So with the bad economy hanging over everyone’s heads, The Washington Post’s On Faith blog thinks it might helpful to know how some believers are keeping the faith (or not) in the midst of unemployment:

“When things started going south for me, lots of friends told me they were praying for me. I became a link in several prayer chains. I received e-mails and cards full of assurances that God had a plan for me, that the best was yet to come, that I should keep praying because God would hear me and make my life wonderful again.

Funny thing, though: My life kept spiraling down.”

Speaking of faith in hard times, America Magazine’s In All Things blog offers a synopsis of a recent survey about global religious freedom:

“But the Middle East was not the world’s only problem region on religious freedom. Europe, in fact, had the largest proportion of countries in which social hostilities related to religion were on the rise from mid-2006 to mid-2009: five of the ten countries in the world that had a substantial increase in social hostilities were in Europe: Bulgaria, Denmark, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Social hostilities involving religion have also been rising in Asia, particularly in China, Thailand and Vietnam.”

Relevant Magazine asks, is “Christianese” (it’s a thing) always bad?

“‘Break bread together’ vs. ‘Eating together’

‘Testimony’ vs. `Story’ or ‘Account’

‘Caused me to stumble’ vs. ‘Was hurtful to me’

‘Felt convicted” vs. ‘Felt bad’ or ‘Felt remorse'”

And because I know you couldn’t go a whole day without more opinion about Texas Governor Rick Perry, here’s a peace from Patheos on his “Political Theology“:

“Asked in 2002 how his faith influences his politics, Rick Perry replied, ‘I don’t think it does, particularly.’ But at the massive prayer rally he hosted in Houston on Saturday, the sitting governor of Texas prayed, ‘as a nation, we have forgotten who made us.’ The deeply political assumptions of the event paraded past all day long, proving that the Perry of 2002 either had a problem with the truth or, like his predecessor in the governor’s mansion, has a debilitating incapacity for self-reflection.”

Amy Sullivan of Time claims today’s Tweet of the Day, mentioning an interesting analogy for absent fathers:

@sullivanamy – Philly mayor Nutter on absentee dads: “The Immaculate Conception…took place a long time ago, and it didn’t happen here in Philadelphia.”

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