Bloomberg: India’s Hindu Temples Use ‘God’s Gold’ to Pay Pandemic Bills. “Hindu temples hold as much as 4,000 tons of the precious metal, according to the World Gold Council, a stockpile as big as Fort Knox’s and administered by trusts empowered by Indian law to act on behalf of the deity. The Travancore Devaswom Board, a prominent temple association in the southern state of Kerala, has for the first time decided to deposit some of its treasures with banks—which pay interest on gold deposits of varying terms—to raise funds and pay salaries, according to the board’s president, N. Vasu.”
religion
MIT Technology Review: Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead.
MIT Technology Review: Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead.. “The tenets of QAnon are specific: that Trump is the chosen one to finally destroy a ring of Satanic pedophiles long protected by access to elite positions of authority, and that Q will provide the clues to lead followers to the truth. But the movement has mingled with so many other conspiracist causes and ideologies that it is now possible to be a carrier of QAnon content online without actually knowing what you are spreading.”
Orthodox Christianity: Russian Church creating digital archive of ruined monuments of Church architecture
Orthodox Christianity: Russian Church creating digital archive of ruined monuments of Church architecture. “On Sunday, September 13, a moleben was held after the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Martyr Clement of Rome in Moscow on the occasion of the launch of significant new Church-wide project devoted to the many ruined churches and monasteries throughout Russia.”
Spokesman-Review: After balking at masks, pastor and church staff in North Idaho contract COVID-19
Spokesman-Review: After balking at masks, pastor and church staff in North Idaho contract COVID-19. “A Coeur d’Alene pastor who opened his large church in early May for in-person services that allowed and even encouraged unmasked congregants to gather has been recovering from COVID-19 at the Kootenai Health intensive care unit. Paul Van Noy, the senior pastor at Candlelight Christian Fellowship, has spent the past two weeks in the ICU while his wife, Brenda Van Noy, recovered from her own bout with COVID-19 at home. Five other church staff have been infected, said Eric Reade, body ministry coordinator the church.”
BNN Bloomberg: Kosher Crisis Hits $19 Billion Market With Rabbis Stuck at Home
BNN Bloomberg: Kosher Crisis Hits $19 Billion Market With Rabbis Stuck at Home. “There’s a lot more to the kosher food industry than Hebrew National hot dogs and Manischewitz wine. Kosher food was a $19.1 billion industry in 2018, according to Allied Market Research, which projects it will grow to $25.6 billion by 2026…. While China doesn’t have many Jews, it’s nonetheless an important part of the kosher food industry: Chinese factories produce canned fruit and other packaged goods and also play a critical role in the production of artificial flavorings, amino acids, and other ingredients that make their way into the diets of observant Jews.”
Jerusalem Post: Recently discovered 13th-century prayer by Ramban goes online
Jerusalem Post: Recently discovered 13th-century prayer by Ramban goes online. “A recently discovered poetic prayer written by the Ramban, or Nachmanides, the 13th-century Spanish rabbi and renowned author of commentaries on the Bible and the Talmud, has been translated into English and is now available on the website of the National Library of Israel.”
EurekAlert: European ReIReS network launches online database for religious studies
EurekAlert: European ReIReS network launches online database for religious studies. “The EU-funded Research Infrastructure on Religious Studies (ReIReS) project has been bringing together various European institutions, including Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), over the last two and a half years to establish an innovative infrastructure for religious research in Europe. The aim is to provide transnational and virtual access to significant tools and sources in the field of European religious research. The network now launched its web-based research database ReIReSearch, which offers a new search tool and improved access to research material and sources on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as on ancient and non-European religions.”
Metro: Religious leader who blamed gay marriage for coronavirus now has coronavirus
Metro: Religious leader who blamed gay marriage for coronavirus now has coronavirus. “A church leader who blamed the emergence of coronavirus on same-sex marriage has now contracted the disease. Patriarch Filaret, 91, is in hospital in a stable condition after he was diagnosed with Covid 19 during routine testing.”
