That Was The Week That Was

Posted on by Chris Gehrz

This week I reflected again on what I’ve learned about history from eulogizing friends and found some common ground between Anglicanism and Pietism. Elsewhere:

• “Greeting everyone with ‘Happy Holidays’ at Christmastime,” warned one Hindu writer,
“disrespects and dilutes the meaning of Christmas without making religious minorities feel authentically included.”

• The early leader for biggest grinch of Christmas 2021: the bishop who abruptly told some Italian children that Santa Claus wasn’t real.

• …though using a December post to point out that mistletoe is a parasite is running a close second.

And the berries are poisonous, too! — Creative Commons (bluefuton)

• Looking back at the start of the COVID pandemic, one leading religion reporter regretted that she underestimated its effect on religious communities.

• Yes, what happened last January 6th was a big deal. An attempted coup, in fact. Just ask the National Review.

• No, there was virtually no voter fraud in 2020’s battleground states — and even where it did happen, there was no evidence of collusion. Just ask the Associated Press.

Licensed by Creative Commons (David Lofink)

• A late challenger for the title of The Most Interesting Article I Read in 2021: why Americans like to speed.

• How did the Native American population grow over 86% from the 2010 Census to 2020?

• Speaking of the Census… David Swartz wrapped up his three-part Anxious Bench series on it by considering the implications of evangelical immigration for evangelical politics.

• Perhaps the best summation of my least favorite social medium that I’ve ever read: “Twitter is designed to invite our vulnerability, and then punish it.”

• Finally, congratulations to Aaron Griffith, Arlin Migliazzo, Christopher Tounsel, and Beth Allison Barr: the authors recognized for History & Biography in the 2022 Book Awards from Christianity Today!