Tuesday's News & Ideas - 9/17/2024

Pope criticizes Harris and Trump and tells US Catholics to choose ‘lesser evil’
The Guardian: The Pope likens abortion to ‘assassination’ and condemns Trump over immigration plans.

Everything you need to know about the Texas’ Bible-forward lesson plans*
The Houston Chronicle: The proposed state-created textbooks, worksheets and lesson plans have drawn controversy as around 10% of the reading lessons contain Biblical allusions.

China frees American pastor after 18 years in detention
NPR: An American pastor jailed in China for more than 18 years has been released this week, according to the State Department on Monday.

How rituals of faith became another casualty of war*
The New York Times: Marking major holidays has been completely upended for three religions this year. For Palestinians in the West Bank, restrictions have limited access to holy sites.

Hundreds march in Brazil to support religious freedom as cases of intolerance rise
The Associated Press: Practitioners of different religious traditions marched down Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Copacabana Beach on Sunday to support religious freedom in Brazil, where cases of intolerance have doubled over the past six years.

The Spark

Scans capture sweeping reorganization of brain in pregnancy
MRIs taken from before conception until two years after birth show some short-lived changes and some lasting years, The Guardian says.

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