Evangelical Christians are up to something new.

At least that’s the position of many criticizing the “Nashville Statement,” a controversial document championing “biblical” sexual ethics that was penned this past week and signed by roughly 150 prominent evangelical leaders. The document, divided into 14 articles and released by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), mostly parrots denunciations of LGBTQ identities and relationships common among right-wing evangelicals. But it drew added attention for doing something unusual: extending their condemnation to Christians who affirm queer people.

“We affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness,” Article 10 of the statement reads. “We deny that the approval of homosexual immortality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christian should agree to disagree.”

The statement triggered outrage almost immediately, especially among LGBTQ and LGBTQ-affirming Christians who saw it as a direct attack on their understanding of the faith. Within hours, several progressive Christian groups issued their own counter-statements refuting the evangelical document point-by-point, with some deriding it as “anti-LGBTQ bigotry.” Faithful America, an online advocacy organization for progressive Christians, already has thousands of signatures for a petition rejecting the […]

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There are many open questions in science — Are we alone in the universe? What’s at the bottom of a black hole? When will I finally get my jetpack? — but according to Rest, a new book by Stanford’s Alex Pang, ‘How many hours a day should a knowledge worker work?’ isn’t among them.

Decades of science and a whole host of historical luminaries have all come to the same conclusion: if your work involves your brain, then the right answer is just four hours.

Don’t believe me? Then maybe this short Guardian article from consistently fascinating journalist Oliver Burkeman will convince you. In it, he boils down the impressively persuasive case for not trying to wring more than four hours of creative work out of your brain each day. It consists, essentially of three types of evidence.

Science

First, formal research backs up Pang’s assertion. Have you heard of the 10,000 rule? You’d think the need for so much practice would run counter to the idea that four hours of intellectual work a day […]

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Trachilos footprint indicates human ancestors were in Crete six million years ago.
Credit: Andrzej Boczarowski

Scientists say they may have found human footprints in Greece that date back to a time when it is commonly believed our ancestors were still only in Africa, potentially changing our ideas of how the species evolved and dispersed.

The footprints, found embedded in rock in an area called Trachilos on the Greek island of Crete, are 5.7 million years old, according to a study in the journal Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association. They “show hominin-like characteristics” — the creature that made the tracks walked on two legs using the soles of its feet; had five toes, with the innermost ones more developed than the outer digits; and did not have any claws. The researchers also noted “the presence of a distinct ball in some of the tracks.”

“Human feet have a very distinctive shape, different from all other land animals,” Uppsala Universitysaid in a […]

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Republican Secretary of State Rolando B. Pablos

Those who have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana are only beginning to see the way the flood waters have destroyed their homes. Many families tried to ride it out, only to be rescued when the rising waters forced them onto their roof. Thousands escaped with only their lives and the clothes on their backs, losing everything they own.

But according to Secretary of State Rolando Pablos (R-TX), they don’t need any help. As Patheos reported, they just need a little more Jesus.

Quebec’s Minister of International Relations Christine St-Pierre called Pablos to express her sorrow and condolences on behalf of the people of the Canadian province. She also offered equipment and manpower.

Pablos turned it down. Instead he asked for “prayers from the people of Quebec,” the minister relayed.

Understandably, the neighbor to the north was shocked.

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“It was a conversation about how devastating the situation is and we want to express our support to the people of Texas,” she told CBC […]

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Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority workers try to reach valves that control the flow of water in and out of Highland Park Reservoir No. 1 outside the membrane filtration plant in Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. Tests by the state Department of Environmental Protection showed low levels of chlorine in water at a facility that draws water from the city’s Highland Park reservoirs.
Credit: Rebecca Droke/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/AP

WOLFFORTH, TEXAS — As many as 63 million people — nearly a fifth of the country — from rural central California to the boroughs of New York City, were exposed to potentially unsafe water more than once during the past decade, according to a News21 investigation of 680,000 water quality and monitoring violations from the Environmental Protection Agency. (emphasis added)

The findings highlight how six decades of industrial dumping, farming pollution, and water plant and distribution pipe deterioration have taken a toll on local water systems. Those found to have problems cleaning their water typically took more than two years to fix these […]

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