Wednesday's News & Ideas - 5/22/2024
- DOJ issues first SBC indictment
- Defrocked UMC pastor is reinstated
- Pope voices opposition to women deacons
- Secularism increases in Scotland
- Baylor updates its motto
- Can you read a book in 15 minutes?
Former Southwestern Seminary professor Matt Queen indicted
Religion News Service: The indictment is the first public acknowledgment from the U.S. Department of Justice that it is investigating the SBC and its entities.
Defrocked in 2004 for same-sex relationship, a faithful Methodist is reinstated as pastor
Associated Press: Twenty years ago, Beth Stroud was defrocked as a United Methodist Church pastor after telling her Philadelphia congregation that she was in a committed same-sex relationship. On Tuesday night, less than three weeks after the UMC repealed its anti-LGBTQ bans, she was reinstated.
Pope Francis voices firm opposition to women deacons in CBS interview
National Catholic Reporter: Pope Francis expressed firm opposition to the idea of ordaining Catholic women as deacons in a new U.S. television interview, raising doubts about the possibility that the ongoing three-year synodal process could move forward on the issue.
Majority of people in Scotland have no religion, census shows
The Guardian: A majority of people in Scotland say they do not follow any religion — the first time secular attitudes have overtaken religious identity.
Baylor updates its motto after 173 years
Baptist News Global: Regents of the Waco, Texas, university with Baptist roots voted last week to add two words to the Latin motto that is inscribed on the official Baylor seal, on class rings and on the medallion worn by the president during commencement exercises.
The Spark
Can you read a book in a quarter of an hour?
Phone apps now offer to boil down entire books into micro-synopses. What they leave out* is revealing, says The New Yorker.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
