Weekend Reads 11/28/15

Dear Professor: Is This Class Going to Challenge My Faith and Make Me Uncomfortable?

I find frustrating the too-frequent sentiment from Christians that equates interrogating and examining the texts with destroying faith. There is a strain of anti-intellectualism in modern US Christianity that is vile, unbiblical, and deadlier to faith than scholarly examination could ever be. It demands an unquestioning obedience and punishes anyone who doesn’t conform to the party line, who dares to question the people in power.

Half Of People Who Went To College In The Recession Haven’t Graduated

The decline was bigger for some groups than for others. Among traditional students — full-time students who were 20 years old or younger when they enrolled — the six-year graduation rate was 68.3 percent, down only a bit from 2007. But graduation rates were much lower, and fell much more sharply, for older and part-time students, the same groups that saw big enrollment increases during the recession.

Who is Lucy the Australopithecus?

First discovered in 1973, the discovery of Lucy was remarkably 'complete' - 40 per cent of her skeleton was found intact, rather than just a handful of incomplete and damaged fossils that usually make up remains of a similar age.

Shortly after being dug up, it became apparent that Lucy was one of the most important fossils ever discovered, when researchers released that she belonged to a previously unknown species.

Rejecting Refugees, Rejecting Christ

Although there might be many political, financial, and logistical reasons for citizens to reject the influx of global refugees, there are no theological ones. It may be inconvenient, uncomfortable, and extremely hard, but Jesus wants us to care for these people — the poor, homeless, sick, persecuted, downtrodden, and oppressed.