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.
How an Israeli quarantine hotel broke down barriers.
‘Everybody’s Getting Along Here’: How ‘Hotel Corona’ United Israelis And Palestinians, NPR
The guests, as he called them, came from many walks of life — Israeli Jews, Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, religious, secular — but all had one thing in common: They were among thousands of COVID-19 patients the Israeli military quarantined in hotels throughout the country.
Author J. K. Rowling riles people with gender comments.
Harry Potter and the transgender war, Mary Jackson
Rowling’s essay expressed concern about the safety of opening restrooms and changing rooms “to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman.” She also said she might have considered transgenderism as a teenager with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder since her father openly preferred a son over her. Instead, in time, she found comfort in her own body.
Rowling said she received an “avalanche” of emails and support from a diverse group of people concerned about women’s rights and the alarming rate of gender dysphoric youth undergoing irreversible hormone treatments and surgeries. Many said they are “justifiably terrified” to speak out for fear of retribution, she wrote.
Is science coming to faith?
Religion and Science in a Time of COVID-19, Scientific American
The current zeitgeist tells us that we must pick a side, as we do in sports or politics; one cannot be an adherent of both. Either choose secular science, which is rational and rigorous; or religion, a matter of personal belief.
But perhaps this narrative represents a false dichotomy. Does the tension between science and religion really exist? And in the context of COVID-19, is it inconceivable that a scientist can wholeheartedly pray for a cure for a loved one whilst also working to develop a vaccine? For the rest of us, is it hypocritical to pray for good health whilst also taking all necessary public health precautions, grounded as they are in scientific evidence?
Seal, yes; still no book, though.
Royal Seal of Hezekiah Comes to Light, Biblical Archaeology Review
For the first time, the royal seal of King Hezekiah in the Bible was found in an archaeological excavation. The stamped clay seal, also known as a bulla, was discovered in the Ophel excavations led by Dr. Eilat Mazar at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The discovery was announced in a press release by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology, under whose auspices the excavations were conducted.
In this case, the government remembers its place.
The NLRB Rethinks Its Position in Labor Matters Involving Faculty Members, National Law Review
On June 10, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issued Bethany College, 369 NLRB No. 98, in which it held that it does not have jurisdiction over matters concerning teachers or faculty at bona fide religious educational institutions. Bona fide religious educational institutions are those who (1) hold themselves out to students, faculty and the community as providing a religious educational environment; (2) are nonprofit organizations; and (3) are affiliated with, or owned, operated or controlled by a recognized religious organization or with an entity, membership of which is determined, at least in part, with reference to religion.