Friday's News & Ideas - 9/22/2023
- Gallup poll on spiritual & religious
- Evangelical colleges’ enrollment up
- When your boss has Bible study
- Baptist leader steps down over fund use
- Community of murdered Sikh activist
- AI-assisted writing
In U.S., 47% identify as religious, 33% as spiritual
Gallup: Although the vast majority of U.S. adults have one of these orientations toward the nonphysical world, the 18% who say they are neither religious nor spiritual is twice the proportion Gallup measured when it first asked this question in 1999.
Evangelical colleges celebrate best-ever enrollment numbers*
Christianity Today: Eleven evangelical college and universities have announced record enrollment this fall — which is a record for breaking records, as far as anyone in Christian higher education remembers.
What happens when the boss invites you to Bible study?*
The New York Times: Secular companies have invited employees to bring their “whole selves” to work. That increasingly includes their religion.
Beloved N.C. Baptist charity leader steps down over alleged misuse of $89,000 in donations
Religion News Service: Michael Blackwell, who had led the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina since 1983, spent tens of thousands of dollars in the past three years on personal expenses and used charitable funds to buy his wife a car, according to a forensic audit.
‘His spirit is still among us’: Sikhs defiant in Canada city where activist was murdered
The Guardian: Colleagues say they knew Hardeep Singh Nijjar could be targeted by India for his role in Canada as a community leader.
The Spark
Confessions of a viral AI writer
Despite my success with AI-generated stories,* I'm not sure they are good for writers—or writing itself, Vauhini Vara writes at Wired.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
