1. 9 Points to Ponder on the Paris Shooting and Charlie Hebdo
“I try to resist the urge to turn the victims into saintly beings, or the shooters into embodiments of evil. We are all imperfect beings, walking contradictions of selfishness and beauty. And sometimes … it results in acts of unspeakable atrocity.”
2. Amusing Ourselves to… tl;dr
When we expect every part of our lives to entertain us, could attending a boring church be a virtue?
3. 9 Charts That Force the Question, Does Black Life Matter?
Why is black life expectancy in the United States so short?
4. What Ruth Bader Ginsberg Taught Me About Being a Stay-at-Home Dad
One reason we’re down with RBG. Great piece from The Atlantic on the never-ending ‘having it all’ conversation. “The gender-equality debate too often ignores this half of the equation. When home is mentioned at all, the emphasis is usually on equalizing burdens—not equalizing the opportunity for men, as well as women, to be there.”
5. Doubting Thomas Saved My Faith
Beautiful reflection from a transgender second-year seminarian on identity, faith, and doubt: “I knew that because of my identity I would be asked to defend myself over and over again. I knew the Bible would be used against me like a weapon and so I learned everything I could to use that same Bible as a shield. … I am missing the days when I saw the Bible as God’s love letter to me. I am missing the days when I could pick it up and feel like everything applied to my exact situation. I am missing the days when the Bible was a comfort instead of a weapon or a shield.”
6. U.N. Confirms Palestinians Will Be ICC Member April 1
Ban Ki-moon confirmed the membership to the International Criminal Court and said the jurisdiction will backdate to June 13, 2014 — meaning “the court's prosecutor could investigate the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in July and August 2014, during which more than 2,100 Palestinians, 67Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed.”
7. 3 Religious Exemption Cases to Look for in 2015
More challenges to the Affordable Care Act (I’m looking at you, contraception mandate), questions over performing same-sex marriages, and the next Hobby Lobby — all potential cases in 2015.
8. Report: Vatican Theologians Declare Oscar Romero a Martyr
In what could be a precipitating step toward the sainthood process, National Catholic Reporter reports that Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was killed while celebrating Mass in 1980, was “assassinated as a martyr for the Catholic faith.”
9. The Last Time This Many Iraqi Civilians Died Was 2007
With 35,000 civilian deaths in 2014 in Iraq, it was the bloodiest year since sectarian clashes in 2006-2007 following the U.S.-led invasion. According to a local nonprofit, civilian deaths roughly doubled from 2013 to 2014.
10. Selma
From the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!