Tuesday's News & Ideas - 5/29/2024

Church places Matt Queen, former SBC seminary leader, on leave after federal charges
Religion News Service: Leaders at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church said they support their pastor’s pledge to cooperate with authorities and will monitor the situation.

Netanyahu frequently makes claims of antisemitism. Critics say he’s deflecting from his own problems
Associated Press: His detractors say he is overusing the label to further his political agenda and try to stifle even legitimate criticism, and that doing so risks diluting the term’s meaning at a time when antisemitism is surging worldwide.

For American clergy, the burdens of their calling increasingly threaten mental well-being*
USA Today: For many church leaders, the pandemic was a wake-up call regarding the structural issues within their institutions, including the oversized burdens placed on pastors.

Beatings, brandings, suicides: Life on plantations owned by Church of England missionary arm
The Guardian: The Codrington estate is now one of the focal points in a public debate about the Church of England’s links to chattel slavery, in which people were traded as personal property.

For American Jews, interfaith weddings are a new normal – and creatively weave both traditions together
The Conversation: Approximately 42% of married Jews have a spouse who is not Jewish. Among American Jews who have gotten married since 2010, that percentage rises to 61%.

The Spark

Bette Nash, the world’s longest-serving flight attendant, dies at 88
The aviation world is mourning Bette Nash, a D.C.-based flight attendant who died earlier this month after spending nearly seven decades serving passengers in the skies — and making history along the way, NPR says.

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