By Christy Barritt

Stained Glass Windows Making Comeback

A new Barna survey found that 67 percent of young adults ages 18 to 29 chose the word “classic” to describe their ideal church. Only 33 preferred a trendy church as their ideal. With that information, many experts are projecting that stained glass windows will be making a comeback in church buildings across the country in the future. 

Stained glass windows were first used in houses of worship during the medieval time period. The ornate artwork usually served an educational purpose, such as illustrating scenes from the Bible.

Some church building specialists and architects have said that millennials don’t want a church facility that caters to the whims of pop culture but instead want a community that calls them to deeper meaning. Because of this, many believe more traditionally structured church buildings will become popular again.

5-Year-Old Receives Invoices After Missing Party

When an elementary-aged boy missed his classmate’s birthday party, his family was surprised to receive a bill from the family hosting the celebration.

When Derek Nash’s son came home from preschool, he was shocked to find an invoice in his backpack for the British equivalent of $24.14 for failing to attend a classmate’s birthday party. The amount listed was a “no-show” fee for not showing up to the event at a local ski center.

Nash said he initially told the family his son could attend, but then realized later that the boy was supposed to visit his grandparents that day. He lost the contact information for the party and couldn’t cancel.

Nash told the birthday boy’s mother that he wasn’t going to pay the bill she’d sent him. Now the boy’s mother is threatening to take the family to court to get her money back.

Man Invents Font to Help Those with Dyslexia

A Dutch graphic designer created a font that makes reading easier for those with dyslexia. He’s now offering it for free to people.

The typeface is called “Dyslexie,” and it was created by 33-year-old Christian Boer. He developed it as his final thesis project when he was a student at the Utrecht Art Academy in the Netherlands. Boer also has dyslexia. 

Dyslexia is a learning disorder characterized by difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words. The font makes reading easier for people with dyslexia by varying letter shapes. This makes it harder to confuse similarly shaped letters like “b” and “d.”

Boer hopes the font will not only help people but also create more awareness about the problem of dyslexia. Independent studies on “Dyslexie” have proven that students made fewer reading mistakes when taking a test written in that font.

114th Congress Heavily Religious 

A new poll by Pew shows that this year’s Congress is heavily religious. Nearly 92 percent of its members identify themselves as Christians, which is nearly 20 percent more than the general population. Only one member of Congress is listed as religiously unaffiliated.

The survey queried all 491 members of Congress and found that 57.2 percent identify as Protestant, 30.7 percent as Roman Catholic, and 5.2 as Jewish. There were notable differences in religion among party members, with 81.6 percent of Democrats saying they’re Christians and 99.7 percent Republicans saying the same. Only one Republican identified as Jewish. 

Pew also noted that 7 members of Congress, all in the House of Representatives, are ordained ministers.

Christy Barritt is an award-winning author in Chesapeake, Virginia (christybarritt.com). She and her husband, Scott, have two sons.