Saturday, July 17, 2021

Saturday Lagniappe: 'In Many COVID Hot Spots, a Pattern: High Concentrations of White Evangelicals' and More


‘It’s clear that the pattern is more white evangelical Protestants equals lower vaccination rates,’ said Natalie Jackson, research director at the Public Religion Research Institute.

U.S. COVID Deaths Are Rising Again. Experts Call It A 'Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated'
The death rate from COVID-19 in the U.S. is rising steadily for the first time in months as the nation grapples with a renewed burst of cases in what's become "a pandemic of the unvaccinated," the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Doctor Sounds Alarm on Low Vaccination Rates: 'It’s Not a Debate. It’s Science.'
Health experts are sounding the alarm as the number of unvaccinated individuals remains stagnant while COVID cases rise across the country. The reasons for individuals remaining unvaccinated vary; drivers include anti-vax sentiment and skepticism of scientific data. The stickiness of arguments that lead Americans to remain unvaccinated in the face of overwhelming evidence continues to worry medical professionals.

Summer Camps Hit with COVID Outbreaks — Are Schools Next?
The U.S. has seen a string of COVID-19 outbreaks tied to summer camps in recent weeks in places such as Texas, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and Kansas, in what some fear could be a preview of the upcoming school year. In some cases the outbreaks have spread from the camp to the broader community.

Covid-19: Five Ways to Avoid Catching the Virus Indoors
For months we've been told to wash our hands and maintain social distancing to beat the virus. But scientists and engineers say we also need to think about the air we breathe inside buildings. Good ventilation matters in five ways.
Many church buildings are inadequately ventilated. They were not designed to minimize the spread a highly infectious airborne virus.
3 Simple Reasons We Believe Misinformation
The young people who make up Gen Z are supposed to be smarter about this kind of stuff than their Boomer parents or grandparents, right? How are these internet curators and trend-setters getting duped themselves? In many of the same ways that we all can get tricked by news or other information we see online. Here are three simple ways we can all fall prey to misinformation....

Why Some Younger Evangelicals Are Leaving the Faith
The extent to which the number of white evangelicals have declined in the United States has been laid bare in a new report by the Public Religion Research Institute’s 2020 Census on American Religion. The institute’s study found that only 14% of Americans identify as white evangelical today. This is a drastic decline since 2006, when America’s religious landscape was composed of 23% white evangelicals, as the report notes.

9 Things You Should Know About Mainline Protestantism
A new survey on American religion finds that the percentage of Christians has stabilized, after having fallen for the past 20 years. The survey, called The 2020 Census of American Religion, claims that the recent increase is primarily due to an uptick in the proportion of white mainline Protestants.

Should Churches Ban Pastors Who Engage in Abuse? Most Pastors Say Yes.
Trauma expert and therapist Dr. Diane Langberg thinks the 83 percent of pastors who, when polled, agreed that if a pastor engages in child sexual abuse, they should never return to ministry, according to the latest Lifeway study, may be surprisingly high for the public—but most significantly, she points out that the ‘numbers on the ground’ are probably lower than the survey reveals.

4 Steps for Quickly Recruiting and Training Church Volunteers
Far too often when there’s a ministry gap in our churches, we focus on leadership placement over leadership development. We settle for warm bodies instead of weekly volunteers.

7 Practical Ideas To Recharge Your Leadership Battery
The church doesn’t stop during the summer, but it’s a good time to lean into the different life rhythm it carries, to catch your breath and recharge your leadership battery.

8 Easy and Affordable Children’s Ministry Area Update Ideas
Outreach Magazine together a few ideas for refreshing your children’s ministry area on a budget. Choose one, some, or all to give your space a boost and put a smile on your little ones’ faces.
In this age of higly infectious airborne viruses, make sure that your children's ministry area has plenty of clean fresh air from outside of the building. No stale, recirulated air.

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