Hajj attendance falls to 30-year low excluding Covid-19 pandemic period

This year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia attracted the lowest number of pilgrims for 30 years, excluding the Covid-19 pandemic period, according to figures released on Thursday. The annual Islamic pilgrimage attracted just 1,673,230 Muslims, the majority of them from outside Saudi Arabia, according to a post from the country’s Hajj Ministry on the social platform X. (Butt, Associated Press)

The Supreme Court says a Catholic charity in Wisconsin doesn’t have to pay unemployment taxes in one of a set of religious-rights cases the justices are considering this term. The Thursday ruling comes in a case filed by the Catholic Charities Bureau. The organization says the state violated the First Amendment’s religious freedom guarantee when it required the organization to pay the tax while exempting other faith groups. Wisconsin argues the organization doesn’t qualify for an exemption because its day-to-day work doesn’t involve religious teachings. (Whitehurst, ABC News)

Gambling has swallowed American sports culture whole. Until early 2018, sports betting was illegal under federal law; today, it’s legal in 39 states and Washington, D.C. (and easy enough to access through backdoor channels even in the states where it isn’t). Commentators analyze not just whether a team can win, but if they might win by at least the number of points by which they’re favored on betting apps. Nearly half of men younger than 50 now have an account with an online sports book, and Americans spent about $150 billion on sports wagers last year. (Kiros, The Atlantic)

The decision came two years after the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions programs in higher education and amid the Trump administration’s fierce efforts to root out programs that promote diversity. The ruling will place further pressure on employers and others to eliminate affirmative action and other initiatives that seek to provide opportunities to members of historically disadvantaged groups. (Liptak, The New York Times)

Kirk Stange keeps a close eye on the calendar — and right now, he's enjoying the summer break. Stange isn't a student. He's a family law attorney with 25 years in the business. During a recent interview, he told NPR he has noticed a pattern: Divorce filings hit two peaks per year — one in late summer and the other in early spring. "It's a very seasonal business," the divorced father of two said, adding that it's similar to the rush CPAs face come Tax Day in April. (Romo, NPR)

When thinking about the number of people attending their church each week, the experience of the average pastor is vastly different from that of the average churchgoer. The most recent Faith Communities Today (FACT) study revealed 7 in 10 U.S. congregations have 100 or fewer weekly service attendees. The average U.S. congregation sees 65 people gather each week. Similarly, the most recent National Congregations Study (NCS) found the median congregation in the U.S. welcomes 70 regular participants, including adults and children, and has an annual budget of $100,000. At the same time, however, the NCS found the average churchgoer worshiped in a congregation with 360 regular attendees and a $450,000 budget. (Earls, Baptist Press)

Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, a religious obligation involving rituals and acts of worship that every Muslim must fulfil if they have the money and are physically able to do it. Hajj Ministry spokesperson Ghassan Al-Nuwaimi provided an approximate number for foreigners at this year’s pilgrimage. He did not say how many domestic pilgrims were taking part. Last year, there were 1,611,310 pilgrims from outside the country. (Anwer, AP News)

Japan has recently banned what is known as "shiny" or "glittery" names, which are names with unusual pronunciations, according to The Guardian. These names could include anything from Pikachu to Nike, according to CNN. But Japan isn't the only country to have banned baby names. The United States is more relaxed on naming protocol than other countries, but there are still some rules. (Gomez & Cross, USA Today)

On this small island in rural Nagasaki, Japan’s Hidden Christians gather to worship what they call the Closet God. In a special room about the size of a tatami mat is a scroll painting of a kimono-clad Asian woman. She looks like a Buddhist Bodhisattva holding a baby, but for the faithful, this is a concealed version of Mary and the baby Jesus. Another scroll shows a man wearing a kimono covered with camellias, an allusion to John the Baptist’s beheading and martyrdom. (Klug, Yamaguchi & Ono, AP News)

