Tuesday’s News & Ideas - 8/26/2025
- Newark’s detention center
- Americans on various morals
- Scams target churches
- Opting out of curriculum
- Migrants to Iowa
- Inside “Great British Bake Off”
Outside Newark’s 1,100-bed detention center, a weekly prayer service for anxious families
Religion News Service: At Delaney Hall, the East Coast’s largest immigrant detention facility, families and volunteers say harsh conditions and shifting rules have urged the need for spiritual care.
Americans becoming more permissive on many moral issues
Religion Unplugged: When it comes to morality, Americans don’t see much wrong with using birth control or getting a divorce, but few support extramarital affairs or human cloning.
Email phishing scams increasingly target churches
Religion Unplugged: According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report, cyber crimes have steadily risen over the last five years, while financial losses from such crimes have skyrocketed.
Most Americans support parental opt-out of school curriculum — until they consider the downsides
Brookings Institute: Surveys consistently show majority support for parental opt-outs, especially on lessons tied to religion or identity.
Migrants to Iowa strike different portraits where ‘American Gothic’ was created
The Associated Press: Hundreds of refugee families were resettled by The Catherine McAuley Center, founded by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy, until the nationwide halt ordered by the Trump administration this spring.
The Spark
Inside the world of “The Great British Bake Off”
The show captures disastrous custard-making, quintessentially British faux-modesty, and the blistering hubris of bakers* — including me, writes Ruby Tandoh for The New Yorker.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
