Wednesday's News & Ideas - 9/25/2024

A church where Mark Robinson still has defenders*
The New York Times: At a Black evangelical church in North Carolina, the candidate for governor still has support. 
Religion News Service: Mark Robinson may no longer be the headliner. But NC evangelicals still back him.

Sent by God*
Slate: They’re gathering by the thousands. They’re growing fast. They believe that Democrats are possessed by demons — and that Donald Trump must be president again at any cost.

Church property conference offers congregations more than prayer to keep their buildings
Religion News Service: Congregations facing hard choices about what to do with underutilized, high-maintenance sacred structures heard from real estate experts at a recent conference on the future of church buildings.

Was Paul disabled?*
The Christian Century: In a new book, Isaac Soon employs a sociocultural model of disability as a lens for reading the apostle’s letters.

Their churches no longer feel safe. Now Nicaraguans are taking their worship home
Associated Press: By changing venues every day, lowering their voices and gathering as early as 4 a.m. to avoid detection, they kept worshipping.

The Spark

How cat memes went viral 100 years ago 
Whether it's mail sent with a stamp in 1924 or posts made with the tap of a finger in 2024, cats of all forms have always been there for artists and audiences, says the BBC.

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