Thursday’s News & Ideas - 5/21/2026

The San Diego mosque shootings were a crime made for and by the internet*
The New York Times: Authorities said the teenagers who killed three men met online, posted their writings there and livestreamed the killings.

America’s faith in war is a spiritual crisis — not just a political one 
Religion News Service: Few of our preachers use their pulpits to call for an end to war, often because they are afraid to do so.

Can virality create revival? Gen Z evangelist Bryce Crawford has faith
Religion News Service: Twenty-two-year-old Bryce Crawford is becoming one of the internet’s most popular evangelical voices through his street preaching videos, podcast and national tour. But whether he is driving a real movement — and where this is all heading — remains to be seen.

Many Catholics mourning the loss of late-night host Stephen Colbert’s show
Crux: Colbert, a practicing Catholic, couldn’t curb his appetite for making Trump barbs, often turning his show into a full-throated rebuke of MAGA policies. Trump would call him a “dead man walking.”

These 5 charts show how ChatGPT is flooding our lives*
The Washington Post: Self-filed lawsuits. New books. Scientific papers. See the data behind the surge.

The Spark

Inside the newspapers of Iran’s revolution
An expansive digital archive captures how journalists, satirists, and tabloids documented revolutionary Iran in real time, JSTOR says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers