Wednesday’s News & Ideas - 6/10/2026

Willy Rice, Florida pastor and abuse crisis skeptic, elected SBC president
Religion News Service: Rice’s win is a triumph for critics who argue that the nation’s largest Protestant denomination has lost its way in recent years.

After DOGE cuts, State Department awards $240M to Catholic international aid group
Religion News Service: Before last year’s USAID cuts, federal funding supported about half of CRS’ $1.5 billion budget, making the new grant a fraction of the support the agency once received from the government.

Christian leaders in Lebanese city of Tyre call for quick international action after Israeli warning
The Associated Press: Christian religious leaders from Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre on Tuesday called on the international community and Lebanese officials to act quickly to prevent Israel from attacking the city’s Christian district. Airstrikes on nearby neighborhoods killed eight people and wounded dozens of others, officials said.

A religious hospital denied her a life-saving drug during an ectopic pregnancy. She lost her fertility
The Guardian: Harmonie Perrone, 28, is suing Advocate Good Shepherd in Illinois, where reproductive rights are enshrined in law.

‘A place of legend’: The ancient engineering marvels of the world's tallest church*
BBC: 100 years on from Gaudí's death, Pope Leo XIV is visiting Sagrada Família as the central pinnacle of the church — the Tower of Jesus Christ — is inaugurated.

The Spark

Humans prefer to walk counterclockwise, scientists find — but reason is unclear
Spain to Japan, experiments have repeatedly shown a left-turn bias, but exact mechanic ‘is still an open question,’ The Guardian says.

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