From Satan at the polls to Jack London in Alaska–this was a humdinger of a week. Here are a few of the stories that caught our eye:
Ha: From the “Christian Onion.” New poll results say that a majority of conservative evangelicals would vote for Satan, at BB.
A new LifeWay Research poll confirmed Wednesday that a majority of conservative evangelicals would vote for Satan, the Prince of Darkness, should he run for public office as a Republican candidate. . . . “Lucifer? Yeah, I’d vote for him, as long as he claims to be a Republican,” one member of a study focus group said. “He’s got some character flaws, sure—who doesn’t—but we’ve got to remember that ensuring we Christians get some fleeting political power is far more important than whether our chosen candidate does a little soul-devouring on the side.”
More evidence: (Some) liberal parents will fight against school integration, at NYT.
The virulent opposition in an area that its founder once declared to be “color blind” shows that the issue remains deeply divisive among liberals when it comes to their own children.
Not easy: Can you listen to the hard truths from the other side? At The Atlantic.
When women are urged to “shout your abortion,” and when abortion becomes the subject of stand-up comedy routines, the attitude toward abortion seems ghoulish. Who could possibly be proud that they see no humanity at all in the images that science has made so painfully clear? When anti-abortion advocates speak in the most graphic terms about women “sucking babies out of the womb,” they show themselves without mercy. They are not considering the extremely human, complex, and often heartbreaking reasons behind women’s private decisions. The truth is that the best argument on each side is a damn good one, and until you acknowledge that fact, you aren’t speaking or even thinking honestly about the issue. You certainly aren’t going to convince anybody.
Donald Trump Jr. heckled off stage at UCLA…by conservative protesters.
Ohio bill would allow students to be wrong, if their religion said they were right.
if a student submitted biology homework saying the earth is 10,000 years old, as some creationists believe, the teacher cannot dock points.
The rise of Catholic fundamentalism? At RNS.
why not? Since the late 1970s, conservative Catholics and evangelicals have been allies in the culture war that has shaped American partisan politics.
Hong Kong protests turn colleges into citadels, at NYT.
When parents had to choose between integrated schools and bad schools, they chose the bad ones. Memories from white students at “segregation academies,” at Slate.
The stories up so far represent segregation academies as chaotic, understaffed, and underplanned. The point, it’s clear, was not education but separation. Bridget Smith Pieschel, who went to the all-white Winston Academy in Louisville, Mississippi, starting in 1969, reported that at first, there was “no art; no foreign language; no science lab; no band; no chorus” at her school. But, as a child, she said, “I took everything at face value. I believed that my school was ‘better,’ more ‘refined,’ ‘safer.’ ” Alan Huffman, who went to one of the many Southern seg academies founded by the “respectable” white supremacist Citizens’ Councils, remembered that it had a “mix of brilliant and horrible teachers.” “Anyone, it seemed, could get a job teaching in one of its pre-fab classrooms,” he remembered, “including a woman who admonished us for acting up in class by saying, ‘Y’all should be grateful—if it weren’t for teachers like me, y’all would be going to school with n—–s.’ ”
Nikki Haley’s new book doubles down on Trumpism, at The Guardian.
She clearly sees a future in which bigotry and populism will continue to define the Republican brand, and believes that her personal survival requires her to toe the party line as closely as possible.
Jack London’s Alaska gold rush, at Smithsonian.
The inspiration for Buck is the dog on the left.
There are still evangelicals who aren’t “evangelical,” at RNS.
They might be wrong or crazy. But one thing they obviously are not is Trumpy. Tell that to the next person who equates “evangelical” with right-wing, knuckle-dragging Neanderthal and think instead of a certain rabbi from Palestine.
Are students “helots?” One Detroit teacher gets in trouble for comparing students to Greek slaves, at Chalkbeat.
History nerds: Is the new Midway movie any good? History review at HNN.
Military buffs will adore it, but the average person will sit through, liking certain parts very much and frowning at others. . . . Midway is far better than the recent staid and slow Pearl Harbor that starred Ben Affleck. I just wish that Midway was a sturdier historical movie and explained the battle, and that part of World War II, better. Despite its drawbacks, Midway is a rip-roaring military saga and a testament to the men who won it. The Americas are seen as brave and heroic in the film, but so are the Japanese.
I Love You but You're Going to Hell 