Tuesday’s News & Ideas - 4/7/2026
- Pope’s Easter message on war
- Easter with empty pews
- Outdoor pastor retires
- Israeli settlers drive out Christians
- Manosphere’s antisemitism
- The Easter lamb cake
On Easter, Pope Leo delivers commanding message of peace to a world at war*
The Washington Post: “Let those who have weapons lay them down!” the first American pope declared. The White House’s war in Iran and nativist agenda at home are testing the Vatican.
The New York Times: Hegseth says U.S. troops are fighting for Jesus. The Pope disagrees.*
Easter came to empty pews in Jerusalem. For Palestinian Christians, Orthodox Easter may be no different.
Religion News Service: Restrictions imposed by Israel against large gatherings due to the Iran war is casting a long shadow on Easter celebrations, but Palestinian Christians may be feeling it most acutely.
After 1,700 Sundays preaching outside and under bridges, a Central Texas pastor retires
The Texas Tribune: Urban minister Jimmy Dorrell bade farewell Sunday to his outdoor Waco congregation after baptizing a dozen people in the chilly waters of the Middle Bosque River.
A strategy ‘to make life intolerable’: Israeli settlers are driving Christians out of West Bank
The Guardian: The Taybeh community has survived crusaders and the Ottoman and British empires, but the latest attacks leave its future in question.
Why the manosphere has an antisemitism problem
The Conversation: In their eyes, the global economy is to blame for their unsatisfactory job prospects, feminism is to blame for their failures with women, minority rights are forcing them to relinquish their privilege as straight men, and so on.
The Spark
Buttercream wool and jelly bean eyes: The art of the Easter lamb cake
The cake itself is baked in the shape of a lamb (usually a nestled lamb with folded legs), and topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, or swags of buttercream piped to look like wool, NPR says.
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