{"id":6148,"date":"2020-07-10T22:16:07","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T06:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=6148"},"modified":"2020-07-10T22:16:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T06:16:09","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-258","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2020\/07\/10\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-258","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 258"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a>\n\n    On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"simple-list wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/08\/us\/coronavirus-churches-outbreaks.html\">Churches Emerge as Major Source of Coronavirus Cases<\/a> (Kate Conger, Jack Healy and Lucy Tompkins, New York Times): \u201cMore than 650 coronavirus cases have been linked to nearly 40 churches and religious events across the United States since the beginning of the pandemic, with many of them erupting over the last month as Americans resumed their pre-pandemic activities, according to a New York Times database.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.challies.com\/articles\/are-churches-a-major-source-of-coronavirus-cases\/\">Are Churches \u201cA Major Source of Coronavirus Cases?\u201d<\/a> (Tim Challies, personal blog): \u201cIf I have $3,000,000 in the bank and you give me another $650, you\u2019d hardly be in the position to claim that you had made a major contribution to my wealth. Similarly, adding 650 cases to America\u2019s total caseload of 3 million is no more than a blip that leaves 99.98% attributable to other causes.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/edstetzer\/2020\/july\/churches-coronavirus-new-york-times-churches-are-taking.html\">Churches, Coronavirus, and the New York Times<\/a> (Ed Stetzer, Christianity Today): \u201cIt is strange (at best) to use words like \u2018major\u2019 and \u2018erupted\u2019 when describing 650 cases. On that point, the headline is misleading. Having 650 cases in my county might be news, but 650 nationally out of three million cases is a headline looking for a story. The real story is this: churches are gathering and remarkably few infections are taking place.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/magazine\/2020\/07\/27\/americas-racial-progress\/\">America\u2019s Racial Progress<\/a> (David French, National Review): \u201cThere are two things that I believe to be true. First, that America has a long history of brutal and shameful mistreatment of racial minorities \u2014 with black Americans its chief victims. And second, that America is a great nation, and that American citizens (and citizens of the world) should be grateful for its founding. Perhaps no nation has done more good for more people than the United States. It was and is a beacon of liberty and prosperity in a world long awash in tyranny and poverty.\u201d<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/harpers.org\/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate\/\">A Letter on Justice and Open Debate<\/a> (many signatories, Harpers): \u201cThe restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society, invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation. The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each&nbsp;other.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/07\/arts\/harpers-letter.html?smid=tw-share\">Prominent Artists and Writers Warn of an \u2018Intolerant Climate\u2019<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/jennifer-schuessler\">Jennifer Schuessler<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/elizabeth-a-harris\">Elizabeth A. Harris<\/a>, New York Times): \u201c\u2018We\u2019re not just a bunch of old white guys sitting around writing this letter,\u2019 Mr. Williams, who is African-American, said. \u2018It includes plenty of Black thinkers, Muslim thinkers, Jewish thinkers, people who are trans and gay, old and young, right wing and left&nbsp;wing.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/fredrikdeboer.com\/2020\/07\/07\/ending-the-charade\/\">ending the charade<\/a> (Freddie deBoer, personal blog): \u201cPlease, think for a minute and consider: <strong>what does it say when a completely generic endorsement of free speech and open debate is <\/strong><strong><em>in and of itself <\/em><\/strong><strong>immediately diagnosed as anti-progressive, as anti-left?<\/strong>\u201d(emphasis in original)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-53221035\">Lazarus Chakwera: Malawi\u2019s president who \u2018argued with God\u2019<\/a> (BBC): \u201cIn the unmistakable cadence of a preacher, Malawi\u2019s new President, Lazarus Chakwera, appealed for unity in his country shortly after he was sworn in on Sunday. The day of the week seemed fitting as the former head of the Malawi Assemblies of God, one of the largest Christian denominations in the country, treated the stage like a pulpit to inspire fervour with his&nbsp;words.\u201d<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/culture\/annals-of-inquiry\/slate-star-codex-and-silicon-valleys-war-against-the-media\">Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valley\u2019s War Against the Media<\/a> (Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker): \u201cThe division between the Grey and Blue tribes is often rendered in the simplistic terms of a demographic encounter between white, nerdily entitled men in hoodies on one side and diverse, effete, artistic snobs on the other.\u201d Interesting throughout.&nbsp;<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/providencemag.com\/video\/christianitys-covert-success\/\">Christianity\u2019s Covert Success<\/a> (Mark Tooley, Providence) \u201cI quote an Indian professor who says that Christianity proceeds in two ways, through conversion\u2014which is obvious, that\u2019s how people tend to think Christianity precedes\u2014but he then says, through secularization. And I think he\u2019s absolutely right. And I think that the assumption of people in the West that the secular is somehow neutral, that if you\u2019re secular, you\u2019ve somehow escaped the bounds of cultural contingency, couldn\u2019t be more&nbsp;wrong.\u201d<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/09\/opinion\/supreme-court-religion.html\">On Religion, the Supreme Court Protects the Right to Be Different<\/a> (Michael McConnell, New York Times): \u201cThe court may be political, but its politics is of the middle, and of a particular kind of middle, one that is committed to pluralism and difference rather than to the advancement of particular moral stances.\u201d The author is a Stanford law&nbsp;prof.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"simple-list wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc-comics.com\/comic\/human-2\">Human<\/a> (SMBC)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/nonsequitur\/2020\/07\/10\">Food Hell<\/a> (Non Sequitur)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2020\/07\/10\">This Is Kinda Brilliant<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/textsfromsuperheroes.com\/post\/623174028868419584\/harleybat\">Harley Quinn<\/a> (Texts From Superheroes)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/tiktoks-chinese-spies-stealing-all-americas-most-top-secret-dance-moves\/\">Report: Chinese Spies Using TikTok To Steal All America\u2019s Top-Secret Dance Moves<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KI4XyqHUUMM\">Wes Iseli Head or Tails coin trick<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): nine minutes<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LUfyKkxumT8\">Caleb Wiles<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): nine minutes<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VIUJ22_EL3M\">Alana Does Fashion Magic<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): seven minutes<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=meYQmKDyR8E\">DK Water &amp; Magic Trick<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): ten and a half minutes<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6roXhzyd4g4\">Winston Consumed By Cards<\/a> (America\u2019s Got Talent, YouTube): four minutes<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting A While&nbsp;Ago<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Every week I\u2019ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.is\/g4mfx\">Planet of Cops<\/a> (Freddie de Boer, personal blog): \u201cThe woke world is a world of snitches, informants, rats. Go to any space concerned with social justice and what will you find? Endless surveillance. Everybody is to be judged. Everyone is under suspicion. Everything you say is to be scoured, picked over, analyzed for any possible offense. Everyone\u2019s a detective in the Division of Problematics, and they walk the beat 24\/7\u2026. I don\u2019t know how people can simultaneously talk about prison abolition and restoring the idea of forgiveness to literal criminal justice and at the same time turn the entire social world into a kangaroo court system.\u201d First shared in <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2018\/07\/20\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-161\">volume 161<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) 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\u2019ll 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.\n\nAlso, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about it.\n\nIf this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is 650 a lot? it depends. Pennies? No. Murders? Yes. Coronavirus cases? Depends on where they spread.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"My usual assortment of fascinating morsels from around the web, including a bevy of magic videos.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[266,168,124,120,152,161,127,160,275,116,138],"class_list":["post-6148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-africa","tag-america","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-famous-christians","tag-free-speech","tag-global-christianity","tag-history","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-pandemic","tag-race","tag-religious-freedom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1Ba","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6148"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6152,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions\/6152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}