News & Ideas

Monday's News & Ideas - 7/29/2024

  • Trump’s promises to Christian voters
  • Church of the Nazarene expels theologian
  • Vance’s Catholic conversion
  • ‘Culturally Christian’ leaders
  • Gospel star comes out
  • Public pools

Trump tells Christian voters they ‘won’t have to vote anymore’ if he’s elected
NPR: Former President Donald Trump struck several familiar notes in his address to Christians at Turning Point Action’s “Believers Summit” in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Church of the Nazarene expels LGBTQ-affirming theologian
Religion News Service: The church court stripped the Rev. Thomas Jay Oord, of Nampa, Idaho, of his preaching credentials and expelled him from membership in the 2.5 million-member global denomination.

JD Vance’s Catholic conversion is part of young conservative movement*
The Washington Post: The Republican vice-presidential nominee and Ohio senator was raised nominally evangelical, then dabbled with atheism before converting in 2019.

Elon Musk says he’s a ‘cultural Christian’ – why some leading thinkers are embracing Christianity
The Conversation: Some of these thinkers have embraced Christianity to combat changes brought by a rapidly changing world. Yet they often struggle to accept Christianity’s central supernatural claims, like Christ’s resurrection.

‘This is right, this is the future of the church’: Gay black evangelist on coming out
The Guardian: The declaration by a highly influential black Christian gospel star that he is gay has exposed a generational divide in attitudes towards sexuality that could signal a transformation within evangelical churches.

The Spark

Public pools are good, actually
Pools offer so much more than a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, Vox says.

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Wednesday’s News & Ideas - 4/29/2026

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Tuesday’s News & Ideas - 4/28/2026

  • Pope, archbishop pray together
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