{"id":7639,"date":"2025-03-14T17:11:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T00:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7639"},"modified":"2025-03-14T17:11:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T00:11:27","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-495-math-points-to-god-slavery-persists-and-the-gospel-draws-crowds-at-stanford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/03\/14\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-495-math-points-to-god-slavery-persists-and-the-gospel-draws-crowds-at-stanford","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 495: Math Points to God, Slavery Persists, and the Gospel Draws Crowds at Stanford"},"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=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sarahsalviander.substack.com\/p\/the-miracle-of-math\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The miracle of math<\/a> (Sarah Salviander, Substack): \u201cIn 1960, theoretical physicist Eugene Wigner identified a metaphysical mystery for the ages: why are the laws of nature so aptly described by mathematics? It is a deceptively simple question. We think we grasp the answer easily\u2014until we actually try to explain it. Wigner\u2019s essay, titled \u2018The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences,\u2019 highlights this enigma. The term \u2018unreasonable\u2019 captures the bewildering reality that there is no apparent reason why math should so flawlessly mirror the universe\u2019s behaviors. This suggests, whether intended by Wigner or not, that the answer to this mystery lies beyond the universe.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author is an astrophysicist who now does apologetics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For those who have never seen it, here is the well-known paper: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maths.ed.ac.uk\/~v1ranick\/papers\/wigner.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences<\/a> (Eugene Wigner, Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics): \u201cThe miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve. We should be grateful for it and hope that it will remain valid in future research and that it will extend, for better or for worse, to our pleasure, even though perhaps also to our bafflement, to wide branches of learning.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/03\/05\/world\/asia\/xuzhou-china-chained-woman-incident-activists.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Secret Campaign in China to Save a Woman Chained by the Neck<\/a> (Vivan Wang, New York Times): \u201cThe outcry rippled nationwide for weeks. Many observers called it the biggest moment for women\u2019s rights in recent Chinese history. The Chinese Communist Party sees popular discontent as a challenge to its authority, but this was so intense that it seemed even the party would struggle to quash it. And yet, it did. To find out how, I tried to track what happened to the chained woman and those who spoke out for her. I found an expansive web of intimidation at home and abroad, involving mass surveillance, censorship and detentions \u2014 a campaign that continues to this&nbsp;day.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pray for China regularly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Related: slavery is not a relic of the past and crops up in unexpected places. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cn892zq6z43o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UN judge guilty of forcing woman to work as slave<\/a> (BBC): \u201cGasps were heard from the public gallery as the verdicts were given, and the court was cleared as the defendant appeared unwell.\u2026 Mugambe, who was studying for a law PhD at the University of Oxford, had conspired with Ugandan deputy high commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa to arrange for the young woman to come to the&nbsp;UK.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some American details from another article: <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/latest-news\/un-judge-found-guilty-of-slavery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UN Judge, Onetime Columbia University Human Rights Fellow, Found Guilty of Slavery<\/a> (Matthew Xiao, Washington Free Beacon): \u201cMugambe was a fellow housed within Columbia University\u2019s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, whose fellows work to \u2018address some aspect of a history of gross human rights violations in their society, country, and\/or region,\u2019 in&nbsp;2017.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/jesus-is-a-jew\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jesus Is A Jew<\/a> (David Brooks, Comment): \u201cJesus is inherently mysterious\u2014a lion who is also a lamb. But he is also intelligible. And that\u2019s because he lived an actual life in an actual historical context.\u2026 Jesus is amid the muck and armed with the Word, and yet emerges as a figure ultimately alone\u2014a vortex of spiritual forces converging in one person, no one else quite like&nbsp;him.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewatlantis.com\/publications\/we-live-like-royalty-and-dont-know-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">We Live Like Royalty and Don\u2019t Know It<\/a> (Charles Mann, The New Atlantis): \u201cMy wife and I were at a tableful of smart, well-educated twenty-somethings \u2014 friends of the bride and groom. The wedding, with all its hope and aspiration, had put them in mind of the future. As young people should, they wanted to help make that future bright. There was so much to do! They wanted the hungry to be fed, the thirsty to have water, the poor to have light, the sick to be well. But when I mentioned how remarkable it was that a hundred-plus people could parachute into a remote, unfamiliar place and eat a gourmet meal untroubled by fears for their health and comfort, they were surprised. The heroic systems required to bring all the elements of their dinner to these tables by the sea were invisible to them. Despite their fine education, they knew little about the mechanisms of today\u2019s food, water, energy, and public-health systems. They wanted a better world, but they didn\u2019t know how this one worked.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewatlantis.com\/publications\/how-agriculture-system-works\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Breakfast for Eight Billion<\/a> (Charles Mann, The New Atlantis): \u201cSometime in the 1980s, an unprecedented change in the human condition occurred. For the first time in known history, the average person on Earth had enough to eat all the&nbsp;time.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plough.com\/en\/topics\/life\/work\/the-workism-trap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Workism Trap<\/a> (Bobby Jamieson, Plough): \u201cAnd a 2018 research article found that, compared to women who graduated from lower-ranked schools, women who attended elite, selective universities do not, on average, earn more per hour, but they do work more. For women, it seems, the benefits of an elite diploma are more time at work and lower chances of marrying and having children.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Vaguely related (at least to the excerpt): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/richard-reeves-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Are Men OK<\/a>? (Eamon Whalen, The Nation): \u201cThe biggest risk factor for dropping out of college, controlling for everything else, is being a man. Those struggles have extended to the labor market. When adjusted for inflation, most American men today earn around $3,000 less than men did in 1979, which leads to a grim realization: Much of the narrowing of the persistent wage gap between men and women can be explained by the stagnating wages for&nbsp;men.