Thursday's News & Ideas - 1/9/2025

Don’t call him evangelical — how to remember Jimmy Carter’s faith, and how not to
Religion Dispatches: As Jimmy Carter campaigned for the presidency on his way to the White House in November, Newsweek magazine declared 1976, “The Year of the Evangelical.” But then, as now, the application of the “evangelical” label to Jimmy Carter misleads more than it illuminates.
The New York Times: Carter never took to Washington. The feeling was mutual.*

‘Do you have the Torahs?’: Synagogue fights LA wildfires to rescue its past
Religion Unplugged: The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was one of more than 1,000 buildings reduced to ash as wildfires, fed by hurricane-force winds and parched conditions, raged with a vengeance across Southern California.

Your pastor won’t text you to ask for gift cards*
Christianity Today: Leaders are working to keep their flocks from getting fooled by impersonation scams, which use church details to prey on members’ generosity.

A religion podcast has more listeners than Joe Rogan and Kylie Kelce right now
Deseret News: “The Rosary in a Year” is one of 2025′s most popular podcast projects.

Pope names nun to head a Vatican department, a first for a woman*
The New York Times: Sister Simona Brambilla was appointed as the prefect of a Vatican office that oversees religious orders, but she may not be alone at the top.

The Spark

Why is the American diet so deadly?
A scientist tried to discredit the theory that ultra-processed foods* are killing us, The New Yorker says. Instead, he overturned his own understanding of obesity.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers