You’ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting
On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions, so if you read something fascinating please pass it my way.
Things Glen Found Interesting
- The 19th-Century Influencer Who Invented Thanksgiving (LuElla D’Amico, The Dispatch): “Hale wanted something different—not in opposition to the Fourth of July, but in addition to it. She believed the nation needed a day centered not on military victory, but on home, gratitude, and shared belonging. Again, this is why she doesn’t fit neatly into our ideological bins. She championed national unity, yet she believed that domestic life—largely women’s work in the 19th century—could mold a republic just as importantly as more public-facing work. If the Fourth of July taught independence, Hale believed Thanksgiving could teach interdependence: that a nation is sustained not only by the freedoms we fight for, but by the commitments we keep to one another around a shared table.”
- Super interesting. Even more interesting: she wrote “Mary Had A Little Lamb” — WOW. Established Thanksgiving and wrote a beloved childhood rhyme — what an absolute legend!
- How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails (Anand Giridharadas, New York Times): “People are right to sense that, as the emails lay bare, there is a highly private merito-aristocracy at the intersection of government and business, lobbying, philanthropy, start-ups, academia, science, high finance and media that all too often takes care of its own more than the common good.… Generally, you can’t read other people’s emails. Powerful people have private servers, I.T. staffs, lawyers. When you get a rare glimpse into how they actually think and view the world, what they actually are after, heed Maya Angelou: Believe them.”
- A monument to answered prayer begins to rise in a secularizing England (Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service): “Last week, Gamble, 56, broke ground on that vision — a 168-foot-tall architectural landmark that is expected to be one of the largest Christian monuments in England, if not the world. (Christ the Redeemer, the iconic statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro, is 98 feet.) It is planned to open to the public in 2028. The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer, with a price tag of 45 million pounds (or $59 million), will not, however, feature any familiar Christian icons such a cross, a fish, a lamb or a representation of Jesus. Instead it will consist of a giant white Möbius strip stretching nearly the size of a football field, upon which a million small rectangular bricks will be overlaid, each with a digitally linked story of answered prayer accessible on a mobile app.”
- The monument’s website: https://www.eternalwall.org.uk/
- What Thanksgiving Means to Me (Garry Kasparov, Persuasion): “The notion of a free society is abstract. Thanksgiving celebrates abundance, and abundance is tangible. You can taste it. Smell it. Hear it. The turkey and mashed potatoes on your plate, the chatter with loved ones, whom you’re free to visit—these are the fruits of a free society.”
- The Nones Project: Well Being (Ryan Burge, Substack): “The most apparent result from this graph is that Christians do express a demonstrably higher level of life satisfaction compared to the non-religious in the sample. On the scale from 1–7, both Catholics and Protestants scored an average of 5.2. That’s just slightly above ‘somewhat satisfied.’ Among the nones, the group that was clearly the most satisfied were the Nones in Name Only (NiNos) at 5.0. Slightly below that were the Dones at 4.85, then the SBNRs [Spiritual But Not Religious] at 4.75. The group that easily scored the lowest of all four types were the Zealous Atheists at 4.57.”
- Emphasis removed for readability. Reading the article and looking at the data, I think the Dones do come off a little worse than Burge concludes. He doesn’t explain it in this article, but the Nones in Name Only are people who check “nothing in particular” on surveys but who nonetheless regularly do religious things — envision someone who comes consistently to church but isn’t actually sure if they consider themselves Christian.
- The Incarnation Sheds Light on Astrophysics (Deborah Haarsma, Christianity Today): “When Jesus was conceived in Mary, he took on atoms from her—as we all do from our mothers—and those atoms had histories stretching far beyond our solar system. Those atoms assembled into genes to give shape to his bones and blood and into organic chemicals shared with all life on earth. Each cell of Jesus’ body embodies his love for his creation—not only humans but also the animals, plants, mountains, and rivers often mentioned in Scripture. His very atoms once glowed in beautiful nebulae and powerful supernovae in the far reaches of space. Indeed, when God took on human form, he took on all of creation.”
- Why Euthanasia Feels Intuitive (Tim Challies, blog): “Because aging and death are the ultimate means through which we prove we have no true autonomy and through which we lose our independence, euthanasia is a means of avoiding what is difficult, humiliating, or seemingly intolerable. In this way, euthanasia is a natural or perhaps inevitable result of Western culture.… Though this is already plenty troubling, here is something that troubles me even more: Having been raised in this society, my instincts intuitively accept euthanasia. I do not want others to make my decisions for me and I do not wish to become dependent upon them. In fact, I would feel a significant degree of guilt were I to need others to care for me, to be inconvenienced on my behalf, or to have them put their own dreams on hold in order to ensure my provision. There is an abhorrent way in which it all just makes sense, in which my instincts accept it as good, or as acceptable, at least.”
Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen
- Mom Continues Longstanding Tradition Of Making Cranberry Sauce For No One (Babylon Bee)
- Jesus Bot Is Always on Demand (for a Small Monthly Fee) (Jessica Grose, New York Times): “This version of Jesus looks like he stepped off the cover of a romance novel and sounds like a management consultant. He offers the same kind of canned guidance that I could get from a LinkedIn hustle bro, with a dash of Scripture and an upsell (a home screen widget with personalized verses for just $39.99 a year!) attached.”
- This probably should go in the section above, but I only like to have seven links up there.
- Bedtime Prayers (Pearls Before Swine): Nov 18, 2025
- Soul Mate (Pearls Before Swine): Nov 21, 2025
- Thai woman found alive in coffin after being brought in for cremation (Associated Press): “Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, told The Associated Press on Monday that the 65-year-old woman’s brother drove her from the province of Phitsanulok to be cremated. He said they heard a faint knock coming from the coffin. ‘I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,’ he said. ‘I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.’”
Why Do You Send This Email?
In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.
Disclaimer
Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.