Wednesday's News & Ideas - 2/5/2025

Is this the end of USAID?*
Christianity Today: Christian partners around the world — suddenly fired, defunded, and without answers — worry that the new administration is done with the development agency.

Gen Z’s nones have their own beliefs. Try working with them, not converting them.
Religion News Service: A good model is the Nuns & Nones, a movement that invites religiously disaffiliated young people to deepen their spirituality by discussing the moral values that motivate them.

Refugee aid groups face furloughs after Trump halts program, refuses to reimburse work
Religion News Service: “We’ve been unable to access federal reimbursements for critical program costs, and that includes costs that were incurred prior to the issuance of the executive order,” said a spokesperson for Church World Service.

Aid is surging into Gaza under the ceasefire. Is it helping?
The Associated Press: Two weeks after the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect, aid is flooding into the Gaza Strip, bringing relief to a territory suffering from hunger, mass displacement and devastation following 15 months of war.

Florida board approves extensive gen ed overhaul*
Inside Higher Ed: The Florida Board of Governors voted to remove hundreds of classes, many touching on race and gender, from general education offerings at all 12 state universities.

The Spark

Can characters come alive without people?
A voice is not just a sound. And I’d like to think that no matter how much an A.I. version of Moe or Snake or Chief Wiggum will sound like my voice,* something will still be missing — the humanness, Hank Azaria of “The Simpsons” writes for The New York Times.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers