Is there room in the church of Christ for people like me?

It’s that specific ideology that has me feeling ideologically homeless. The progressive wing of Christianity looks down on conservative ideology, and the conservative wing wants nothing to do with those who don’t believe a person has to interpret every single issue exactly the same way to be saved. For the conservatives, nobody is going to heaven except the people in 99% agreement with them. For the progressives, it seems as though everyone is saved except the conservatives.

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Four Key Attitudes That Are Killing Church Attendance

1. The attitude that church membership is not biblical.
2. The attitude that we are part of a church primarily to get our needs met.
3. The attitude that church leaders are not held to a higher standard.
4. The attitude that expectation of faithful church attendance is legalistic.

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Americans who find meaning in these four areas have higher life satisfaction

But of the 30 topics that were studied, only four were universally associated with higher levels of life satisfaction: a person’s good health, romantic partner, friends and career.

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The strongest predictor of men’s well-being isn’t family or health

The results showed an clear trend: The strongest predictor of men’s happiness and well-being is their job satisfaction, by a large margin—and the strongest predictor of job satisfaction is whether men feel they are making an impact on their companies’ success.

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The U.S. class divide extends to searching for a religious congregation

But how likely Americans are to look for a new church varies by their education and income levels. About six-in-ten (59%) college-educated Americans have searched for a new religious congregation, compared with only 38% of those with a high school education or less, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data collected in 2015. Likewise, higher-income Americans are more likely to look for a new church than those with lower incomes.

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U.S. Has Spent Six Trillion Dollars on Wars That Killed Half a Million People Since 9/11, Report Says

Wednesday’s report found that the “US military is conducting counterterror activities in 76 countries, or about 39 percent of the world’s nations, vastly expanding [its mission] across the globe.” In addition, these operations “have been accompanied by violations of human rights and civil liberties, in the US and abroad.”
Overall, researchers estimated that “between 480,000 and 507,000 people have been killed in the United States’ post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.” This toll “does not include the more than 500,000 deaths from the war in Syria, raging since 2011” when a West-backed rebel and jihadi uprising challenged the government, an ally of Russia and Iran.

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The Three Most Chilling Conclusions From the Climate Report

1. Extreme hot weather is getting more common, and cold weather more rare.
2. Climate change has doubled the devastation from wildfires in the Southwest.
3. Rising sea levels will necessitate mass migrations, and coastal cities aren’t doing enough.

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Signal to noise ratio

One solution is to find a quiet space when you have something to say. Now (in this loud place, filled with spam) might not be as good as later, in a setting you’ve earned, saying something you care about, to people who are listening.

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Improve Your Conversations Forever

1. Don’t ask yes/no questions.
2. Ask “why” three times.
3. Ask about specifics, not generalizations.
4. Ask about reactions.
5. Ask follow-up questions.
6. Ask about lessons.
7. Ask for a story.
8. Ask like a kid.
9. Ask what else you should ask.

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