Tuesday's News & Ideas - 7/21/2020

Can you be good without God? The answer may depend on how rich you are, a new survey finds
CNN: Educated people who live in rich countries are far less likely to say belief in God is necessary for good morals, according to a massive new survey of 38,000 people in 34 countries.
Pew Research: The global God divide

What if COVID-19 changes nothing?*
Christian Century: People keep saying we’ll be forever transformed by this pandemic. Some are skeptical.

NYU professor Scott Galloway predicts hundreds of universities will shutter, possibly for good, if they reopen in the fall
Business Insider: Universities planning to reopen for in-person classes in the fall are swept up in a “tsunami of denial” about the dangers of the pandemic because they're so dependent on student tuition to stay up and running.

As seminaries welcome openly transgender students, church lags behind
Religion News Service: Hartke is one of a growing number of openly transgender students graduating from mainline and non-denominational Christian seminaries, many of which have made strides over the past decade toward welcoming them to explore their spirituality.

Will big philanthropy defang our radical moment?
The New Republic: The Open Society Foundations and other massive organizations have pledged to support Black-led racial justice work. Is that a blessing or a curse?

The Spark

Your ‘doomscrolling’ breeds anxiety. Here's how to stop the cycle
The recent onslaught of dystopian stories related to the coronavirus pandemic, combined with stay-at-home orders, have enabled our penchant for binging on bad news. But the habit is eroding our mental health, NPR says

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