In his first-ever interview on American television, Pope Francis called out people who deny climate change exists. “They are people who are foolish, and even more foolish if you show them the research and they don’t believe it,” he told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell. “They don’t understand the situation or because of their interest, but climate change exists.” Climate change is “off the charts” and a “defining challenge” for humanity, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization. Within the last year, nearly a dozen climate records were broken, all while greenhouse gas levels ..read more

Student protests over the the Israel-Hamas War have intensified and expanded over the past week across several college campuses including Columbia University, Yale, New York University and the University of Texas at Austin, among others. Police have been called on to several campuses to arrest demonstrators and break up encampments. Protesters are calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to U.S. military assistance for Israel, university divestment from weapons suppliers and other companies profiting from the war, and protections for students and faculty members who have faced dis ..read more

James was in his early 20s when it happened. Out of the blue, he met up with an old friend who was on his way to a meeting at a nearby church. James went too, and that very night, to his complete astonishment, his life was turned upside down and inside out. James was telling me this story because he had now run into a puzzle. He had been attending the church where he’d had that wonderful, life-changing experience. He had learned a lot about God and Jesus. He’d learned a lot, too, about himself. But he found himself now staring at a big question mark. What am I here for? What happens after you ..read more

There’s nothing quite like the freedom you get to experience in your early twenties. You are finally old enough to make your own decisions in life, spend your money how you want to, go wherever you’d like — the options are endless! But sometimes, having everything at our fingertips makes it impossible to really grab on to anything. It’s a strange psychology that our minds get uncomfortable when we’re not constrained. It’s as if we really can’t allow ourselves to feel freedom. You (we) have to push back against that. There are a few different ways to do that, but I want to focus on two big idea ..read more

A North Carolina megachurch pastor pulled no punches when preaching to his congregation about false teachings, even name-checking the Trump-endorsed Bible and Christian Nationalists. Loran Livingston, lead pastor of Central Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, was speaking on the importance of studying Scripture directly, without influence from false doctrine. He specifically mentions the danger of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” Bible, which was recently endorsed by Trump. “I’m here to tell you that is a cheap ploy,” Livingston began. “If your spirit can’t tell the difference from your so ..read more

Movies are in a bit of a lull right now. Sure, there’s a small handful of dystopian dramas and action-packed options at the theaters, but the summer blockbuster bump hasn’t quite hit yet. So, while you’re stuck at home scrolling for an option to pass the time, why not choose something that has an inspiring message? One that holds significant messages, prevalent themes or ideas that will compel you off your couch and out into acts of service? If that sounds like something you’re looking for, check out these five options — all available to stream on Netflix: What We Leave Behind Julián Moreno i ..read more

After being passed by both houses of Congress, this morning President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that would ban Chinese-owned TikTok unless it is sold within a year. The new law applies to any social media app owned by a foreign adversary that has more than 1 million yearly users in the U.S. With 170 million American users, Chinese-owned Tiktok definitely fits that bill. It is the most serious threat yet to TikTok’s future in the U.S., but don’t expect to see any changes to the app just yet. Here’s what we know: Is TikTok shutting down? No. The law states that ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese ..read more

“My time with the Lord has suffered ever since I got married.” We were sitting in a coffee shop sipping iced lattes as my newly married friend described her plight. She had been a wife for only a few months but felt more distant from Jesus than ever.  I knew her struggle well. I had experienced the near death of my spiritual routines during the first year of my marriage. And so we commiserated together, prayed, and parted ways. I left that coffee date wondering, How many other newlyweds out there feel this way? For me, being single was a season of flourishing for my spiritual routines. Bi ..read more

For most of us, our brain is an unknowable thing, and the landscape and pattern of our minds is as foreign as the bottom of the ocean. We tend to stumble through our mental processes on instinct, chasing our thought life wherever it goes and assuming there’s little else we can do. That’s a perception Dr. Caroline Leaf hopes to change. She’s a cognitive neuroscientist who’s been researching the connections between our minds, our brains and our bodies for almost 40 years, and she’s been using her studies to teach people how to manage their minds and organize their “mental messes.” Dr. Leaf recen ..read more

Google has developed a new artificial intelligence model that can predict weather forecasts faster than meteorologists. Scalable Ensemble Envelope Diffusion Sampley, or SEEDS for short, uses the power of AI to generate numerous weather forecasts in a short amount of time. This in turn allows researchers to analyze a wider range of possible weather outcomes, and can even predict natural disasters days or weeks before they happen. “Accurate weather forecasts can have a direct impact on people’s lives, from helping make routine decisions,” Google wrote in a blog post. “The importance of accurate ..read more