Wednesday's News & Ideas - 12/18/2024
- Religion helps holiday blues
- Top Bible verses of 2024
- Christianity & democracy
- Catholic Charities v. Wisconsin
- UMC schism leads to violence
- Short sleepers
Religious traditions can help with holiday blues, mental health experts say
Religion News Service: Both faith leaders and mental health experts say religious traditions and faith communities can play a key role in helping people get through the winter holidays, when rates of depression and anxiety are proven to increase.
What verses anxious Bible readers turned to in 2024*
Christianity Today: Bible platforms see Philippians and the Psalms rise in popularity as stressed-out readers look for comfort during an economically and politically turbulent year.
What if our democracy can’t survive without Christianity?*
The New York Times: In a conversation with David French, atheist and public policy fellow Jonathan Rauch suggests that what really needs to happen to get our country on a better track is for Christianity not to become more secular or more liberal, but to become more like itself, to become more truly Christian.
A new Supreme Court case about religion has a hidden trap for workers
Vox: Catholic Charities v. Wisconsin has a sympathetic plaintiff, and alarmingly high stakes for workers.
Deadly violence in Nigeria tied to United Methodist Church schism over LGBTQ policies
The Associated Press: A United Methodist church member was shot and killed and homes were set ablaze in a confrontation between Global Methodists and United Methodists in Taraba, a state in northeast Nigeria.
The Spark
Why do some people need just four to six hours of sleep?
Short sleepers cruise by on four to six hours a night* and don’t seem to suffer ill effects. According to the Scientific American, these individuals are genetically built to require less sleep than the rest of us.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
