Check out these recent articles from around the web:

How democracy survives through standing together by Chris Crawford: “Our democracy’s survival will require sacrifice. We must be willing to do so with mercy, selflessness, and love.”

Dear influencers: We are not built for this much intimacy by Elise Ureneck: “But we are not built for this scale of intimacy, and our followers are not capable of providing reciprocal vulnerability. We do not have the capacity — in terms of time, proximity, or personal attention — to develop real relationships with this number of people.”

The Shock of Faith: It’s Nothing Like I Thought It Would Be by David Brooks: “When religion is seen as belief, the believer lives on a continuum between belief and doubt. But when religion is seen as a longing, the believer lives on the continuum between intensity and apathy.”

‘Living or Dead, We Want Our Sons Back’ by Lynsey Addario: “After the fall of the Assad regime in early December, Syrians rushed to learn the fate of those who disappeared during the war. At morgues, prisons and hospitals, the number of women searching for answers was notable.”

Biden Left Us With a ‘Prius Economy.’ It’s Time for Something Different. by Daniel Aldana Cohen and Thea Riofrancos: “If Democrats want to win voters with policies that avert catastrophic climate change, they need to bring immediate, material benefits to the working class. That means folding climate policies into an agenda that tackles the cost-of-living crisis.”

Soccer vs. Sunday Mass: How youth sports are undermining religion—and hurting our kids by Joshua J. Whitfield: “We must realize that the redemption of sports begins with the redemption of play.”

The Anti-Social Century by Derek Thompson: “Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.”

Surviving as a Liberal Internationalist in the Era of Trump’s Illiberal Nationalism by Michael McFaul: “Trump is short-sighted in abandoning a longstanding, bipartisan tradition of promoting democracy around the world. Think about our history of conflict and cooperation. Our best allies have always been democracies, and our worst enemies—autocrats like Hitler, Mussolini, Japanese generals, Stalin, Mao, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic, etc. Today, we face the greatest threats to American national security from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—all dictatorships—as well as illiberal and anti-democratic non-state actors like Hamas, Hezbollah, and ISIS. And when democracy expands, we become more secure and more prosperous.”

Inside a New Plan to Bring Electricity to 300 Million in Africa by Max Bearak: “The World Bank, African Development Bank and others are pledging at least $35 billion to expand electricity across a continent where more than a half-billion people still don’t have it. About half of the money will go toward solar “minigrids” that serve individual communities. The loans will come at below-market interest rates, a crucial stipulation as global lenders usually charge much higher rates in Africa, citing higher risks.”

The Democrats Show Why They Lost by Jonathan Chait: “If Democrats learned from Harris’s campaign that they should try to stop holding events that are easily repurposed as viral Republican attack ads, they showed no sign of it over the weekend.”

Trump’s attack on USAID is an assault on Americans’ safety by Chris Coons: “Our foreign assistance and engagement wins us friends around the world, establishes our leadership and, more important, neutralizes distant threats to the United States well before they put our country at risk.”