Thursday's News & Ideas - 5/22/2025

Why Baptists in North Carolina agreed to resettle Afrikaners as refugees
NPR: “Our position is that however morally and ethically charged it is, our mandate is to help welcome and love people,” said Marc Wyatt, a retired Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionary who now works for CBF North Carolina.
Religion News Service: Resettling Afrikaners is a ‘Faustian bargain,’ says Episcopal Church’s Sean Rowe

Liberty to pay Jerry Falwell Jr. $15 million settlement after high-profile sex scandal 
USA Today: The settlement for litigation following his resignation in 2020 was announced last year, but neither Falwell nor Liberty shared details about what it included — or how much Falwell would be paid.

When Christians divorce 
ARC: Christian colleges’ connection to their original denominations is increasingly offering little practical benefit, and enforcing constraints that make hiring more challenging. So how should Christian colleges relate to the denominations they’ve left?

1 in 3 Americans turn to astrology or tarot cards for spiritual help 
Religion Unplugged: While most Christians reject these practices, Hispanic Catholics and Black Protestants are among the most likely to say they believe that consulting a fortune teller, tarot cards or astrology gives them helpful insights.

New Orleans Archdiocese agrees to pay nearly $180M to victims of clergy sexual abuse 
The Associated Press: The archdiocese, its parishes and several insurers will pay $179.2 million into a trust to benefit survivors. But many of the survivors were not on board, their lawyers said.

The Spark

An awkward truth about American work
Direct-selling schemes — such as MLMs* — are considered fringe businesses. But their values have bled into the national economy and reshaped the American idea of “work,” says Lora Kelley in her book review for The Atlantic. 

*access is limited for nonsubscribers