Here’s my July 30 newsletter. To receive my latest articles, favorite religion reads and other updates in your inbox every Saturday, sign-up here. 

How can July already be ending? This month was a blur of conferences, company holidays and family vacations. I’m ready to usher in a relatively calm August.

I spent this week wrapping up a long-term project on rituals and writing news roundups. Don’t miss the cute one about a Jewish Little League baseball player!

FRESH OFF THE PRESS FROM ME

How religious commitment affects people’s reactions to human enhancement

Tim LaHaye’s “Left Behind” books continue to shape America’s apocalyptic obsession

Q&A: How one writer made peace with a strange spiritual upbringing

Observing the Sabbath takes teamwork for this Little League player

TOP RELIGION READS

Deciding on the consecrated life, with the help of speed dating, The New York Times

The divided soul of the Democratic Party, Religion News Service

Looking back at ‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye,’ Lyz Lenz, The Washington Post

JUST FOR FUN

My editor brought his dog into the office on Friday, and I loved every minute of our bonding sessions.