Does the District of Columbia, the nation’s capital, have a prayer?

The question is not about politics, but rather a surge in street violence coming from young people. A group of religious leaders in the city, who say these youths don’t have purpose in life nor hope, met this week to try to counter the rising bloodshed.

Subscribe to have The Washington Times Higher Ground delivered to your inbox every Sunday.

The Washington Times’ Matt Delaney reports that pastors from Bethel Christian Fellowship and Adams Inspirational AME Church met with members of the Nation of Islam in the District’s troubled Anacostia neighborhood to tell those teens and young adults that they have value and purpose that are greater than petty disputes and physical attacks.

“Our young people are going through this crisis because they have basically been left to grow up on their own,” said George Stallings of the Imani Temple African American Catholic Congregation in Suitland, Maryland. “I don’t think parents are talking to their children about values, about their identity.”

AG Merrick Garland: ‘Catholics are not extremists’

Attorney General Merrick Garland told a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday he was “appalled” by an FBI memo’s suggestion that some practicing Catholics are “extremists” who merit scrutiny.

“The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, is so absurd.” Said Mr. Garland, whose grandmother escaped the Holocaust.

The FBI drew sharp criticism after a Richmond, Virginia, field office memo said “special attention” should be paid to Catholics devoted to the Traditional Latin Mass, a ritual whose use has been severely limited by Pope Francis.

Faith carried Gretchen Carlson before Fox News lawsuit

Where do you turn when facing a huge life challenge? Seven years ago, Gretchen Carlson, a Fox News Channel anchor, was about to file a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment in the workplace. She couldn’t talk about it with her friends or co-workers, but there was one person she could speak with — and that person gave her hope.

Ms. Carlson shared her very personal story with The Times.

Days before she filed that legal action, her pastor in Greenwich, Connecticut, told Ms. Carlson her grandfather, the late Rev. William J. Hyllengren, who had been pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in her hometown of Anoka, Minnesota, was watching and supporting her.

“That was, for me, the final determination that all would be well, even though it would be rough. … it was a huge part of making me feel comfortable to go ahead.” 

Atheist group targets Auburn for coaches’ role in worship event

Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze baptized one of his players at a spontaneous baptism after a prayer event at the public university this month.

Now an atheist group is targeting the university for the role Mr. Freeze and two other coaches — basketball coach Bruce Pearl and baseball coach Butch Thompson — played in the “Unite Auburn” event on Sept. 12.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation says the coaches “actively promoted” the event to students and sent a “warning letter” to the university’s president.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Sen. Tommy Tuberville, both Republicans pushed back on the atheists.

“We will not be intimidated by out-of-state interest groups dedicated to destroying our nation’s religious heritage,” Ms. Ivey wrote to the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s co-presidents, Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker. “Please understand that our state motto is, ‘We dare defend our rights.’”

Video: Transformation stars in ‘The Blind,’ story of Phil and Kay Robertson 

Billy Hallowell sat down with reality TV stars Phil and Kay Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” fame. The couple is taking their life story to the big screen in the new faith film “The Blind.” The couple, married for 57 years, tell a candid story of betrayal, redemption and reconciliation during the early years of their marriage. The movie tells how Mrs. Robertson learned to forgive and how her husband learned to trust God and forsake a sinful lifestyle. Those lessons changed their relationship and the trajectory of their lives.

In our opinion

Praying women are not a criminal threat. Convicting two women on “conspiracy” charges because they quietly prayed outside a D.C. bortion clinic is overkill, The Washington Times says in an editorial.

Jean Marshall, 73, and Joan Bell, 74, should have received a ticket for trespassing, the editors say, not endure federal indictments and now a conviction. Left-wing environmentalists who hold frequent stunts don’t usually face the treatment given to these pro-life demonstrators.

The Justice Department “wants its pound of flesh from those who dare challenge” abortion, “the one cause Democrats hold most sacred,” the editors said.

Just say “no” to an atheist president. The one thing any U.S. president must have — without exception — is a belief in God, columnist Billy Hallowell writes this week.

Mr. Hallowell says that not only do faith-friendly politicians such as Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis feel this way — “I don’t know how you could be a leader without having faith in God,” he said — but so do noted atheists such as political commentator S.E. Cupp, who said she would “never” vote for an unbelieving candidate for the nation’s top job.

“No one wants a theocracy,” Mr. Hallowell notes, but without feeling accountability to a higher power, any leader could be in trouble.

Encourage your kids before they go to school. Life-giving words can help kids stay encouraged and strong during the school day, contributor Kori Pennypacker writes.

“Reminding children God made them and loves them and he is with them all day gives them peace. Our children can have confidence in God’s wisdom, skill and capacity, after all according to the Bible,” she writes.

Her advice: “Be intentional about choosing your words in the morning for your children. Assure them that they are loved, heard and valued by you and by God, and that God is with them.

Busting the myth of a secular-founded America. Should people of faith keep their religious views out of politics? Everett Piper, in his “Ask Dr. E” column, says “No.”

“Those who understood our nation’s founding principles much better than we do thought religion had a whole lot to do with politics,” he writes. “It also seems that the ‘wall of separation’ [many] are so fond of was constructed to protect the church from the state and not visa versa.”