Sunspots 592

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity:A Christianity Today article on the pervasive role of coffee in many churches.

Christianity Today also has an article on reasons why we can't afford not to pray for each other.

A writer for Relevant points out three lies that churches often teach about dating.

A Christianity Today interviewee wants us to stop reading the Bible in little pieces.


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware points to a helpful article on how to sort, and how to find most anything in your gmail.

Education: A Scientific American contributor weighs in on whether tablet devices are a good teaching tool.
 
Politics: A Relevant writer says that "we" are not in a holy war with ISIS.

Science: Scientific American reports that people react differently to moral dilemmas when they hear about them in a language other than their native tongue.

Scientific American also reports that a bipartisan group of military leaders is urging action to prepare for climate change. (The Republican-controlled Congress has specifically barred the military from doing so!)

And, says Scientific American, there is an almost unknown group of soil microorganisms, the Cercozoans, that occur in immense numbers, and astonishing variety, and are important in soil ecology.


Sports: (or something) The Associated Press reports that an 800-plus pound alligator has been caught in South Carolina.

Congratulations to In Gee Chun (aka Chun, In-Gee) on arguably achieving the best score ever in a major tournament, by a golfer of either sex, in the recent Evian Championship. (ESPN; Wikipedia)





Image source (public domain)

What ISIS Really Wants

The Atlantic has published a long, but readable analysis, on "What ISIS Really Wants." The bottom line: the West, including, apparently, most of our political and military leaders, has not taken ISIS seriously enough. They believe what they are saying. For example, with the establishment of a Caliphate, it becomes the duty of Muslims who agree with the interpretation of the Koran accepted by ISIS to come to the place where the Caliph resides. For another example, they believe that there is a sacred duty to take slaves.

Scary reading.

Sunspots 512, part 2

This blog typically posts a selection of links each Wednesday, entitled "Sunspots." That was true yesterday.

Some important web pages have come to my attention, and here is another edition of Sunspots, annotating them.

FiveThirtyEight, which is not a religious site, but examines various statistical matters, considers the question of religion among prisoners in the USA. The professed religion of prisoners has significant differences from that of the population at large, and the article considers possible reasons for such differences.

Relevant interviews a missionary to Muslims, who points out that Christians have reacted strangely to ISIS/ISIL/whatever. The death of Coptic Christians was widely publicized, but the deaths of larger numbers of Muslims, also by ISIS, has not been. The missionary also said that ". . . prior to the breakout of ISIS . . . missions agencies and churches were actively teaching that Coptic Christians, Chaldeans, etc. are not real Christians and needed to be converted by evangelical missionaries in order to become 'real believers'!"

Two articles, here and here, on contraception, in Christianity Today. They get below the surface, for example pointing out that Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was not in favor of abortion. The articles indicate that it's a complex matter, and some simple answers aren't logical, or don't take the facts into account. One of them refers to an article in Atlantic, by a pro-lifer, on the question of whether the so-called pill is an abortifacient or not. This article, also, avoids pat answers. (If you are interested, I have posted on abortion, sticking mostly to what the Bible says, and not considering the medical and scientific questions, but such matters as whether abortion really is murder, according to the Bible.)

Christianity Today also reports that most evangelical Christians say that the Bible is not the major source of their opinions on immigration to the USA. (Only about 10% said that it is.) The article does not suggest a correct position on the matter, but just considers what is influencing us. Why am I not surprised by the result?

Thanks for reading. You should find any of these articles to be thought-provoking.