Friday's News & Ideas - 2/1/2019

Fat and happy: the comforts of practicing a religion
Religion News Service: People who are active in their religious congregations tend to be happier, a new Pew survey finds. But that advantage doesn't extend to their waistlines.
Pew Forum: Religion's relationship to happiness, civic engagement and health around the world

Six ways to repair declining social trust
Stanford Social Innovation Review: We must take proactive and preventive steps to restore trust across government, business, and civic institutions, or societies around the world may be at greater risk of chaos and conflict.

How to have productive disagreements about politics and religion
The Conversation: Research suggests people intuitively draw a distinction between what is known and what is believed. Recognizing the difference can help in ideological disagreements.

How the religious right gained unprecedented access to Trump
The (London) Guardian: As the president offers a sympathetic ear - and policies to match - critics see a de facto advisory committee, violating federal law.

Cuban evangelicals push back against gay marriage
Associated Press: A Cuban government push to legalize gay marriage has set off an unprecedented reaction from the island's rapidly growing evangelical churches, whose members are expected to widely reject a state-proposed constitutional reform in a nationwide referendum this month.

The Spark

10 global megatrends facing education
At the BBC, Andreas Schleicher director of education and skills for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development sets out the biggest social, economic, political and technological questions being asked of schools around the world.

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