CHICAGO, IL (September 2, 2016) — Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos 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.

Nearly One-Fifth of Parents Regret Baby Name

I wonder if Kim Kardashian and Kanye West will ever regret naming their child North West. Probably not. Will I regret that I ever actually referenced Kim Kardashian and Kanye West in print? Pretty sure of it.

From the article: “According to the survey one mother said the moment she began to regret naming her daughter Elsa was when the Disney film Frozen became popular….another parent admitted her child’s name ‘was taken by a terrorist group, soon after she was born.’ ”

Depression: A Revolution in Treatment?

Friends of mine who are researchers say the role of inflammation and the immune system are the most promising areas of science in battling diseases that also include cancer and Alzheimer’s.

From the article: “Anti-depressant drugs and psychological treatments, like cognitive behavioural therapy, help the majority of people. But many don’t respond to existing therapies and so some scientists are now exploring a new frontier—whether the immune system could be causing depression.”

“Our Living Dinosaurs”—Far Fewer Elephants than Thought

The headline is jarring, as it should be. The question is whether we will be jarred to action regarding a crisis that still feels distant and “over there.” Remember where God tells Adam and Eve to tend the garden?

From the article: “In the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, and Mozambique’s Niassa Reserve, elephant populations have plummeted by more than 75% in the past ten years as poachers cut down family herds, according to the survey. The Babile Elephant Sanctuary in Ethiopia hasn’t lived up to its name: Chase and the team counted just a single herd of 36 elephants—the last in the Horn of Africa, a vast area roughly the size of Mexico.”

Comic Redesigns the Autism Spectrum

Understanding what the spectrum of autism is, let alone how to respond, is difficult for most people. So Rebecca Burgess created a comic that presents autism not as a linear image but as a round spectrum that makes space for much more diversity and complexity. This would be a excellent resource for our churches.

You Won’t Be Happier Living Somewhere Else

The advice in this article could also apply to our tendency to assume that if we change churches we’ll be more content.

From the article: “A new city, meanwhile, is the geographic version of a crush, enticing and full of untested promise. So we wind up believing that the simplest way to get a fresh start is to pick up and move to a new place, where we might find a more challenging job, get out of debt, start dating a nicer boyfriend, take up yoga and finally begin self-actualizing.”