Links to Your World, Tuesday June 19

"This is not a brave new world of blinding innovation and artistic enlightenment. Rather, you’re looking at a mirror of a Xerox of a parrot inside an echo chamber." Best line from Matt Labash's long-form report on memes, ROLFcon, and serious marketing efforts to find out how things go viral on the Internet.

 

Here's a WaPo story about Fred Luter, set to be the SBC's first black president. And here's what Russ Moore thinks about it:

I’m thrilled about where God might be taking the SBC. A denomination formed to protect slavery led by a descendant of slaves, that’s just the kind of providential irony our God loves.

 

'Dallas' Revival To Feature Elderly J.R. Begging To Be Shot

 

"Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the United States. More Americans convert to Buddhism than to Mormonism" (James Atlas, NYT).

 

These researchers show that we use the Internet differently depending on how depressed we are. Their recommendations are too invasive of privacy, though.

 

The Atlantic writes on the demise of communal singing--and why we should bring it back.

 

Stress makes you more vulnerable to illness. Great, something else to get tense about. No wait....

 

Here's a story about a man who dabbled in 12 different religions in 12 months. The headline says he "practiced" them, but 4 weeks of an ancient tradition's exterior behaviors isn't exactly what any adherent of these traditions would call a "practice," so I'm going to say "dabble." It seems a little gimmicky to me, especially since there's a book in the making--and God bless his longsuffering wife who financially supported their family of 4 during the experiment. But the story seems to capture something of the spirit of the age.

 

Man On Verge Of Self-Realization Instead Turns To God

 

A library to match my book collection: