AWESOME: “What does it feel like to fly over planet earth.”

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HMM: “Unemployment And Religion: Their Faith Affects How Americans View Job Crisis, Survey Says.”

The Baylor University study, which was presented at a Religion Newswriters Association conference in North Carolina over the weekend and publicly released Tuesday, found that Americans who believe God has a plan for their lives are more likely to think the government “does too much,” more likely to oppose unemployment benefits for healthy people and more likely to believe in the “American dream” that anything is possible for those who work hard.

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DOUBLE HMM: “Religion and Inequality Go Hand-in-Hand.” Income inequality, that is.

One possible explanation for this pattern is that the wealthy are more attracted to religion in unequal societies because religions can justify their elevated positions. Where there is inequality, the poor are poorer and the wealthy are wealthier. With more poverty, is there a greater need for religion? The evidence for this is thin. In unequal societies, the rich are also religious. By some measures, the wealthy grow more religious and the poor become less religious where there is higher inequality. And with wealthy investors, religion is able to grow among the poor, preaching a message that helps keep the wealthy and the poor in their place.

What I’d like to see is the connection between religiosity, income inequality, and marital status. From what I’ve read, religiosity and wealth also correlate with intact marriage.

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HINT—IT DOESN’T WORK: “The Science of Shacking Up.”

Scientists find that cohabitation cuts down on commitment. The message of living together is, “I’d really only like to take part of you. And maybe some time later I’d like to take all of you.” No wonder so many cohabitating couples break up or fall into unhealthy patterns. The relationship defines itself by a holding back of commitment.

People, especially men, who cohabit are less committed to that relationship but also less committed to future relationships. Again, that’s not a preacher’s line or a moralizer’s line. That’s a scientific line. Cohabitating men who go on to marry are significantly less committed to the marriage itself than men who don’t cohabit.

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MEDIA HYPOCRISY WATCH: “Atheist group set to rip pages from the Bible.”

If the organization were Christian and ripping pages from the Quran or destroying the book “Heather Has Two Mommies,” it likely would have garnered media attention from sea to shining sea, with the Christians portrayed as insensitive bigots or intolerant censors.

Yet the group in question is not Christian, but instead an atheist group—and it is tearing pages from the Bible. Members of Backyard Skeptics, described by the Orange County Register as a “grassroots atheist group,” will gather “to rip out pages with specific passages of the Bible that they say portray immoral biblical law.”

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McCHURHC: “Failing churches find new life as outposts for megachurches.”

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ABOUT TIME: “Foo Fighters protest Westboro Baptist Church.”

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BECAUSE THERE JUST AREN’T ENOUGH LEADERSHIP LESSONS: “Leadership Lessons from Superman’s Underpants.”

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HINT—IT’S NOT THE PASTOR: “Who Owns a Pastor’s Sermons?”

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FROM MY MAGAZINE: “The Three Pillars of Jesus’ Faith” by Marc Turnage: “righteousness (almsgiving), prayer, and fasting (repentance).”