What the Arab world needs most is free expression
I received this column from Jamal Khashoggi’s translator and assistant the day after Jamal was reported missing in Istanbul. The Post held off publishing it because we hoped Jamal would come back to us so that he and I could edit it together. Now I have to accept: That is not going to happen. This is the last piece of his I will edit for The Post. This column perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A freedom he apparently gave his life for. I will be forever grateful he chose The Post as his final journalistic home one year ago and gave us the chance to work together.
We are not the enemy (if we try)
Realizing that things can get better (they can always get better) opens the door for productive conversations, conversations that aren’t based on prior decisions about what team someone is on, and instead, on putting our shoulder to the work, taking responsibility and actually making things better.
We can fight injustice without becoming pawns in a boxing promoter’s game.
Are you becoming more or less of an encourager?
The church must be an oasis for the true Christian! You must be such a great encouragement that you become a breath of fresh air for those who speak to you. Of course, we should confront sin and push people towards holiness, but when people talk to us they should feel like we care about them and, more importantly, their soul.
Seven Ways Preachers Can Encourage One Another
This is a plea to all of us who preach to encourage, strengthen, support, and love a fellow preacher who is struggling. Let’s consider how we can encourage and support one another. If you are not a preacher, why not join in with us as we seek to encourage one another.
Americans’ Theology is a Mix of Orthodox Belief and Shifting Opinions
Six in 10 Americans say religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. For 7 in 10 Americans, such religious beliefs include one true God existing in three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And a similar number who say God is perfect. But an increasing majority of Americans deny Jesus has always existed and many say the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a personal being.
Why Public Service Loan Forgiveness Is So Unforgiving
Congress created Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) in 2007, in the waning days of the Bush administration. The pitch to borrowers was simple:
Spend 10 years teaching, nursing, policing or otherwise working for a qualified nonprofit while also making 120 monthly payments against your student loans, and the government would forgive whatever’s left. As a thank you.
But recent data from the Department of Education show that 99 percent of applications for loan forgiveness have been denied.
A new Ikea report is an unsettling look at life in the 21st century
Two years ago, the company asked thousands of people about where they felt “most at home.” At the time, 20% of subjects said it wasn’t the space in which they lived. Two years later, they asked again, and found the number has risen by 15% among people who live in cities. In other words, 35% of people who live in cities don’t feel at home in their house or apartment.
Is turning off your notifications the ultimate productivity hack?
Researchers have found that it takes, on average, 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task at hand after a distraction. And notifications are serial offenders. Though originally introduced by Blackberry as a way to keep you off your phone (no need to keep checking email when a simple alert could tell you when a new message had arrived), notifications often have the opposite effect, drawing us deeper into the smartphone vortex.
What do we actually know about the risks of screen time and digital media?
The lumping of everything digital into a monolith is a framing that makes Oxford Internet Institute psychologist Andrew Przybylski groan. “We don’t talk about food time,” he points out. “We don’t talk about paper time. But we do talk about screen time.”