I have had prayers answered - most strangely so sometimes - but I think our heavenly Father's loving kindness has been even more evident in what He has refused me. -Lewis Carroll (Born: Jan. 27, 1832)

January 26, 2021

Today

January 26, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

Today: one which I’ve never lived before and one which I will never get to live again. The surprise of unwrapping it holds wonder and the privilege of excitement. –Tim Hansel

January 25, 2021

Articles of interest about religion - Jan 25

January 25, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

***COVID-19

UNC helps find a new way to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks

What 'vaccine passports' mean for your summer vacation

The face mask that could end the pandemic

Facemask Sensor Being Developed at UCSD Could Help Detect COVID-19

***RELIGION & THE VIRUS

Hundreds attend largely maskless El Cajon concert by controversial religious figure Sean Feucht

***RELIGION

Fringe groups raise funds on Christian site

Five myths about evangelicals ($)

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

U.S. Government Sees Wave Of Catholic Leaders

Biden Invokes Augustine in Call for American Unity

Biden is only the second Catholic president, but nearly all have been Christians

Militant Christian Nationalists Remain A Potent Force, Even After The Capitol Riot

Trump ignites a war within evangelical Christianity (opinion)

Some Christians Feel It's A God-Given Mission To Fight On Trump's Behalf

***RELIGION & THE LAW

Supreme Court won’t hear Nevada church’s COVID-19 case

Should Christians Worry that Free Speech Is Eroding? (podcast)

Federal appeals court denies a SoCal church’s request to overturn state’s coronavirus restrictions

***SOUTHERN BAPTISTS

SBC president’s church announces review of pastor accused of mishandling sex abuse cases

Southern Baptist Dwight McKissic to leave Texas group over critical race theory stance

Some Black Southern Baptists feel shut out by white leaders

***MEGACHURCHES

A Tampa megachurch pastor held a giant, maskless indoor service

Charlotte megachurch draws criticism from health director for large, maskless worship performance

Megachurch pastor Ed Young mourns death of daughter aged 34

Syracuse megachurch pastor’s emotional message after Capitol riot: ‘We have crossed the line’

***DAVE RAMSEY

Is the empire of Christian Financial Guru Dave Ramsey the ‘best place to work in America’?

Dave Ramsey, the Good Ole Boy Network & the Evangelical Industrial Complex (opinion)

***RELIGION & LGBTQ ISSUES

Tensions rise over California church’s anti-LGBTQ message

Authorities Investigate Blast at Anti-Gay California Church

***MUSLIMS

Barred From U.S. Under Trump, Muslims Exult in Biden’s Open Door ($)

Video shows man threatening to kill gas station worker in anti-Muslim attack

January 25, 2021

What’s behind Anger

January 25, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

According to Albert Ellis, the most common irrational ideas behind anger are the following:

1. I must do well and win the approval of others for my performances, or else I will rate as a rotten person.

2. Others must treat me considerately and kindly and in precisely the way I want them to treat me.

3. The world (and the people in it) must arrange conditions under which I live, so that I get everything that I want when I want it.

Mark Cosgrove, Counseling for Anger

January 23, 2021

I won’t demand it

January 23, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

Though I want and need love, I won’t demand it. -Les Carter

January 22, 2021

Great hypocrites

January 22, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

Great hypocrites are the true atheists. -Francis Bacon (born Jan. 22, 1561)

January 21, 2021

Meet the 8-year-old who opened a food pantry & was featured at the inauguration

January 21, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

#GOODNEWS

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A post shared by Biden Inaugural Committee (@bideninaugural)

January 21, 2021

The persecuted victim

January 21, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

Conspiracy theorists perceive and present themselves as the victim of organized persecution. At the same time, they see themselves as brave antagonists taking on the villainous conspirators. Conspiratorial thinking involves a self-perception of simultaneously being a victim and a hero.

Stephan Lewandowsky & John Cook, The Conspiracy Theory Handbook

January 20, 2021

Articles of interest about higher ed - Jan 20

January 20, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

***HIGHER ED & COVID

CDC: COVID-19 outbreaks linked with in-person instruction at large colleges

Are Colleges Superspreaders?

College openings led to increase in community cases, research says

***COVID AT SPECIFIC SCHOOLS

Auburn University is not conducting re-entry testing for students

UC San Diego reports surge in COVID-19 infections among students returning from holidays

Ohio State issued nearly 1,500 COVID-related sanctions last semester

***HIGHER ED & POLITICS

When Your Alumni Incite an Insurrection ($)

Middlebury Revokes Giuliani's Honorary Degree

***LAYOFFS

University of South Florida trustees approve $36.7 million in budget cuts

UNC-Chapel Hill to cut personnel, spending to address pandemic losses, long-term deficit

University of Hawaii braces for budget cuts

***COLLEGE FINANCES

How to Survive the Enrollment Bust ($)

Education Department releases billions in aid to colleges

***PROGRAM CUTS AT SPECIFIC SCHOOLS

Kansas universities need to save money. These are the majors that could be eliminated

