Wisdom Wednesday this week features the 2024 Election, along with some cable news politics, and a look at Cardinal McElroy’s LGBTQ+ “radical inclusion.” Also, a high school teacher tries to redefine what it means to be a success, high school students campaign for an end to “period poverty” (yes, it is that topic men don’t want to talk about) and an opinion piece in the Black Catholic Messenger says “Science denialism is a national emergency in the Catholic Church.”
We take a look at anti-ESG (no, not MSG) legislation. And amid our daily turmoil we have a new study that suggests thinking about God can make people more generous to outsiders.
Hang on! National politics abound
Joe Biden urges voters to give him four further years to finish what he started. Vanity Fair opines that a Biden-Trump rematch is not a done deal, while Atlantic says it is inevitable.
Republican presidential candidates diverge on abortion as they seek religious support in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.
North Dakota on Monday adopted one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country as Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed legislation banning the procedure throughout pregnancy, with slim exceptions up to six weeks’ gestation.
Jury selection was scheduled to begin yesterday in a civil trial stemming from a lawsuit filed by advice columnist and author E. Jean Carroll against former President Donald Trump. Carroll says Trump raped her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and defamed her when she went public with the story in 2019.
Trump has denied Carroll’s allegations.
Trump’s on-air supporter Tucker Carlson lost the one and only vote needed – reportedly from Rupert Murdoch, “parting ways” with a 10-minute advance notice of his ouster. Reports come from several news outlets including The Guardian.
Church Politics
Cardinal Robert McElroy’s call for ‘radical inclusion’ reflects Pope Francis’ pastoral view of the church, according to Gerald D. Coleman’s opinion published by National Catholic Reporter. Coleman is a retired professor of moral theology and McElroy was one of his students.
Science denialism is a national emergency in the Catholic Church, according to Efran Menny, writing in The Black Catholic Messenger. It is about how some Church leaders responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students and youth
A teacher and journalist says success means “becoming a person who believes they are the best at something, whatever that something is.”
A high schooler in Zurich writes about inhumane treatment for hunting dogs in Spain.
Two American high schoolers write that period poverty first gained attention internationally as menstruating girls dropped out of school in India and Sub-Saharan Africa, but many girls and women in the U.S. are also unable to afford essential products.
In Texas, Republican state Senator Phil King wants every public elementary or secondary school to”display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments” starting in September. Other proposed measures include prayer time and faith education. Cantor Sheri Allen, co-founder of the Jewish congregation Makom Shelanu, called the bills a “blatant violation of the separation of church and state.”
Come together
Tennessee Baptists and Methodists join in call for gun legislation; Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus cooperate in the Himalayas, and Hindus for Human Rights seek a ‘pilgrimage of love.’
Today also concludes Israeli Independence Day. Wrapping up today, the observance commemorates the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, with official and unofficial ceremonies and observances.
Drag Queens
In a concert Friday night in Knoxville, Tennessee, Lizzo filled the stage with drag queens in a glittery protest against the state’s legislation designed to restrict drag performances in public.
What is ESG?
A new anti-ESG law (environmental, social and governance), taking effect July 1, is part of a larger push from conservatives across the U.S. against what they see as “woke” practices pushing liberal climate or diversity goals. At least nine states have enacted such laws; Montana’s GOP governor signed a bill last week, and a measure cleared the Indiana legislature.
Think about God, be generous
A new study suggests thinking about God can make people more generous to outsiders. The study was a collaboration among researchers looking into how religion affects human behavior. Some thought religion might make people generous to just those who share their faith. Others thought the generosity could extend to people from other groups.
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