{"id":3997,"date":"2016-04-15T16:08:48","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T00:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=3997"},"modified":"2016-06-10T13:43:11","modified_gmt":"2016-06-10T21:43:11","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2016\/04\/15\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-45","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 45"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Fridays I share articles\/resources I have found helpful recently in thinking about broader cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom.<\/span><\/p>\n

This week there are a few more links than normal. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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  1. New Evidence On When The Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists<\/span><\/a> (Isabel Kershner, New York Times): \u201cOne of the longstanding arguments for why the main body of biblical literature was not written down in anything like its present form until after the destruction and exile of 586 B.C. is that before then there was not enough literacy or enough scribes to support such a huge undertaking. But if the literacy rates in the Arad fortress were repeated across the kingdom of Judah, which had about 100,000 people, there would have been hundreds of literate people, the Tel Aviv research team suggests.\u201d \u2014 also check out <\/span>the AP\/Guardian<\/span><\/a> on this. <\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Is Porn Immoral? That Doesn\u2019t Matter: It\u2019s a Public Health Crisis<\/span><\/a> (Gaile Dines, Washington Post): \u201cAfter 40 years of peer-reviewed research, scholars can say with confidence that porn is an industrial product that shapes how we think about gender, sexuality, relationships, intimacy, sexual violence and gender equality \u2014 for the worse\u2026. just as the tobacco industry argued for decades that there was no proof of a connection between smoking and lung cancer, so, too, has the porn industry, with the help of a well-oiled public relations machine, denied the existence of empirical research on the impact of its products.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Facebook Employees Asked Mark Zuckerberg If They Should Try To Stop A Donald Trump Presidency<\/span><\/a> (Michael Nunez, Gizmodo): \u201cFacebook has toyed with skewing news in the past. During the 2008 presidential election, Facebook secretly tampered with 1.9 million user\u2019s news feeds. An academic paper was published about the secret experiment, claiming that Facebook increased voter turnout by more than 340,000 people. In 2010, the company tampered with news feeds again. It conducted a 61-million-person experiment to see how Facebook could impact the real-world voting behavior of millions of people. In 2012, Facebook deliberately experimented on its users\u2019 emotions. <\/span> The company, again, secretly tampered with the news feeds of 700,000 people and concluded that Facebook can basically make you feel whatever it wants you to.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. I Was A Closeted Christian At The Pentagon<\/span><\/a> (Matthew Spence, Washington Post): \u201cI feared how coming out as a practicing Christian would define me. I worried that my bosses, peers and subordinates might associate me with American officials who have spoken of U.S. military engagements in the Middle East as \u2018crusades\u2019 or with the Islamic State\u2019s declaration of holy war. I feared that talking about my faith would detract from the logic of my arguments. And, as a relatively young person in a senior position, I needed every scrap of credibility I could claim.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Why Jesus\u2019 Skin Color Matters<\/span><\/a> (Christena Cleveland, Christianity Today):  \u201cWhile Christ the Lord transcends skin color and racial divisions, white Jesus has real consequences.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Houston police officer presents a few \u201cdouble-edged sword\u201d scenarios regarding body cameras<\/span><\/a> (reddit): unintended consequences are always difficult to predict. <\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Was It Wrong To Hack and Leak the Panama Papers?<\/span><\/a> (Tyler Cowen, blog): surprisingly stimulating.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Onward Christian Soldiers: In the Era of Trump-Style Politics, Evangelical Voters Are Not a Monolith<\/span><\/a> (Julie Lyons, Houston Press): this is a very insightful and data-rich article.<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. The Tensions Threatening the Future of Religious Freedom Law<\/span><\/a> (Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News): this is a very good summary of the current state of religious freedom legislation.<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. Christianity and Korea<\/span><\/a> (Dave Hazzan, The Diplomat): \u201cEvangelical zeal to send missionaries to places most others would never go \u2013 including Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, and Yemen \u2013 have caused headaches for the government. In 2007, after ignoring the government\u2019s advice, 27 Korean missionaries to Afghanistan were kidnapped by the Taliban, and two were killed. In 2009, the Korean foreign ministry warned Korean Christians to stop missionizing in Arab countries, fearing it was making Koreans terrorist targets.\u201d9<\/span><\/li>\n
  11. Kinda Random<\/span>\n