Thursday's News & Ideas - 12/12/2024

For feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, activist devotees adorn Mary with Palestinian symbols
Religion News Service: The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast day falls on Dec. 12, has emerged as a symbol among Latino activists and artists in the U.S. and Mexico of their support for Palestinians in Gaza.

Could this tiny school break down the wall between church and state?*
The New York Times: Officials in Oklahoma are laying the groundwork to push Christianity into public schools.

Nationalism and religious hatred are as old as time, filmmakers say
Baptist News Global: Donald Trump’s victorious presidential campaign rode a wave of nationalism and religious hatred as old as humankind itself, said Todd Stiefel, executive producer of the documentary “Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy.”

Indigenous leaders bring first case under Texas’ COVID-19-era religious liberty measure
Religion News Service: In oral arguments before the state Supreme Court, Texas’ deputy solicitor general argued that the amendment was “not a Swiss Army knife of religious liberty” and that “the amendment’s scope is designed to protect the right to gather,” not to protect sacred spaces themselves.

Religious service attendance linked to lower dementia risk in Black older adults
PsyPost: An analysis of data from the Health and Retirement Study focusing on Black participants found that older adults with higher participation in religious or spiritual activities were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias.

The Spark

Santa for the super-rich
“The holidays* are notoriously hell for personal assistants — they’re basically running Santa’s workshop on top of their normal job,” says one former PA, The Cut says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers