Wednesday’s News & Ideas - 12/17/2025
- RI churches respond to shooting
- ACNA bishop found not guilty
- Serene Jones retrospective
- Justice & peace agreements
- Rise of antisemitism in Australia
- Avoiding a plane crash
How Rhode Island churches responded to the Brown shooting*
Christianity Today: God “draws near to us in our suffering,” local pastor Scott Axtmann preached after Saturday’s deadly attack. Area ministries were active too.
ACNA Bishop Stewart Ruch found not guilty on all counts after tumultuous church trial
Religion News Service: The decision comes more than six years after a 9-year-old child first came forward with sexual abuse allegations against a lay minister in the Upper Midwest Diocese, which is led by Ruch.
A seminary president leads with vision*
The Edu Ledger: As the first woman to lead the 188-year-old seminary, Dr. Serene Jones has overseen what many describe as one of the most comprehensive institutional renewals in Union’s nearly two-century history.
Getting peace right: Why justice needs to be baked into ceasefire agreements — including Ukraine’s
The Conversation: Prospects for a lasting peace remain dubious. One reason, I believe, is that the proposals pay little attention to the relationship between peace and justice – a flaw shared by previous plans.
Deadly attack on Bondi Beach follows rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia
NPR: The deadly shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at Australia’s Bondi Beach follows a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks in the country.
The Spark
The strange fate of Flight 2069
Months before 9/11 a passenger seized control* of a Boeing 747 and nearly crashed it into the Sahara. Everyone survived but no one quite recovered. How do you measure the cost of a disaster that didn’t happen? The New Statesman asks.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
