CHICAGO, IL (November 13, 2015) — Many Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos with one another that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.

The Linguistic Science Behind Why Norwegians Use the Word ‘Texas’ to Mean ‘Crazy’
From the article: “Indeed, it turns out that for several years Norwegians have used the word to describe a situation that is chaotic, out of control or excitingly unpredictable (‘The crowd at the concert last night was totally Texas!’). While this may seem like a bit of a stretch to many American English speakers, when examined through the lens of linguistics, it’s actually a pretty natural extension of the word Texas.”

Most Christians Don’t Actually Care About Starbucks Cups
From the article: “I’ve read dozens of stories on this from as many news outlets and I can’t find a single Christian organization or leader of import that is backing a boycott in any story.… Instead, many Christians responded to the backlash with backlash, saying that a boycott was pointless and a bit ridiculous.” This was totally media driven and actually great publicity for the chain.

Mizzou, Yale, and Free Speech
From the article: “I’m a pro-choice liberal who has been invited to infect evangelical Christian universities with progressive thoughts, and to address Catholic universities where I’ve praised condoms and birth control programs. I’m sure I discomfited many students on these conservative campuses, but it’s a tribute to them that they were willing to be challenged. In the same spirit, liberal universities should seek out pro-life social conservatives to speak.”

The desire to stop speech is one of the most dangerous threats to our country and to the church. Both depend on seeking truth, and that can’t happen when people are silenced. For another great article on what happened at the University of Missouri, check out “How Campus Activists Are Weaponizing the Safe Space.” (Full disclosure: I am a Missouri School of Journalism graduate.)

24 Things All “Harry Potter” Fans Can Agree On
Judging from the list, Harry Potter fans suffer from a lot of anger and sadness, and yet their lives are better than if they had never fallen under J. K. Rowling’s spell. They also would have written better movie scripts, and they agree on who the “true” fans are.

Brazilian Deforestation and You
This beautiful photo essay depicts an ugly and devastating problem, the ongoing destruction of the Brazilian rain forest. One scientist states, “It’s not the earth that’s in danger. It’s humanity that’s in danger.” Yet no country has ever been able to stop its own deforestation.