Tag: catholicism

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 65

1 Chronicles 12:32 - they "understood the times"
1 Chronicles 12:32 — they “understood the times”

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. The health effects of religious service attendance (reddit AMA): the researcher, Tyler VanderWeele, is a Harvard professor and a believer. You can see his Veritas talks here.
  2. If you’re not a sports person, you may not know that the San Francicso 49’s quarterback recently refused to stand for the national anthem because America is unjust. Controversy ensued. Two alumni shared relevant articles: Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery and the saltier Why I’ll Never Stand Again For ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’. Doug Wilson offered good insights at The Seated Colin Kaepernick. See also Be Useful (A Post About Colin Kaepernik) by Scott Adams and Insulting Colin Kaepernick Says More About Our Patriotism Than His by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. For a contrary view, see Colin Kaepernick, Meet Henry Johnson (David French, National Review).
  3. Framed. (Christopher Goffard, LA Times): this is one of the craziest things I have read all year. Highly recommended. Heads up: there is a Stanford connection in the story and it is not a positive one.
  4. What science really has to say about sexuality and gender (Joe Carter, ERLC): this is a readable summary of a 144 page PDF written by Paul McHugh (a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins) and Lawrence Mayer (an biostatistician at Arizona State). From the original article: “Sexual orientation and gender identity resist explanation by simple theories. There is a large gap between the certainty with which beliefs are held about these matters and what a sober assessment of the science reveals.”
  5. How The Catholic Church Documented Mother Teresa’s 2 Miracles (Tom Gjelten, NPR): “The group reasoned that if Duffin, as an atheist, found there was no scientific reason the woman should have recovered, who could doubt it was a miracle? In fact, after her investigation of the woman’s recovery, Duffin agreed that the woman’s healing was — for lack of a better word — miraculous.” The Pope and I disagree about a lot of things (including saints), but I have long been impressed with the way the Catholic Church critically evaluates miracles.
  6. FBI Says Foreign Hackers Penetrated State Election Systems (Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News): I am convinced we are way more vulnerable on this front than most people know.
  7. The Sneaky Program To Spy On Baltimore From Above (Conor Friederdorf, The Atlantic): “In reality, unlike in 1984, Big Brother may watch for awhile without revealing that there is a Big Brother.”
  8. Waiting To Die (Michael Patton): well worth your time.

Things Glen Found Amusing

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).

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.

Archives at http://glenandpaula.com/wordpress/category/links.

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 23

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.

To that end, on Fridays I’ve been sharing articles/resources I have found helpful recently in thinking about broader cultural and societal issues (be sure to see the disclaimer at the bottom). May these give you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar. Past emails are archived at http://glenandpaula.com/wordpress/category/links

Without further ado, I give you the interesting things:

  1. The Ultimate List of Birthday Freebies (Stanford Daily, Samantha Wong): This is, without a doubt, one of the most useful links I have ever shared with you. Not so much about broader societal issues — but you’ll want to read it nonetheless.
  2. The Anti-Free Speech Movement at UCLA (The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf): I particularly liked this bit: “The college students fighting to limit free speech or to punish free expression are courting tremendous harms that would ultimately fall disproportionately on the least powerful, most marginalized groups of the present and future…. activists who say that they live in a system of white supremacy [should not] empower state administrators to police speech at their discretion!”  For much more, check out UCLA law prof Eugene Volokh’s comments on campus freedom of speech (some of which are quoted in the Friedersdorf article).
  3. Cash Strapped Missionaries Get A New Calling: Home (Wall Street Journal, Tamara Audi): this is sad. I encourage you to pray for and give to missionaries.
  4. Reframing The Debate About Payday Lending (the blog of the New York Fed): Fascinating. I’ve been critical of payday lenders in the past, but at least some of my misgivings appear to have been off the mark.
  5. A Black Legend Refuted (Catholic World Report): this is a review of Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler. The review is from a biased source, but is the most detailed of the reviews I’ve seen. Kirkus Reviews, a secular source, also has good things to say about it as does First Things, which is in between the two ideologically. The book’s endorsements are impressive.
  6. Quick links:

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.