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Weekly Meanderings, 17 January 2015

Weekly Meanderings, 17 January 2015

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:58 pm by Scot McKnight

Weekly Meanderings, 17 January 2015 2015-03-13T21:58:34-05:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Do you need to know what a “flat white” is? Here’s the skinny.

Jews leaving France.

Jews are fleeing France. Rocked by anti-Semitic violence, most recently when Islamists took hostages at a kosher grocery in Paris Friday, the half-million Jews of France are leaving in droves, according to a British journalist.

What if Charlie Hebdo had been published in Britain, or in the USA — no, it wouldn’t have been published here.

Cristina Odone:

The visitor to London walks past the plaited breads stacked in the window of a Jewish Deli. A passerby wears a hijab. Children in grey uniforms run out of the gates of the Catholic school. The air fills with their cries – and with the peal of bells from the Anglican church.

A snapshot of our capital city, circa 2015. Cherish it, because the odds are it will not survive. The tragedy of the Paris attacks does not stop with the victims murdered by extremists. It spills over into our daily existence. In Europe, many have the courage to proclaim “Je Suis Charlie”, but how many Jews dare show their observance after a kosher grocery store was targeted by Islamist gunmen?

No wonder a poll today shows half of the 250,000 Jews in Britain do not see a future for themselves here; and another shows that 100,000 Jews have left France in the last few years.

But Jews are not alone. In some parts of the world, wearing the label “Christian” also carries a death sentence. Whether executed for the crime of apostasy in Pakistan, or attacked as “kefirs” (infidels) in Mosul, in northern Iraq, Christians are forced to die for their faith in parts of the Middle East.

Nor are Muslims spared the persecution the other Abrahamic religions suffer: in western China and episodically in India, public allegiance to Islam is punishable by death.

Naomi S. Baron and e-reading:

But the real nail in the coffin for one-size-fits-all electronic reading is concentration. Over 92 percent of those I surveyed said they concentrate best when reading a hard copy. The explanation is hardly rocket science. When a digital device has an Internet connection, it’s hard to resist the temptation to jump ship: I’ll just respond to that text I heard come in, check the headlines, order those boots that are on sale.

Readers are human. If you dangle distractions in front of us (or if we know they are just a click or swipe away), it’s hard not to take the bait.

Which brings us back to question of what sorts of readings it make sense to do onscreen and which to reserve for paper. If digital interruptions don’t threaten your enjoyment or understanding of a text (but here, you have to be honest), then medium may not matter. Casual reading like Baldacci? If you break to check sports scores, little harm done. Just don’t expect to understand much of Joyce this way.

Urban churches and development options:

Urban churches are sitting on some of the priciest real estate in the province, and they’re using the situation to their advantage.

Churches are wisely making their land holdings work for them by partnering with developers to boost revenues and, in some cases, provide affordable housing.

Lynn Valley United Church has partnered with Marcon Developments to redevelop into a smaller church building and transform the current parking lot into a four-storey, 75-unit condo building.

News about monarch butterflies.

Churches and loans:

About a year and a half ago, McCarthy took out another, different kind of loan. She went to her pastor, Rodney Hunter, at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Richmond. Hunter helped her borrow $700 so she could make a dent in paying off her mounting credit card debt, then about $8,000.

Here’s how it worked: McCarthy’s church offered funds as collateral so that she could qualify for a loan through the Virginia United Methodist Credit Union. McCarthy agreed to repay the loan at an annualized interest rate of about 6 percent – meaning monthly payments of $25 for about 2 1/2 years, drawn right out of her bank account.

McCarthy is one month behind on the church loan, but she’s confident she’ll catch up this month. “I’m real grateful for it,” she said.

The program is called the Jubilee Assistance Fund. In 7 1/2 years, it has helped parishioners of the United Methodist Church secure 14 loans – from $500 to $8,800 – according to Carol Mathis, chief executive of the credit union.

How high? No way!

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — For Rapid City native Kevin Schmidt, there’s nothing odd about climbing 1,500 feet in the air to change a light bulb.

He’s climbed hundreds of towers during the past eight years, in dozens of states, through every season, sometimes in 60 mph winds. It’s part of the job at Sioux Falls Tower and Communications.

For the rest of the world, Schmidt’s vertigo-inducing workday is anything but normal.

“Some of my friends can’t believe I do it,” Schmidt said. “They get scared on top of their house.”

Perhaps that explains why a stunningly crisp video of Schmidt ascending an aging TV tower near Salem last fall has gone viral, attracting more than 1.3 million hits onYouTube.

“I didn’t expect it would get this big,” Schmidt said.

How long? No Way!

In Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley, hedge fund manager Joon Yun is doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation. According to US social security data, he says, the probability of a 25-year-old dying before their 26th birthday is 0.1%. If we could keep that risk constant throughout life instead of it rising due to age-related disease, the average person would – statistically speaking – live 1,000 years. Yun finds the prospect tantalising and even believable. Late last year he launched a $1m prize challenging scientists to “hack the code of life” and push human lifespan past its apparent maximum of about 120 years (the longest known/confirmed lifespan was 122 years).

Jonathan Topaz:

The Obama administration and many congressional Republicans have been loath to go anywhere near the experiment with marijuana legalization in Colorado and other states. But pressure is mounting on Washington to take a stand on pot, and perhaps soon.

In a lawsuit filed last month with the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys general of Nebraska and Oklahoma argue that Colorado’s marijuana initiative is spilling over into their neighboring, more conservative states. Marijuana arrests and prosecutions are up over the past year, they say, straining law enforcement budgets as more overtime is paid to handle the uptick in activity. And drugged driving is a growing problem, they contend.

But the neighbor states are also taking aim at a federal government that seems highly reluctant to tackle the issue. And with several more states considering legalizing recreational marijuana, the Justice Department and Congress may be forced to clarify what’s OK or not when it comes to marijuana, experts say.

“It’s gone from a slow burn to a hot, cauldron bubble,” Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, said of tensions over cannabis policy.

Dear Dr. Landrum:

In small-town Mississippi, where poverty is endemic, transportation is limited and a trip to the emergency room can lead to financial ruin, an alternative exists for those in the know.

His name is Dr. Landrum — Carrol Frazier Landrum — and, even if your pockets are empty, the 88-year-old physician from Edwards, Miss., will schedule you for an appointment.

For the last two years, Landrum has been working without an office, but he’s happy to meet his patients wherever they are. Sometimes, the meetings occur in a home; sometimes they take place in a parking lot. Other patients meet the doctor on the side of a quiet country road — or inside his 2007 Toyota Camry.

The location doesn’t matter because Landrum, a World War II veteran who has been in private practice for more than 55 years, believes it’s his duty to help anyone who calls on him.

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