{"id":6283,"date":"2020-09-11T17:13:11","date_gmt":"2020-09-12T01:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=6283"},"modified":"2020-09-11T17:13:11","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T01:13:11","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-267","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2020\/09\/11\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-267","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 267"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" 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 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>     On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have some new members on our mailing list \u2014 <strong>welcome! <\/strong>I\u2019d like to direct you to the disclaimers at the end of this email \u2014 they really do matter and I really do mean them. <br><br>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:\/\/scitechdaily.com\/unconscious-learning-underlies-belief-in-god-stronger-beliefs-in-people-who-can-unconsciously-predict-complex-patterns\/\">Unconscious Learning Underlies Belief in God \u2013 Stronger Beliefs in People Who Can Unconsciously Predict Complex Patterns<\/a> (Sci Tech Daily): \u201cIndividuals who can unconsciously predict complex patterns, an ability called implicit pattern learning, are likely to hold stronger beliefs that there is a god who creates patterns of events in the universe, according to neuroscientists at Georgetown University.\u201d Shocker: people who see reality clearly are more likely to perceive God\u2019s hand at work in reality.&nbsp;<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/news\/2020\/september\/redeemer-pres-keller-ues-purchase-construction-condo.html\">Redeeming Condos, Presbyterians Buy NYC Building for $30 Million<\/a> (Kathryn Watson, Christianity Today): \u201cIn a study of 22 US cites\u2014including Grand Rapids, Detroit, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Seattle\u2014Hartson and Williams looked at mailing list data to identify addresses that were labeled as churches in 2003 but not in 2018. They identified approximately 200 church buildings that had been flipped for commercial or residential use. In the same cities, in the same 15 years, they found about 2,000 commercial spaces that had been turned into houses of worship. While there are many sacred spaces becoming secular, it seems more are converting the other way.\u201d \ud83d\udc40 \u2014 I did not know this and am very encouraged by&nbsp;it.&nbsp;<\/li><li>On politics:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/shatteringparadigms\/2020\/09\/no-longer-human\/\">No Longer Human<\/a> (George Yancey, Patheos): \u201cIn one way it really does not matter if Trump or Biden wins the presidency. Either way you will have a substantial percentage of individuals who will feel displaced. They will be tempted to create an us versus them mentality in which they can envision the election victors as enemies of the state who must be defeated at all costs. \u201d The author is a sociologist at Baylor.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Related \u2014 two articles highlighting how the right is afraid of the left in America:&nbsp;<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/dreher\/ideology-binds-and-blinds-elizabeth-bruenig-left-liberal\/\">Ideology Binds And Blinds<\/a> (Rod Dreher, The American Conservative): \u201cAs I see it, the \u2018major threat of the far left\u2019 to us on the right \u2014 the <strong>major<\/strong> threat, not the <strong>only<\/strong> threat \u2014 is that in power, they will go pedal to the medal on a soft totalitarian \u2018social justice\u2019 regime that would punish dissenters by costing them their livelihoods, and ruining their churches and other institutions.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/dougwils.com\/books-and-culture\/s7-engaging-the-culture\/on-not-accepting-stolen-elections.html\">On Not Accepting Stolen Elections<\/a> (Douglas Wilson, personal blog): \u201cDon\u2019t take your eye off the ball. Who is going to be rioting in late November after the election? <em>Well, who\u2019s rioting now?<\/em> This is not a trick question.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/li>\n<li>And it\u2019s not just one-sided. Here are two articles highlighting how the left is afraid of the right in America:&nbsp;<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/the-left-secretly-preps-for-violence-after-election-day\">The Left Secretly Preps for MAGA Violence After Election Day<\/a> (Sam Stein, The Daily Beast): \u201c\u2018I don\u2019t know what the strategy is when armed right-wing militia dudes show up in polling places,\u2019 the same source said. \u2018This [Kyle] Rittenhouse guy is being lionized on the right, right now. If it is being unleashed that you can shoot people and be a hero, I don\u2019t know what preparation we can possibly do for&nbsp;that.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/eand.co\/we-dont-know-how-to-warn-you-any-harder-america-is-dying-26ff80912391\">We Don\u2019t Know How to Warn You Any Harder. America is Dying.<\/a> (umair haque, Medium): \u201cThere is a crucial lesson there. America already has an ISIS, a Taliban, an SS waiting to be born.A group of young men willing to do violence at the drop of a hat, because they\u2019ve been brainwashed into hating. The demagogue has blamed hated minorities and advocates of democracy and peace for those young men\u2019s stunted life chances, and they believe him. That\u2019s exactly what an ISIS is, what a Taliban is, what an SS is. The only thing left to do by an authoritarian is to formalize it.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2020\/09\/system-still-works\/616141\/\">Democratic Change Still Works<\/a> (Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic): \u201c\u2026look at the mountain of evidence that change through the civic process is not only possible, but a recurring reality, and that it began long before Floyd\u2019s death.\u201d I believe much of our current cultural conflict can be understood in terms of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tocqueville_effect\">Tocqueville Paradox<\/a>, which I have also heard referred to as \u201cThe Paradox of Rising Expectations.