Wednesday’s News & Ideas - 5/28/2025

US Catholic bishops select conservative culture warrior to lead them during Trump’s second term
The Associated Press: The vote serves as a barometer for the bishops’ priorities. In choosing Coakley, they are doubling down on their conservative bent, even as they push for more humane immigration policies from the Trump administration.

Fear of deportation keeps Chicago Latino immigrants home from Mass
Religion News Service: Some immigrants have made the emotionally fraught decision to give up church attendance.

The theology of forgetting: How dementia deepens our understanding of human dignity*
America: Dementia cases worldwide are projected to triple by 2050, affecting 153 million people.

Why bother with “interfaith dialogue”?
ARC: In the last century, a group of religious sages quarreled over whether Jews talking theology with Christians was even permissible

How artificial intelligence is transforming Bible translation
Religion Unplugged: Avodah said they currently have 31 translation teams using their AI process and expect that number to grow to 50 by the end of the year. Eleven of the teams are halfway through their translations.

The Spark

Why Elon Musk needs Dungeons & Dragons to be racist
Fantasy and science fiction* have always had a complex relationship with the concept of race, beginning with their foundational texts, The Atlantic says.

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