Wednesday's News & Ideas - 9/28/2022

LGBTQ-friendly church OK with getting Southern Baptist boot
Associated Press: The College Park church found itself in the news last week when the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee voted to remove it from its rolls because of its “open affirmation, approval and endorsement of homosexual behavior.”

What happened to giving money to charity?
Vox: What the data does show is that millions of Americans are no longer engaging in giving the way they used to. It’s driving conversations about what kind of data philanthropy should try to collect — and what it counts as “giving.”

Christians love a comeback story. Too often it’s cheap grace.
Religion & Politics: Many evangelicals can’t resist a charismatic leader with an amazing redemption story to share or sell.

Orthodox church in the Hamptons calls people with autism ‘part of our community’
Religion News Service: US Autism Homes provides an extended circle of friends through a private-public partnership involving the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons.

For some Christians, ‘rapture anxiety’ can take a lifetime to heal
CNN: From the moment they are old enough to understand, millions of people raised in certain Christian communities are taught that the rapture is something that can happen at any time.

The Spark

What makes spiders so terribly scary to human beings?
Why so many of us experience arachnophobia (and a few scientific ways to get rid of it), according to Lit Hub.

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