Thursday's News & Ideas - 12/12/2019
- Popular DC pastor takes sabbatical
- Trump’s order on anti-Semitism
- Purity movement & shame
- Dutch church sold to Buddhists
- Ruffalo’s faith-fueled activism
- Mental health in construction
‘I feel so distant from God’: Popular D.C.-area pastor confesses he’s tired, announces sabbatical*
Washington Post: After 30 years of preaching more than 5,000 sermons, the Rev. Howard-John Wesley stood in front of his congregation on Dec. 1 and admitted he needed a break from the Lord’s work.
Trump aims to crack down on anti-Semitism on college campuses using civil rights protections
CNN: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to include discrimination against Jews as a violation of law in certain cases, with an eye toward fighting anti-Semitism on college campuses.
How the ‘extreme abstinence’ of the purity movement created a sense of shame in evangelical women
The Conversation: Millennial evangelicals are speaking out about the heightened emphasis on sexual purity that characterized their upbringing in that subculture.
Dutch officials after church sale: ‘It’s better to have Buddhists than apartments’
Crux: Parishioners are happy with the new owners: “The Buddhists invest an enormous amount of time and energy in the village.”
Actor Mark Ruffalo blends film and faith-fueled activism in ‘Dark Waters’
Religion News Service: Actor Mark Ruffalo said he's had a hard time melding his activism with storytelling. Then Ruffalo encountered the story of the people of Parkersburg, West Virginia.
The Spark
A construction company embraces frank talk about mental health to reduce suicide
The suicide of that construction worker for RK in 2014 became a pivotal event for the company, shaking its 1,500 employees, NPR says.
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