Friday's News & Ideas - 10/4/2024

Disasters bring out the best and worst theology
Baptist News Global: One impacted resident just could not get comfortable with the idea that God somehow spared her and not her neighbors. What kind of God allows hurricanes, floods, devastation?

Facing more clergy abuse lawsuits, Vermont’s Catholic Church files for bankruptcy
The Associated Press: Celeste Laramie, an attorney representing about a third of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, said the filing “is more reflective of moral bankruptcy than actual financial bankruptcy, particularly in light of the estimated $500 million of assets it has attempted to hide from survivors of its sexual abuse.”

Alabama’s new United Methodist Church bishop looks beyond disaffiliation: ‘Healing is what we need’*
AL.com: Bishop Jonathan Holston, who took office on Sept. 1 as bishop over all United Methodist churches in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, will oversee half as many churches as his predecessors.

How the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin is doing 12 years after tragedy
NPR: A white supremacist mass shooting took place 12 years ago at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.

LifeWise Academy’s Bible enrichment courses are legal. So why do they bother some parents so much?*
Slate: Other parents spoke about how kids who don’t attend the program — or who belong to other religions — feel left out, and argued that removal of students from the school day detracts from a focus on academics.

The Spark

Your first electric car could be a vintage Ford Bronco
In a former naval shipyard outside San Francisco, one start-up is cooking up cars* for the next century—just not the kind you think, GQ says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers