Two-thirds of Americans say the United States should publicly support Israel in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, but there are wide generational and racial divides on the question. (Montanaro, NPR)
Read MoreA prep school has appointed an AI robot as its “principal headteacher”. Cottesmore School, a boarding prep school in West Sussex, has worked with an artificial intelligence developer to create the robot, Abigail Bailey, to support the school’s headmaster. (Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph)
Read MoreTen minutes: the time allotted the supplicants to prove that they were worthy; that, like St. Paul, they had traveled their own rutted road to Damascus. This buzzer-beating pressure intensified a raw pardon process unlike those in most other states, with the powerless beseeching the powerful in public, and the decision rendered in the moment. (Berry, The New York Times)
Read MoreMore Asian Americans identify as atheist, agnostic or nonreligious than before, according to a survey released Wednesday (Oct. 11) by Pew Research Center. But 40% of those Pew surveyed, who included Americans of Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese backgrounds, said they feel close to a religion for reasons aside from religion, such as family or cultural ties. (Karmarkar, Religion News Service)
Read MoreIn recent years, the date and its eerie reputation have pervaded popular culture. “Fear of Friday the 13th has spawned a horror movie franchise, its own hard-to-pronounce term … and a tradition of widespread paranoia when it rolls around each year,” wrote Time’s Melissa Chan in 2016. Fittingly, this superstition has mysterious origins. Here are some historic reasons for the day’s spooky reputation. (Eschner, Smithsonian Magazine)
Read MoreTim Ballard, the star figure depicted in the summer hit movie Sound of Freedom, has been accused of battery and sexual assault by women who worked alongside him in anti-trafficking rescue operations. (Belz, Christianity Today)
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