Monday's News & Ideas - 12/4/2023

Israel orders more Gazans to flee, bombs areas where it sends them
Reuters: As many as 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes in the Israeli bombing campaign that has reduced much of the crowded coastal strip to a desolate wasteland.

That Moscow mood*
Slate: How much culture war is too much, for American evangelicals?

This Palestinian American professor leans on his Quaker faith during conflict
NPR: Sa’ed Atshan is a professor of peace and conflict studies at Swarthmore College. He is also a Palestinian American with family still in the West Bank. He grew up going to a Quaker school in Ramallah and through that experience became a Quaker himself.

The Israel-Hamas war makes it clear: Local media must reclaim the religion beat
Poynter: Faith-based communities are a vibrant part of civic life, and coverage helps us build empathy for our neighbors.

Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims
The Associated Press: A top Mormon church official offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for a confidentiality agreement and a pledge by Chelsea Goodrich and her mother to destroy their recordings of meetings.

The Spark

The church built for all religions
To honor their fallen comrades, soldiers erected a church nestled in the heart of the mountains in 1916, invisible to the enemy. How did a modest-sized church evolve into a powerful symbol of cooperation and peace? The BBC asks in a video.

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