Texas Tribune: A South Texas chaplain prayed with his hospice patients. Then the coronavirus came for him.
Texas Tribune: A South Texas chaplain prayed with his hospice patients. Then the coronavirus came for him.. “The hospital where he had previously ministered to terminally ill patients was full when Adolfo Alvarado Jr. neared death in his Mission home. He was finally admitted, and his daughter watched on her laptop as he died.”
Digital Library of Georgia: Decades of episodes of Augusta, Georgia’s pioneering African American gospel television program Parade of Quartets now available freely online
Digital Library of Georgia; Decades of episodes of Augusta, Georgia’s pioneering African American gospel television program Parade of Quartets now available freely online. “Parade of Quartets, broadcast on WJBF-TV in Augusta, Georgia since 1954, is a rare example of a sustained African American media presence on a southern television affiliate. Hundreds of well-known Black gospel musicians such as Shirley Caesar, Dottie Peoples, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Dixie Hummingbirds, and the Swanee Quintet have appeared on the program. In the last few decades, the program’s content has expanded to include local and national African American political leaders’ appearances. Some of them appear in the digitized materials, which cover the period from 1980 to 2011.”
Getty Iris: More to Explore as the Ghent Altarpiece Website Gets an Update
Getty Iris: More to Explore as the Ghent Altarpiece Website Gets an Update. “Since 2012, the website Closer to Van Eyck has made it possible for millions around the globe to zoom in on the intricate, breathtaking details of the Ghent Altarpiece, one of the most recognized and most-studied works of art in the world. Now visitors to the site have even more ways to explore this monumental work of art from afar, with the launch today of a new version of the site that includes images of recently restored sections of the paintings as well as new videos and education materials.”
NBC News: One man with coronavirus attending Ohio church service led to infection of 91 others
NBC News: One man with coronavirus attending Ohio church service led to infection of 91 others. “A 56-year-old man with the coronavirus attending a single church service in Ohio led to the infection’s spread to at least 91 other people across five counties. Gov. Mike DeWine posted a graphic to his Facebook page Wednesday detailing how the virus spread over a three-week period from the date of the church service on June 14 to July 4.”
NPR: Religious Groups Received $6-10 Billion In COVID-19 Relief Funds, Hope For More
NPR: Religious Groups Received $6-10 Billion In COVID-19 Relief Funds, Hope For More. “Religious organizations, having received as much as $10 billion in the first round of COVID-19 aid, hope to receive more funding under any new relief package. Churches of all denominations and other religious nonprofits were quick to take advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided forgivable loans under the CARES Act in March. The U.S. Catholic Church alone received at least $1.4 billion in funding and possibly as much as $3.5 billion under the program, according to an analysis by the Associated Press, using data provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA).”
Catholic Leader: Revisit Australia’s Catholic history all the way back to 1788
Catholic Leader: Revisit Australia’s Catholic history all the way back to 1788. “With the global health crisis impacting the [Australian Catholic Historical Society]’s decades tradition of recounting Australian Catholic history, the society has published a fascinating collection of the history of the Catholic community in Australia on their website. The online library includes a timeline with links that stretches back to 1788 – the year the first Mass was celebrated in Terra Australis – newsreel footage dating back 1932 when thousands marched through Melbourne for St Patrick’s Day, and hours worth of links to online historical accounts of the Catholic Church, including video, podcast, journals and other internet entries.”
BBC: South Korea church coronavirus cluster causes alarm
BBC: South Korea church coronavirus cluster causes alarm. “South Korea is dealing with its biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases in five months – with 279 cases reported on Sunday alone. Many have been linked to the Sarang Jeil Church, whose pastor has been a vocal critic of President Moon Jae-in. Another church, the Shincheonji Church of Jesus was identified earlier this year as South Korea’s biggest virus cluster.”
