Friday’s News & Ideas - 8/15/2025
- Trend of churches selling land
- Harvard nears settlement
- Lutheran bishop’s story
- Clergy abuse survivors vote
- Protestantism & birth control
- Blind tennis
For a small Charlotte church, selling some land has meant finding its soul
Religion News Service: Newell Presbyterian is part of a growing trend of declining congregations with underutilized space, excess land or deteriorating buildings that are selling or leasing some of their land for affordable housing.
Harvard and the Trump administration are nearing a settlement including a $500 million payment
The Associated Press: What began as an investigation into campus antisemitism escalated into an all-out feud as the Trump administration slashed more than $2.6 billion in research funding, ended federal contracts and attempted to block Harvard from hosting international students
How a former schoolteacher became the next Lutheran presiding bishop
Religion News Service: The Rev. Yehiel Curry, a former lay church planter, will be installed as presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in October.
New Orleans clergy abuse survivors begin voting on church bankruptcy deal
The Guardian: Claimants can accept or reject the Catholic archdiocese’s plan to settle in a two-month period before a November hearing.
Protestant ideas shaped Americans’ support for birth control — and the Supreme Court ruling protecting a husband and wife’s right to contraception
The Conversation: Griswold v. Connecticut, decided in 1965, made it illegal for states to outlaw birth control for spouses — a right that would not be extended to single people until 1972.
The Spark
They’re losing their vision. They still love playing tennis.
For the visually impaired people who participate in blind tennis,* the sport delivers joy. “This is what I’ve been missing,” one player said to The New York Times.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
