Shortly after the now-infamous fly landed on Mike Pence’s head during the vice presidential debates, I caught myself humming the song “Little People” from the original London recording of the musical Les Misérables: “A worm can roll a stone / A bee can sting a bear / A fly can fly around Versailles ‘cos flies don’t care.”
The song — which was sadly shortened after the musical came to Broadway in 1987, and why yes, I am a bit of a Les Mis nerd — offered a touch of comic relief right before the first battle scene. But the original rollicking lyrics also made a point: Sure, the rich and the powerful might seem untouchable, but just as David defeated Goliath, never underestimate “what little people can do.”
That was what I needed this week: a moment to laugh and a reminder that seemingly all-powerful systems can be toppled in unexpected ways. And that’s what you’ll find in this week’s picks from our editors: a little bit of humor (a new film that satirizes evangelical media? Yes please!) and stories to remind us of our collective power to overcome the forces of evil and enemies of justice that are so readily on display.
1. Knowledge Is Dangerous to Institutionalized Power
Understanding Trump’s executive order on critical race theory. By Whitney Parnell via sojo.net.
2. Why Our Sense of Time Is Distorted During the Pandemic
An interview with Dr. E. Alison Holman on distorted time perception in COVID-19. By Jamie Aten via Psychology Today.
3. Covid Exposed Christian Ableism. What Happens When Churches Reopen?
As churches create plans for re-opening their buildings and look toward a future where people have been vaccinated against COVID-19, there is an opportunity now to re-imagine church. Likely, it will never be the same. By Miriam Spies via sojo.net.
4. New ‘Faith Based’ Comedy Skewers the Crass Consumerism Of Evangelical Media
Praise the parody in a new film starring Jason Alexander of “Seinfeld.” By Ed Mazza via HuffPost.
5. How to Pray When Your Enemy Gets Sick
After the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis, I tweeted that the psalm of the morning ought to be Psalm 109, which includes startling lines like “may his days be few” and “may his children be orphans.” It was not in jest. By Greg Jarrell via sojo.net.
6. Befriending Uncertainty, Unfriending Responsibility
One of the first times I started experiencing anxiety-provoking intrusive thoughts was on a Sunday morning at church. By Serena Lee via Inheritance.
7. When One Part Suffers, the U.S. Looks Away
Our moral obligations and concerns cannot be confined to our borders. By Adam Russell Taylor via sojo.net.
8. She Fed Her Sick Flock During the 1918 Pandemic. Her Legacy Lives On.
“In times to come, when we are all gone, people not yet born will walk in the sunshine of their own days because of what women and men did at this hour to feed the sick, to heal and to comfort.” By Jim Dwyer via The New York Times.
Why was that fly so drawn to Pence, plexiglass be damned? We may never know for sure. But in my search for answers, I turned to the Bible. By Jenna Barnett via sojo.net.
10. A B.C. Research Project Gave Homeless People $7,500 Each — the Results Were ‘Beautifully Surprising’
Participants found housing faster, boosted food security and reduced spending on substances, study found. By Bridgette Watson via CBC.ca.
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