Thursday's News & Ideas - 6/20/2024

Louisiana requires Ten Commandments to be displayed in public classrooms*
The Washington Post: Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signed the legislation Wednesday.

Hundreds died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia amid intense heat, officials say
Associated Press: Hundreds of people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced intense high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said Wednesday as people tried to claim their loved ones’ bodies. 
The Conversation: Amid scorching heat, 900 people died this week in Saudi Arabia. Climate change has made the Hajj pilgrimage more risky

With world’s highest rates of religiously unaffiliated, East Asia remains spiritually vibrant
Religion News Service: While many East Asians do not identify with a religion, they continue to hold religious or spiritual beliefs in unseen beings, venerate ancestors’ spirits and engage in ritual practices, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center.

In Indiana, the MAGA revolution eats its own*
The New York Times: “Cadres of true believers inspired by Trump and by the religious movement that sees him as divinely ordained are seizing the party from the bottom up, much to the consternation of more traditional Republicans who thought they could indulge the MAGA movement without being overtaken by it.”

How a young Harriet Tubman found solace in syncretic religion
Lit Hub: Tiya Miles writes about the famed abolitionist’s early spiritual education in her new book “Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People.”

The Spark

This isn’t your grandparents’ summer heat 
The face of summer is transforming,* as people today face more frequent, longer-lasting and hotter heat waves than they did several decades ago, says Scientific American.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers