Weekly Wrap 1.23.15: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week | Sojourners

Weekly Wrap 1.23.15: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

1. PHOTOS: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. 

This beautiful photo essay chronicles Dr. King’s public life. 

2. The Secret to Smart Groups: It’s Women

“A fleet of MIT studies finds that women are much better at knowing what their colleagues are really thinking. It's another reason to expect the gender wage gap to eventually flip.”

3. ICYMI: Jim Wallis and Sojourners Divesting from Fossil Fuels

“Our mission is to help people put their faith into action for social justice. We would lack credibility by following any other path, and this reminds us that repentance is not just an individual decision. The church and other religious institutions — colleges, charities and other faith-based organizations — have an opportunity to put practical action behind our proclamation of God’s intentions for the restoration of creation.”

4. I’m Tired of Suppressing Myself to Get Along With White People

I was tired of catering to everyone else’s comforts. How much of my day-to-day experiences as a black woman do I have to filter? I replace “Hey, girl” with boring hellos. I eat my leftover fried chicken outside the office. In order to have some common point of identifiable communication, I pretend to care about Taylor Swift, or white movie stars on their I’ve-lost-count remarriages and those other white pop stars I could not care less about.”

5. U.S. Senator Cites the BIBLE to Prove Humans Aren’t Causing Global Warming

And not just any senator — he happens to be the new chairman of the Environment Committee. Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe claims there’s “biblical evidence” to prove the climate is always changing. “The hoax is there are some people who are so arrogant to think that they are so powerful they can change climate. Man can’t change climate.” Sigh. 

6. C.I.A. Report Found Value of Brutal Interrogation Was Inflated

The Panetta Review, a classified internal report of the CIA’s use of torture and detention conducted before the recent Senate Intelligence Committee’s release, found the agency “had repeatedly overstated the value of intelligence gained during the brutal interrogations of some of its detainees,” according to The New York Times.

7. WATCH: This One’s For the Moms (and Dads)

Sometimes advertisements hit the nail on the head. Similac does so in this pretty accurate take on the “mommy wars.” 

8. Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance, Explained

Since Texas does not have a statewide law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s up to the cities to pass such ordinances. Houston is trying, but a complicated history with the proposal — one that includes Fox News anchor and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — is holding it up. Read why.

9. Turns Out, ‘God, Guns, and Country’ Isn’t Just for Americans

A social media “celebrity”(?) garnered praise from the right with her photo wearing a pro-life T-shirt while holding a Chick-fil-a cup in front of Hobby Lobby — a hat tip to the craft store chain’s case against providing contraception coverage for employees. But then the Internets decided a few accoutrements were missing from her pics — namely a gun, a Bible, and the American flag. Unfortunately for her, the image bears an uncanny resemblance to others — flooding out of ISIS-controlled territory.

10. The Death of Marcus Borg and His Willful Ignorance

Illustrator David Hayward offers this moving tribute to liberal theologian Marcus Borg. Read more at the link. 

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