Friday's News & Ideas - 8/18/2023

Faith leaders call for repentance and spiritual reformation to address climate change
Religion News Service: At the Parliament of the World’s Religions, faith leaders held a ceremony to repent for failing to care for the Earth.

SBC leader Willie McLaurin resigns after admitting he falsified resume
Religion News Service: McLaurin is the third Executive Committee leader to resign in controversy since 2018.

Ramaswamy’s faith singled out in DeSantis super PAC memo*
New York Times: An opposition research memo suggests that Vivek Ramaswamy, who has been gaining on Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida in some polls, “was very much ingrained in India’s caste system."

50 years later, Gustavo Gutierrez’s ‘A Theology of Liberation’ remains prophetic.
America: The following of Jesus required making sense of a new historical context where a people had become aware of the radical inequality and oppression that dictated their everyday life and condemned them by the millions to an early death.

These Christians think God needs you rich and to rule the world
Texas Observer: Wealthy megachurch televangelists are blending what’s known as the “prosperity gospel” with nationalist politics.

The Spark

What causes the Northern Lights?
An aurora is one of the most spectacular displays in the night sky — but how are these curtains of colorful light formed? Royal Museums Greenwich explains the aurora borealis.

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