News & Ideas

Monday's News & Ideas - 10/5/2020

  • Francis’ new encyclical
  • Notre Dame president has virus
  • Evangelical group for Biden
  • Wright and Brueggemann books
  • Single-issue voters hurt Christians
  • Saving Uighur culture

Pope Francis laments failures of market capitalism in blueprint for post-COVID world
NPR: Pope Francis has presented his blueprint for a post-COVID-19 world, covering a vast number of issues from fraternity and income inequality to immigration and social injustice.

Notre Dame president has virus. Senator leaves Atlanta faith conference to quarantine
Religion News Service: The Rev. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame University, announced on Friday (Oct. 2) that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus after attending the White House event to present Judge Amy Coney Barrett as Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

A new group of evangelical leaders forms in support of Biden*
The Washington Post: The group favoring Biden, set up by longtime evangelical leaders Ron Sider and Rich Mouw, includes several leaders who have retired from major evangelical institutions.

N. T. Wright and Walter Brueggemann look to the Bible for wisdom during the pandemic*
Christian Century: In their new books, they both resist easy answers to the problem of suffering.

Catholics shouldn’t only care about abortion while voting, Texas bishop says
HuffPost: It harms Christians’ credibility when they prioritize abortion over other social issues -- such as racism and poverty, writes Bishop Mark Seitz.

The Spark

Saving Uighur culture from genocide
China’s repression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang has forced those in the diaspora to protect* their identity from afar, The Atlantic says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers

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Lilly logo

Lilly Endowment Inc. announces Exploring Christian Practices Initiative

The Exploring Christian Practices Initiative aims to multiply opportunities and increase access to settings that help individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds explore and engage in Christian practices to address their spiritual interests and questions, find and build community with others, nourish their religious lives and grow in faith. 

In this open and competitive initiative, the Endowment invites charitable organizations to submit proposals for grants of up to $2.5 million each that may be used for up to a five-year period to develop new and/or enhance existing programs that present promising strategies for advancing the aim of the initiative and provide compelling and thoughtful responses to its guiding questions. The Endowment anticipates awarding approximately 60 grants and announcing grant awards in December 2026.

The Endowment will host four virtual information sessions (February 17, 19, 24, and 25) to discuss the Exploring Christian Practices guidelines for submitting a proposal. An Interest Form and Letter of Interest are due March 25, 2026. Complete proposals are due May 18, 2026.

Learn More and register for information sessions