News & Ideas

Thursday's News & Ideas - 7/23/2020

  • Bible reading drops
  • Biden & white evangelicals
  • Sweden’s female priests underpaid
  • Revisiting Galileo vs. the church
  • House votes to end travel ban
  • How to give children joy

State of the Bible: Left unread during the coronavirus pandemic
Religion News Service: The number of American adults the American Bible Society considers “Scripture engaged” based on how frequently they read Scripture and its impact on their relationships and choices dropped significantly from 28% to 22.7% between January and June.

Should Biden reach out to white evangelicals?
Religion Dispatches: The thing about the debate over white evangelical Protestants is that Trump can’t lose any of them. He’s alienated too many other voters.

Church of Sweden’s female priests outnumber men -- but are paid less
The Guardian: Pay gap in largest Lutheran denomination in Europe was attributed to men occupying more senior positions.

Galileo: Science vs. religion or truth vs. fiction?
Deseret News: The intellectual situation surrounding Galileo’s case was rife with politics, and the battle lines were by no means clear cut.

House Democrats vote to end Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban
HuffPost: The bill, which amassed 233 votes for and 183 against, will now move on to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it is unlikely to pass.

The Spark

How to give children joy, even during a pandemic
The coronavirus forces parents to weigh their kids’ safety* against the need for freedom -- a tension Black parents have been contending with for generations, The New York Times says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers

Want to get News & Ideas in your inbox every weekday?
Subscribe to our
News & Ideas newsletter or receive our RSS feed in your RSS reader.



Sign up to receive religion news every weekday in the free News & Ideas newsletter

Signup options

Most recent News & Ideas

Wednesday’s News & Ideas - 6/18/2025

  • LDS polygamy revelation
  • Gay priest revitalizing TEC
  • Church hires deaf pastor
  • Australian church in decline?
  • 160 years of Juneteenth
  • A.I. is changing reading

Tuesday’s News & Ideas - 6/17/2025

  • After Mother Emanuel shooting
  • Brueggemann’s big God
  • Survey of Jewish students
  • Where are African saints?
  • ‘Supernatural church’
  • Dismantling food pantry

Monday’s News & Ideas - 6/16/2025

  • Attending more than one church
  • MN murder suspect is a minister
  • Why is the SBC powerful?
  • Making a group house a home
  • Mass at Sox field
  • Being an older father
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship logo

Nicene Creed conversations

The newest season of the “Public Worship and the Christian Life” podcast features three powerful conversations about the Nicene Creed to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the ecumenical Creed that emerged in 325.  

Learn More