Petition calls on Stanford to reverse cuts to Cantonese language program

Iowa public universities cancel study abroad programs through Aug. 1

***HIGHER ED

The Higher Education Industry Is Embracing Predatory and Discriminatory Student Data Practices

***COLLEGES & POLITICS

Biden instructs Ed Dept to extend pause on federal student loan payments through Sept ($)

How Biden's immigration plan would affect colleges

Trump pardons USC father in college admissions scandal

Protest at NC State calls for employee who was alleged to be Proud Boys member to resign

***HIGHER ED IN COURT

Student accused of cheating sues Syracuse University for denying conduct hearing

Michigan State women's swim, dive team files Title IX lawsuit, seeks reinstatement

Group of international students sues Iowa college, alleging forced labor

Grand Canyon sues U.S. Education Department for rejecting its conversion to nonprofit status

Student sues Rice University, demands refund over online learning during COVID

Univ of North Carolina must release names of sexual assault perpetrators, NC Supreme Court rules

***HUMANITIES

Liberal arts and the pursuit of a well-rounded education

University of Minnesota scales back liberal arts Ph.D. programs amid pandemic

***TEACHING

Men speak 1.6 times more often than women in college classrooms

Media Now Offers 100,000 Digital Resources in its Library for Educators

How to Help Students Know When It’s Time to Quit—and When It’s Not (Opinion)

Teaching in the Age of Disinformation ($)

***ONLINE CHEATING

Students cheat with online learning service, professors hope to identify users

Senator: More transparency is needed from exam proctoring firms

Academic misconduct cases double over course of pandemic at Univ of Houston

***ACADEMIC LIFE

Why campus leaders must prioritize faculty morale

Iowa Lawmakers Attempt to Eliminate Tenure Systems in Public Higher Ed

A longtime professor wants to retire. Her university says she has to drop her pay-based gender discrimination suit first

How to (almost) fail a PhD: a personal account

MIT Professor Arrested on Charges of Grant Fraud

Univ of Florida students encouraged to use a campus-crime app to report faculty members not teaching face to face

Controversial law professor John Eastman retires from Chapman University

Ole Miss Doubles Down on Professor's Termination

***ACADEMICS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Professor reprimanded for tweet about an instructor who’d died of Covid-19 ($)

This professor is getting harassed over a tweet about students with bad email etiquette

UCF professor accused of racist tweets to be terminated for ‘misconduct’

***ADMINISTRATORS

Illinois State University president to receive $46,000 bonus before June retirement

Auburn University faculty punt on no confidence vote for Hardgrave

University Of Utah President Ruth Stepping Down, Leaving Mixed Legacy Behind

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

Bethel president resigns to take post at Olivet Nazarene University

Gay teacher sues Seattle Pacific University after being denied full-time position

Wheaton College faculty condemn 'abuses of Christian symbols' at Capitol siege

Abilene Christian University student arrested for child pornography

Rape lawsuit settled with Baylor fraternity, other defendants

***RESEARCH

What explains scientific misconduct?

Many scientists citing two scandalous COVID-19 papers ignore their retractions

What do you do when you realize years of your published work is built on an error?

***STUDENT LIFE

How the pandemic is impacting college students’ mental health

University of Kentucky student charged in US Capitol riot

‘It’s just too much’: Why students are abandoning community colleges in droves

What it’s like to attend school on a phone ($)

Some Columbia University students say they’re prepared to withhold payments if tuition isn’t lowered

The Campus Underground Press

***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS

The University of Alabama at Huntsville fires police chief, captain, & officer out after traffic stop of Black teen

January 20, 2021

Here's what I'm thinking

January 20, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

"If you walk into a room as a senior person and innocently say, 'Here's what I'm thinking about this,' you've already skewed people's thinking," says Marine Gen. Peter Pace. His approach: "Start out with a question and don't voice an opinion."

Why? Because people can't line up behind you if they don't know where you stand. And if you present subordinates with an intellectual challenge, they feel freer to offer their opinions without fear of giving offense. "If you are looking for answers, ask the question," advises Pace, and "if you are looking for an honest critique, you ought to be the first person to self-critique."

Michael Useem writing in Fortune Magazine

January 19, 2021

Making a difference one bike at a time

January 19, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

#GOODNEWS

January 19, 2021

The Creative Process

January 19, 2021/ Stephen Goforth

The creative process is often not responsive to conscious efforts to initiate or control it. It does not proceed methodically or in programmatic fashion. It meanders. It is unpredictable, digressive, capricious. As one scientist put it, “I can schedule my lab hours, but I can’t schedule my best ideas.”

Creative individuals have the capacity to free themselves from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. They don’t spend much time asking “What will people say?” The fact that “everybody’s doing it” doesn’t mean they’re doing it. They question assumptions that the rest of us accept. As J. P. Guilford has pointed out, they are particularly gifted in seeing the gap between what is and what could be (which means, of course, that they have achieved a certain measure of detachment from what is.

It is easy to fall into the romantic exaggeration in speaking of the capacity of people of originality to stand apart. Those who are responsible for the great innovative performances have always built on the work of others, and have enjoyed many kinds of social support, stimulation and communication. They are independent but they are not adrift.

John Gardner, Self-Renewal