Christian Women Say They’re Not Political. Their Living Rooms Disagree.

For more than half a century, floral-covered Bible study guides, inspirational home décor and popular novels have taught Christian women what to believe, how to live and also how to vote. (Du Mez, New York Times)

As some teachers start to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their work, a majority are uncertain about or see downsides to the general use of AI tools in K-12 education, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in fall 2023. (Lin, Pew Research Center)

A Portland District Court judge was correct in giving a father the power to decide whether his daughter could attend an evangelical church following a clash with the girl’s mother over her religious upbringing, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Sept. 1. (Scott, AP News)

Vicars are becoming an “endangered species”, the Church of England has been warned, amid a recruitment and retention crisis that is “leaving the nation’s poorest communities without regular priestly care”. A report compiled by a campaign group called Save the Parish has highlighted a “crisis in clergy numbers”. (Burgess, The Times)

Slightly more than half of U.S. Protestant pastors (54%) report the average worship service attendance at their church has increased by at least 4% since 2023, according to a Lifeway Research study sponsored by the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. (Earls, Lifeway)

Across Silicon Valley and beyond, software developers, entrepreneurs and other tech enthusiasts are now running A.I. agents that can build spreadsheets, negotiate contracts, chat with each other on social networks and send emails to practically anyone. (Metz, The New York Times)

Approximately 85 U.S. citizens [are] missing after a flood of mud swept through villages in the border area last week, killing over 1,000 people and leaving around 4,000 missing. Many of the U.S. citizens who were there at the time were Indian-Americans making their way to Mount Kailash, according to family members and companies that organize tours. (Kowsmann, The Wall Street Journal)

Twenty-seven percent of Americans turn to AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini with personal, emotional or social queries, according to a new poll from researchers at Elon University in collaboration with The Washington Post. That category included seeking entertainment, relationship advice, romantic chats, or connection when alone. (De Vynck & Merrill, The Washington Post)

Protestant pastors register the greatest distrust in artificial intelligence (AI) interpreting “contested” Scriptures, Barna said in its latest State of the Church release in partnership with Gloo, but few pastors would abandon the technology altogether. (Chandler, Baptist Press)

From sports to politics and even reality TV, superstitious explanations for negative events still hold remarkable power over us. (Stanford, The Telegraph)

The changes Meta will have to make are intended to reduce the addictiveness of Facebook and Instagram. For example, it will have to give minors the option of having a non-personalized feed, where it doesn't use an algorithm to tailor content based on individual preferences to keep kids scrolling. (Chaterjee, NPR)

What many of them seemed to be mourning was not just Ms. Parton as a performer, but as a Christian who represented for many an idealized style of faith, and in particular, Southern or Appalachian faith: folksy and unpretentious, oriented around Jesus and rollicking old-time music, and centered in small rural congregations that prize community over ideology. (Graham & Cochrane, The New York Times)

The day the social media giant Meta agreed to as much as a $17.1 billion settlement over claims it had endangered children, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt was on deadline. He was supposed to hand in revisions for the second edition of his book blasting social media companies for endangering children. He got a two day extension. (Goldberg, The New York Times)

Governments around the world have passed or proposed a range of bans or restrictions on young teens using addictive social media platforms. (Livni, The New York Times)

Critics say the costume, along with its promotional image of a Black child modeling the get-up, is reminiscent of caricatures from Jim Crow-era minstrel shows that embedded stereotypes into popular culture and helped justify discrimination, segregation and racial violence. (AP/NPR)

Meta on Wednesday reached a landmark settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties and make major changes to its products over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms. (Kang & Tan, The New York Times)

At a conservative center for women leaders, interns told stories about their lives. One said a male classmate told her, “I don’t know if women should be lawyers.” (Yee, The New York Times)

Mental-health professionals are supposed to keep their personal experiences, values and opinions out of the therapy room. Yet in a culture sharply divided along political and personal identity lines, more appear to be falling short, experts say. (Bernstein, The Wall Street Journal)

The study, based on nationally representative data of U.S. adults, found that more than 9 percent of the men — or almost 1 in 10 — reported symptoms of cannabis use disorder in 2024, up from about 7 percent in 2021. The prevalence of cannabis use disorder also rose among women, increasing to nearly 6 percent in 2024, up from about 5 percent in 2021. (Rabin, The New York Times)

Although the league’s collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth. When they announced their intention to enter the draft, Freedom and White said they identified as women. (Feinberg, AP News)

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