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commenting on the above article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaronrenn.com\/p\/richard-reeves-men\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Creating a Permission Space for Men\u2019s Issues<\/a> (Aaron Renn, Substack): \u201cThe feminist movement\u2019s success depended on telling men they had to change, that there were certain choices and behaviors they could no longer engage in. It also explicitly reallocated resources and positions from men to women.&nbsp; While I don\u2019t think the situation with men is symmetrical, it strikes me as dubious that nothing needs to change with regards to women. For example, as economist Melissa Kearney, also a Brookings affiliated scholar, documented in her superb book <em>The Two-Parent Privilege<\/em> \u2014 I summarized some key findings \u2014 the benefits of growing up in an intact family vs. a single parent home are overwhelming. The United States has the highest share of its children living in single parent homes of any country in the entire world. That\u2019s American exceptionalism we could live without.\u201d (emphasis removed for readability)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stanfordreview.org\/is-religion-taboo-at-stanford\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Is Religion Taboo at Stanford?<\/a> (Sloane Wehman, Stanford Review): \u201cOn the afternoon of Monday March 3, hundreds of students congregated in White Plaza to listen to Cliffe Knechtle and his son Stuart Knechtle debate Christianity as a part of their \u2018Give Me An Answer\u2019 ministry, a program that strives to answer tough questions about faith. Cliffe and Stuart are both pastors at Grace Community Church in New Canaan, Connecticut, and Cliffe has been debating students on Christianity since developing the Give Me An Answer ministry in&nbsp;1991.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A video summarizing their time on White Plaza: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/tYDb0OA2pyE?feature=shared\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Are People Morally Outraged At The Biblical God?<\/a> (Stuart &amp; Cliffe Knechtle, YouTube): thirty minutes, filmed at Stanford. Disclaimer: Chi Alpha was the sponsor of their ministry time on White&nbsp;Plaza.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5176047\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Do You Solve a Problem Like <em>Martinez<\/em><\/a>? (Benjamin Fleshman, SSRN): \u201cAll told, there are reports of 175 religious student groups that were fully denied official recognition since 1990. One hundred and nineteen of those groups were kicked off their campuses after Martinez was decided. That means that more than twice as many groups have been derecognized in the fifteen years since Martinez than in the twenty years beforehand. Part of this is due to the more aggressive mass derecognitions at the University of Iowa, California State University, and Vanderbilt. There really weren\u2019t any massive derecognition campaigns pre-Martinez, with the largest being Cal State\u2019s derecognition of a handful of groups that led to the litigation in Alpha Delta Chi. When you include the number of recognition issues that stopped just short of a full derecognition, but which still required the intervention of legal counsel or national organizations to resolve, the numbers shoot to 257 total reported incidents since 1990, with 195 occurring post-Martinez. That means roughly three times as many total reported incidents post-Martinez as pre-Martinez.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mentions Chi Alpha (not at Stanford, just generally) in a few places. The Becket Fund, with whom the author is affiliated, are Chi Alpha\u2019s legal representatives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/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=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/02\/24\/world-news\/pilot-with-allergy-to-spiders-is-bitten-mid-flight-by-a-tarantula\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pilot with allergy to spiders is bitten mid-flight by stowaway tarantula<\/a> (New York Post): \u201cA pilot with a severe allergy to spiders was bitten mid-flight by a stowaway tarantula \u2014 forcing hours-long delays as the plane was fumigated after landing safely, according to reports.\u2026 Investigators believe the tarantula entered the plane via luggage on an earlier flight between Madrid and Casablanca, a city in Morocco, according to the outlet.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cLess serious\u201d might be the wrong place to put this, but it struck me how crazy it is. This is like a low-budget Hollywood plot. \u201cThere\u2019s a tarantula on a plane, right? And it bites the one guy on the flight allergic to it. And get this \u2014 he\u2019s the&nbsp;pilot!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dorktower.com\/2025\/03\/04\/19376\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Town Hall Meetings<\/a> (Dork&nbsp;Tower)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/man-who-thought-he-grew-up-poor-suddenly-realizes-his-dad-was-just-a-cheapskate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Man Who Thought He Grew Up Poor Suddenly Realizes His Dad Was Just A Cheapskate<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2025\/03\/10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sizes<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc-comics.com\/comic\/cosmology-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cosmology<\/a> (SMBC)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2025\/03\/13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">What Divides Us<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/3063\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Planets<\/a> (xkcd)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/looseparts\/2025\/03\/14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">QR Code<\/a> (Loose Parts)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/asian-mom-disappointed-son-just-a-regular-surgeon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Asian Mom Disappointed Son Just A Regular Surgeon<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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:\/\/theglendavis.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. Things Glen Found Interesting Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email? In the time \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/03\/14\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-495-math-points-to-god-slavery-persists-and-the-gospel-draws-crowds-at-stanford\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 495: Math Points to God, Slavery Persists, and the Gospel Draws Crowds at Stanford\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/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":"","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":[124,241,308,138,178,135],"class_list":["post-7639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-judaism","tag-mathematics","tag-religious-freedom","tag-slavery","tag-stanford"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1Zd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7639","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=7639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7640,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7639\/revisions\/7640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}