The hajj, one of the largest annual human gatherings in the world, begins on Wednesday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Amid rising temperatures and logistical challenges, the pilgrimage has increasingly become a test of endurance both for pilgrims and the Saudi government. Millions of Muslims from around the world travel to the city to take part; Saudi Arabia said 1,475,230 pilgrims from abroad have arrived since Sunday. (Naar, The New York Times)

“Many of those leaving the pastorate feel they are moving at God’s direction to another role of ministry. However, it’s easy for those outside and those inside the church to fixate on those who leave because of conflict, burnout or moral failure. Speculation always overstates these cases, yet these are the outcomes churches can seek to prevent.” (Earls, Christianity Today)

[Rachel] Accurso is a children’s YouTuber and host of a show called Songs for Littles. She’s both integral to the Netflix business plan and a lightning rod for the culture wars – one suspected by the pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism to be operating as a pro-Hamas foreign agent (a claim she vehemently denies). But watching a Ms Rachel video, you wouldn’t immediately pick that up. (Armstrong, The Telegraph)

“The cultural context Hispanic pastors face is diversity in the cultural backgrounds that are part of each individual Hispanic country that is part of the church. This creates a communication problem within the church.” “To connect with the new generations, we must have an open mind to change, to leave aside culture and traditions without ever compromising the Word of God.” (Unknown, Lifeway Research)

The morning after a man hurled Molotov cocktails at a crowd of Jewish Americans in Boulder, Colo., Rabbi Noah Farkas celebrated the first day of Shavuot in the usual way: He read the Torah about the giving of the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. But Farkas, the president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, said what was supposed to be a holiday celebrating the establishment of law and order was marred by the weekend violence. (Jarvis & Solis, Los Angeles Times)

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, planned the attack for more than a year and specifically targeted what he described as a “Zionist group,” authorities said in court papers charging him with a federal hate crime. The suspect’s first name also was spelled Mohammed in some court documents. “When he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die, he had no regrets and he would go back and do it again,” Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado said during a press conference Monday. (Slevin & Tucker, AP News)

In Durham, North Carolina, just a few miles from major universities, teaching hospitals, and other temples of science, the Holy Spirit remains formidable. When I attended a gathering at Catch the Fire Church one Friday evening last year, a petite blond woman made her way down the aisle, laying her hand on heads and shoulders, calling on the Holy Spirit. Here and there, the woman, a Toronto-based evangelist named Carol Arnott, paused to point a finger down a row of worshippers and shout, “Fire on them, Lord!” Knees buckled; people collapsed back into their seats. (Worthen, The Atlantic)

2025 is the first year the index included health as a category. It’s something that Dr. Bartosz Bartoszewicz, Director and Co-creator of the Index, tells CNBC Make It was an important addition because of the covid-19 pandemic. The United States didn’t have any cities rank in the top 10, but did have two get the “gold city” distinction: New York City at No. 17 and Minneapolis at No. 30. (Fernandez, CNBC)

The California Supreme Court ruled against a Christian baker May 29 who said she refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple because the union contradicts the biblical principles that govern her business. The court said Tastries Bakery owner Cathy Miller violated the civil rights of Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-del Rio when she referred them to another baker for a wedding cake in 2017, explaining to them that she only designed wedding cakes for couples whose unions conformed to the biblical definition of marriage between one man and one woman. (Chandler, Baptist Press)

World Boxing rose to prominence after the IOC cut ties with the International Boxing Association in 2023. Absent a global organization for the sport, the IOC oversaw the boxing competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which then was disrupted by unsubstantiated claims by the IBA that Khelif has XY chromosomes and should not have competed as a woman. The resulting outcry became a dominant story of the Paris Games and continued to resonate into last fall’s U.S. presidential election. (Carpenter, The Washington Post)

Many U.S. corporations this year stopped supporting Pride events that celebrate LGBTQ+ culture and rights, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in budget shortfalls ahead of the summer festivities and raising questions about corporate America’s commitment to the cause. The moves come as President Donald Trump has shown antipathy for trans protections and has attempted to roll back some LGBTQ+ friendly federal policies. (Rodriguez, AP News)

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