to conservative political aims and far-right ideologies that appear at odds with the campaign’s inclusive messaging. The campaign is a subsidiary of The ServantFoundation, also known as the Signatry, which has donated tens of millions to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is a conservative Christian legal group. The ADF has had a heavy hand in the overturn of Roe v. Wade and in pushinganti-LGBTQ legislation.

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Read the full report, “A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture” here.