Friday's News & Ideas - 1/10/2025

California congregations vow to help neighbors even as their buildings are lost to fires
Religion News Service: A synagogue, a mosque, a Catholic parish and at least 7 Protestant churches are among the buildings destroyed by the wildfires raging in California.

A looming ‘demographic cliff’: Fewer college students and ultimately fewer graduates
NPR: The current class of high school seniors scheduled to graduate this spring will be the last before an expected long decline begins in the number of 18-year-olds — the traditional age of students when they enter college.

Rash of charismatic Christian leaders departs Daystar amid ongoing scandal
Religion News Service: The Christian TV network says the departures of Lance Wallnau, Jack Graham, Jesse Duplantis and others are unrelated to the controversy involving alleged abuse cover-up.

A move toward Christianity stirs in a Muslim land*
The New York Times: Christian converts in Kosovo, where the vast majority of people are Muslim, hope to revive a pre-Islamic past they see as a key to their European identity.

Brazil’s fight over the soul of a snack*
Christianity Today: For decades, acarajé has been considered an offering to Afro-Brazilian religious deities. What happens when evangelicals start producing and selling it?

The Spark

How a would-be bomber rebuilt his life
Zakaria Amara was jailed for his part in the Toronto 18 terror plot. Then came the hard work of redemption, The Walrus says.

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