Here's what's happening on the church and culture front today...
It’s been 25 years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Many Americans remember the day with clarity: 83% of adults who were born before 2001 – including 93% of those who were 10 or older at the time – say they recall exactly where they were or what they were doing when they heard the news. (Kiley, Pew Research Center)
The Catholic nuns, many highly educated, have taught and ministered across the U.S. and in foreign countries. They also have played a role in establishing medical and long-term care facilities in several South Dakota cities. (Pfankuch, AP News)
Jewish authors, agents, scouts, editors and other book professionals describe an ecosystem from big publishers to #BookTok that is suppressing Jewish and Israeli voices. Agents and scouts say it’s become impossible to sell foreign rights to works by Israeli writers. (Paul, The Wall Street Journal)
Why are millions of people so captivated by these nameless confessionals served with a side of candid, unposed food photography? Scientists who study self-disclosure—the act of sharing personal, sensitive information with others—have some thoughts about why we share our deepest, darkest secrets on the internet. (Greenwood, TIME)
It’s been 25 years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Many Americans remember the day with clarity: 83% of adults who were born before 2001 – including 93% of those who were 10 or older at the time – say they recall exactly where they were or what they were doing when they heard the news. (Kiley, Pew Research Center)
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The Catholic nuns, many highly educated, have taught and ministered across the U.S. and in foreign countries. They also have played a role in establishing medical and long-term care facilities in several South Dakota cities. (Pfankuch, AP News)
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Jewish authors, agents, scouts, editors and other book professionals describe an ecosystem from big publishers to #BookTok that is suppressing Jewish and Israeli voices. Agents and scouts say it’s become impossible to sell foreign rights to works by Israeli writers. (Paul, The Wall Street Journal)
Read more>>
Why are millions of people so captivated by these nameless confessionals served with a side of candid, unposed food photography? Scientists who study self-disclosure—the act of sharing personal, sensitive information with others—have some thoughts about why we share our deepest, darkest secrets on the internet. (Greenwood, TIME)
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An Anthropic researcher is quitting the artificial-intelligence industry over fears that the lab and its competitors are racing to build systems they won’t be able to control, a sign of mounting safety concerns within top AI companies. (Ramkumar, The Wall Street Journal)
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Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned this week, saying his former employer and its rival OpenAI are racing to build technologies that “could kill us all by the end of the decade.” (Schechner, The Wall Street Journal)
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Officials in Rio have been calling on the centuries-old spirit, channeled by a 71-year-old woman in Guarulhos, to protect it from weather-related calamity for decades. With the emerging El Niño climate pattern on track to become the strongest on record, Rio has now extended the relationship with a 25-year agreement with the cacique’s foundation. (Dias, The Washington Post)
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A senior doctor is bringing legal action against her NHS trust, claiming a “bearded” transgender patient was allowed on to a female psychiatric ward only to expose himself to fellow patients, The Times can reveal. (Manning, The Times)
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Unlike in most European countries, the production, distribution and possession of pornography in Ukraine is illegal, punishable by up to seven years in prison. Still, Ukraine has been unable to curtail a vast and lucrative porn industry, which officials say operates with the protection of corrupt police. (Luxmoore, The Wall Street Journal)
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A federal appeals court’s affirmation of an earlier dismissal of an AI-generated child pornography charge against a Wisconsin man came with an admission that laws are lagging for the proper monitoring of generative AI. (Barkley, Baptist Press)
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a New York woman’s bid to send her son to kindergarten without receiving state-required vaccines, in a case that highlights the limits of the court’s push to expand religious rights. (Mark, The Washington Post)
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As the continent’s ties to Christianity fade, churches are being abandoned. But some see a chance to transform them into communal spaces like care centers or venues for the arts. (Siegal, The New York Times)
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A growing number of people, the majority of them women, are sharing unvarnished divorce stories, both offering and seeking advice on social media. Moving beyond a stigma around discussing marital breakdowns, the content provides a space for the creators to heal, and for their followers to relate and reflect on their own experiences and emotions. (Huamani, AP News)
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Over the decades, the original series and its spinoffs earned generations of devoted fans. They're commemorating Star Trek's 60th anniversary with worldwide celebrations, from the Hollywood Walk of Fame to New York Comic-Con to the International Space Station, where one astronaut plans to wear a badge from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. (del Barco, NPR)
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The terrorist attacks led to “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan that the nation’s leaders proved incapable of winning. That bred cynicism about the nation’s establishment and many of its institutions, and produced a neo-isolationist backlash in both parties. (Seib, The Wall Street Journal)
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Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. (Piff et al., PNAS)
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I’m an evangelical woman and a frequent critic of President Donald Trump. I don’t believe evangelicals are above reproach. But legitimate criticism of their political choices has shaded into something darker: contempt for an entire group of Americans. (Kristian, The Washington Post)
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While President Trump often marvels at the opportunities of artificial intelligence to cure cancer, supercharge economic growth and cement American dominance, Vice President Vance warned this week that artificial intelligence, in some cases, can itself be demonic. (Wegmann, The Wall Street Journal)
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dded to a text thread from an unknown number, these family members were surprised with pornography featuring a relative. (Jargon, The Wall Street Journal)
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The majority of single men applying to be the legal fathers of surrogate babies are older than 40, data shows. The Times previously revealed that between 2019, when single people were given the same surrogacy rights as couples, and last year, 170 men made solo parental order applications to the courts for children born via surrogacy. (Manning, The TImes)
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