The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, was founded 164 years ago by four men who all owned enslaved people. But unlike other institutions of higher education, including Columbia University and the University of Cincinnati, which removed the names of slaveowners from its campus buildings, Southern’s president, R. Albert Mohler Jr., has refused to do the same. (Wolfson, USA Today)
Read MoreThe news comes after Swift released her third re-recorded album this July, “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” The album debuted at No. 1, landing atop the Billboard 200 with 716,000 album-equivalent units. “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” too, garnered Swift the accolade of being the first woman to have four albums grace the top 10 of Billboard’s album chart at once — making her the third artist in history to ever do so. (Franklin, Variety)
Read MoreThe most wide-ranging poll carried out among frontline Anglican clergy, and the first survey of Church of England clerics conducted in almost a decade, has found a strong desire among rank-and-file priests for significant changes in church doctrine on issues such as sex, sexuality, marriage and the role of women to bring it into greater line with public opinion. (Burgess & Watts, The Times UK)
Read MoreAlice Cooper's partnership with LGBTQ-owned cosmetics brand Vampyre Cosmetics ended after the rock performer called "cases of transgender" a "fad" in an interview. For a Stereogum story published Aug. 23, the singer also criticized gender-affirming procedures for minors. (Robledo, USA Today)
Read MoreFor decades, Farris — a conservative Christian lawyer who is the most influential leader of the modern home-schooling movement — had toiled at the margins of American politics. His arguments about the harms of public education and the divinely endowed rights of parents had left many unconvinced. (Brown & Jamison, The Washington Post)
Read MoreWith hindsight, she agrees it is odd that it hadn’t dawned on her before, but she was only 15 at the time of her surgery and having children one day or being able to breastfeed them really wasn’t the first thing on her mind. “But sitting in that class, it hurt me really deeply to realise how a part of me had been taken away.” (Stanford, The Telegraph)
Read More