\u201d<\/li><li>On racism:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/princetons-president-wrong-university-not-systemically-racist-opinion-1530480\">Princeton\u2019s President Is Wrong. The University Is Not Systemically Racist<\/a> (Sergiu Klainerman, Newsweek): \u201cUnable to identify specific cases of racism, these warriors for social injustice are advancing their agenda by claiming instead that all American institutions, including Princeton, are structurally and systemically racist (\u2018SSR\u2019). That is to say, that they are racist even as they manifestly do everything imaginable to promote under-represented groups. Princeton, for example, has had for years an extraordinarily large number of administrators (by some counts, over 65) dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion.\u201d The author is a professor of mathematics at Princeton.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edwardfeser.blogspot.com\/2020\/09\/scholastics-contra-racism.html\">Scholastics contra racism<\/a> (Ed Feser, personal blog): \u201cThe falsity and evil of racism, and thus of those institutions, clearly follows from standard Scholastic [theological] thinking about human nature and natural law.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mereorthodoxy.com\/book-review-anti-racist-ibram-x-kendi\/\">Book Review: How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi<\/a>(Bill Melone, Mere Orthodoxy): \u201cBut recent criticism of social justice advocacy and the Black Lives Matter movement has failed to criticize the best of antiracist thinking, and is much the lesser for it. This is particularly true when that criticism does not engage seriously with the work of Ibram X.&nbsp;Kendi.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/article\/no-racism-isn-t-a-creation-of-white-people-\">No, racism isn\u2019t a \u2018creation of white people\u2019<\/a> (David Abulafia, The Spectator): \u201cIt is therefore a sad and horrible truth that every continent has experienced racist persecutions before as well as after the age of the European empires. Quite possibly the first <em>Homo Sapiens<\/em> played a big role in the disappearance of the Neanderthals.\u201d The author is a history professor at Cambridge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2020\/09\/08\/christian-musician-sean-feucht-seattle-bethel-worship-protest-concert-covid-19\/\">Christian musician Sean Feucht held defiant Seattle worship protest after concert was banned<\/a> (Julia Duin, Religion News Service): \u201cSean Feucht, 37, the rally organizer, laughed about the conflict with city officials while welcoming the crowd of 800 to 900 people. \u2018Welcome to Seattle\u2019s largest worship protest,\u2019 he said at the beginning of a two-hour set. \u2018Turn to each other and say, \u201cWelcome to the protest.\u201d In this city, that makes it a legal gathering.\u2019\u201d<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/frenchpress.thedispatch.com\/p\/christians-gun-rights-and-the-american\">Christians, Gun Rights, and the American Social Compact<\/a> (David French, The Dispatch): \u201cThe distinctive Christian presence has to include modeling the responsible, virtuous exercise of the rights its political movements seek to secure. It has to include using its voice and power to advocate for that responsibility and to oppose recklessness. Simply put, the republic was not designed to thrive if those who are religious are not also&nbsp;moral.\u201d&nbsp;<\/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:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/humans-are-basically-good-says-man-who-has-never-met-a-3-year-old\/\">\u2018Humans Are Basically Good,\u2019 Says Man Who Has Never Met A 3\u2011Year-Old<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/libertarians-remind-americans-they-can-actually-choose-lesser-of-three-evils\/\">Libertarian Party Reminds Americans They Can Actually Choose Lesser Of Three Evils<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefarside.com\/2020\/09\/11\/0\">An Oldie But A Goodie<\/a> (The Far&nbsp;Side)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/californians-begin-putting-lambs-blood-on-doorposts-just-in-case\/\">Californians Begin Painting Lamb\u2019s Blood On Doorposts Just To Be On The Safe Side<\/a> (Babylon Bee): a lot of y\u2019all ain\u2019t in California now, so you might not appreciate just how apocalyptic things were two days ago. Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/20\/09\/the-apocalyptic-red-western-skies-caused-by-climate-change-fueled-wildfires\">this gallery<\/a>.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-09-02\/coffin-confessor-bill-edgar-reveals-secrets-of-dead-at-funerals\/12619946\">\u2018Coffin confessor\u2019 Bill Edgar paid to gatecrash Queensland funerals and speak up for the dead<\/a> (Annie Gaffney and Sally Rafferty, Australia Broadcasting Corporation): \u201cMr Edgar runs a business in which, for $10,000, he is engaged by people \u2018knocking on death\u2019s door\u2019 to go to their funerals or gravesides and reveal the secrets they want their loved ones to&nbsp;know.\u201d<\/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=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2019\/01\/07\/the-philosopher-redefining-equality\">The Philosopher Redefining Equality<\/a> (Nathan Heller, New Yorker): \u201cWhen she was three, her mother asked, \u2018Why do you allow your brother to talk for you?\u2019\u2014why didn\u2019t she speak for herself? \u2018Until now, it simply was not necessary,\u2019 Elizabeth said. It was the first full sentence that she had ever uttered.\u201d I think that\u2019s the best first sentence I\u2019ve ever heard of. The article is a tad long, but recommended. First shared in <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/02\/08\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-189\">volume 189<\/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>some apologetically-interesting links near the top \u2014 recommended!<\/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":"There are some apologetically-interesting links near the top. 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