Tuesday's News & Ideas - 8/23/2022

Jehovah’s Witnesses to return to door knocking, a sign of new COVID-19 stage
Religion News Service: Door knocking has not only been a physical mainstay for Jehovah’s Witnesses but an ideal they have fought for in courtrooms.

Alarm over Texas law forcing schools to display ‘In God We Trust’ signs
The Guardian: Civil rights advocates say it ‘imposes religion’ as new law requires public campuses to display any donated items bearing that phrase

Demolition of shuttered church begins after long battle
Associated Press: Demolition of a shuttered 19th-century church in Philadelphia has begun following a yearslong battle by some neighbors to save the crumbling structure.

Evangelical Christian churches gain ground in majority Catholic Brazil
NPR: Brazil is the world's largest Catholic country. But evangelical Christian churches are popping up everywhere, even in the jungle, and now about one-third of Brazil's population is evangelical.

Four nuns kidnapped in latest blow to Nigeria’s beleaguered Christians
Crux: Unknown gunmen abducted four nuns in Nigeria’s Imo state Sunday, making the sisters the latest victims in a swath of kidnappings – many targeting the Catholic community – plaguing the west African nation.

The Spark

The radical political power of friendship
It can help us push back against tyranny. Philosopher Hannah Arendt’s legendary cocktail parties were proof, Vox says.

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