The following articles have been selected because they are informative, instructive, entertaining, or simply interesting. Articles appearing in Your Friday Five do not represent an endorsement.
Former GOP presidential candidate dies.
Herman Cain dies at 74 after battling COVID-19, Christian Post
Before moving into Republican politics and eventually becoming a presidential candidate, Cain had been a business executive and board chairman of a branch of Kansas City’s Federal Reserve Bank. Last year, Trump briefly considered picking Cain as his nominee to join the Federal Reserve Board.
Throughout his career, Cain was open about his Christian faith and how it defined his life.
Religious freedom is always a top-tier issue.
Why religious freedom is special, The Hill
There is a popular misconception that religious diversity is the source of social conflict, but as comparisons by faith expert Brian Grim have shown, it is suppression of religious freedom that escalates social hostilities into violence. Congress recognized that religious freedom violations threaten international peace and security, and it passed the International Religious Freedom Act that President Clinton signed in 1998. The law made religious freedom a foundation of United States policies on the world.
Prayer isn’t everything we do, but don’t neglect it.
Flint religious leaders to pray on street corners in response to spike in violence, Michigan Radio
At least a dozen people in Flint were wounded in gunfire last weekend, including one 17 year old girl who died of her injuries. While Flint has seen other forms of criminal activity decline in 2020, there has been an increase in violent crime overall, along with a slight increase in homicides.
In response, a coalition of Flint religious leaders plan to spend part of Saturday praying on street corners around the city.
The power of singing.
Science and Scripture Agree: Singing Lifts Our Spirits, Glenn Packam
Singing makes us feel better. Science, as it turns out, agrees.
So would the ancient Hebrews. In their songbook, the Psalms, they lift up praise and petitions, laments and sorrow, and calls for God’s attention and action. But they were not simply singing to feel better, as an act of ritual catharsis. In prayer and in song, they lifted their souls to God, their covenant God—the sole sovereign over creation who had bound himself to them in love. We learn from the ancient Hebrews that the power of singing is not simply in the song but in who you are singing to.