Friday's News & Ideas - 12/16/2022

Jordan unveils $100 million master plan for the second millennium of Jesus’ baptism
Religion News Service: ‘We decided on a biblical village theme that attempts to re-create a 2,000-year-old experience,’ said an official in charge of developing the site.

A look inside New York’s swirling kaleidoscope of faiths*
The New York Times: The city is home to some of the most spiritually and culturally diverse areas in the world. Here are some of them.

Florida pastor and son arrested in alleged $8m COVID relief fraud scheme
The Guardian: Christian missionaries who ran a faith-based organization allegedly used federal funds to buy a multimillion-dollar home.

Jesuits admit artist excommunicated before new abuse claims
Associated Press: The head of Pope Francis’ Jesuit religious order admitted that a famous Jesuit priest had been convicted of one of the most serious crimes in the Catholic Church some two years before the Vatican decided to shelve another case against him for allegedly abusing other adult women under his spiritual care.

Surviving Hillcrest*
Christian Century: Letta Cartlidge created a group for missionary kids who’d attended her boarding school in Jos, Nigeria. The stories of abuse poured in.

The Spark

Researchers say time is an illusion. So why are we all obsessed with it?
As technology to better count the time grows ever more sophisticated, our everyday understanding of time itself may need to start changing, NPR says.

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