Thursday’s News & Ideas - 8/13/2026

Chicago Theological Seminary to leave Hyde Park home
Block Club Chicago: The 171-year-old seminary’s lease is ending in the University of Chicago-owned building it’s called home for a decade. Neither institution immediately announced plans for what’s next.

Paxton, Talarico tap contrary versions of God and Christianity in appeal to Texas voters
The Texas Tribune: Campaigning for the U.S. Senate, Paxton says he was “delivered by God” to protect Texas from leftists. Talarico’s focus: “You can’t love God and hate other people.”

The Episcopal Church is a story of renewal, not decline
Religion News Service: Ours is a story of renewal and change, not decline and death. The invitation is simply to say so, plainly, and to live it across our communities and neighborhoods.

Not giving up: A group of social justice warriors sustains the resistance with community and meditation
Religion News Service: Over the past decade, a group of democracy activists with a long history of involvement in social and political causes has found a balm in Buddhist meditation.

Israeli settlers creating ‘climate of fear’ for West Bank Christians
Crux: The parish priest in Palestine’s last entirely Christian village has said that Israeli settlers are creating a “climate of fear” with the intention of driving locals from their land.

The Spark

Russian literature does not belong to the Russian state
The Dar Prize seeks to award excellent writing in the Russian language, regardless of the writer’s citizenship or nationality, Literary Hub says.

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