Daily links, Mon., July 2: OMG! It’s gravity! Plus, Christians that make the rest of us look good

Chicago's (Ok, it's out in the burbs) Fermilab today announced tantalizing evidence of the Higgs boson, the "oh-my-god particle" that some journalist turned into the "God particle"–because we all know that what makes God God is that God gives things mass (which is what Higgs is thought to do). Perhaps we can let God be God and Higgs be Higgs. But it's pretty exciting nonetheless. Across the pond at that European upstart CERN, whose Large Hadron Collider made Fermilab obsolete, scientists say we should all wait until Wednesday when we may know if they've found Higgs for sure.

In the category of Christians that make me happy, the Nuns on the Bus tour rolled to a stop today, with much fanfare. Even the less-than-excited-about-religion Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger did a piece on "Seattle's Best Christians," in which it demonstrates that we're not "All Homophobic, Science-Denying, Uterus-Controlling, Government-Dismantling Jerks—Praise the Lord!" (Ouch!) The Stranger leads off with, you guessed it, a sister. The Strangers editors were probably not interested in the pope's appointment of German theologian Bishop Gerhard Mueller as the new head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, however.

Catholics in Cleveland were celebrating news that Bishop Richard Lennon has announced reopening dates for five of 12 Catholic parishes he shuttered in 2009 in response to the Vatican's overturning his decision to close them. Power to the people (of God)!

And in what should be a new mission field of Christians of all stripes: Those working with returning veterans are discovering a new wound. Termed "moral injury," it refers to vets whose experiences in war profoundly transgressed their own deeply held moral values. This spiritual injury intensifies the depression and associated effects of PTSD, with tragic results.

 

 

About the author

Bryan Cones

Bryan Cones is a writer living in Chicago.