Russia’s most powerful mercenary said on Sunday that his fighters would not sign contracts with the country’s defence minister, publicly refusing an attempt by the Kremlin to bring his fighting force under its sway.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, has repeatedly attacked Vladimir Putin’s top military brass for what he casts as treachery for failing to fight the war in Ukraine properly.

Neither Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, nor Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, have commented in public on the insults from Prigozhin, whose forces in May took the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after a battle in which tens of thousands perished.

The defence ministry on Saturday said Shoigu had ordered all “volunteer detachments” to sign contracts with his ministry by the end of the month, a step it said would increase the effectiveness of the Russian army.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Wagner boss refuses to allow his mercenaries to join Putin's forces.
Yevgeny Prigozhin has repeatedly attacked Putin’s top military brass for failing to fight the war in Ukraine properly.https://t.co/YdspWjmC7D

— Mayte Chummia (@Maytechummia) June 12, 2023

Americans’ already poor ratings of the state of moral values in the U.S. have fallen further to the lowest point in Gallup’s 22-year trend. The 54% of U.S. adults who rate moral values in the country as “poor” marks a four-percentage-point increase since last year and the first time the reading has reached the majority level.

Another 33% of Americans think U.S. moral values are “only fair,” 10% “good” and 1% “excellent.”

Throughout the trend, Americans have been more negative than positive in their views of the nation’s moral values, but the latest readings, from a May 1-24 poll, are substantially worse than the trend averages. Since 2002, an average of 43% of U.S. adults have said the state of moral values is poor, while 38% have rated it as only fair and 18% as excellent or good.

Read it all.

Americans’ already poor ratings of the state of moral values in the U.S. have fallen further to the lowest point in Gallup’s 22-year trend. https://t.co/IBDRI4G5ni

— GallupNews (@GallupNews) June 9, 2023

Hannah Daniel, the ERLC’s policy manager, told Baptist Press, “We believe all people are made in the image of God and possess immeasurable worth and value. Life is precious from the earliest moment of conception to natural death. Those who are struggling physically, mentally or emotionally should be met with the highest quality of care and compassion, not given assistance to end their life.”

The legislation “would have established Nevada as a destination for assisted suicide, and we joined arms with Nevada Baptists in urging Governor Lombardo to veto it,” she said in written comments.

The legislation would have allowed a doctor or advanced practice registered nurse to prescribe a lethal dose of a drug for an adult patient. The proposal gained narrow passage in both houses, 23-19 in the Assembly and 11-10 in the Senate. The majorities were far short of the two-thirds vote required to overturn a veto.

In a written veto message, Lombardo, a Republican, said the bill was unnecessary because of “expansions in palliative care services and continued improvements in advanced pain management.”

Read it all.

"Life is precious from the earliest moment of conception to natural death. Those who are struggling physically, mentally or emotionally should be met with the highest quality of care and compassion, not given assistance to end their life." – @hannahedaniel https://t.co/9Ngp5C5Lcd

— ERLC (@ERLC) June 9, 2023

The only way to resolve the question is with more rigorous research. While RCTs aren’t possible, researchers can try to identify alternative explanations and control for them in analyzing the data. For instance, rigorously assessing people’s social networks can help make sure that religion isn’t just a proxy for companionship. And while it’s not possible to make people start or stop going to services, or even tell them how often to go, researchers can follow the patterns that people initiate to see what effects they have on health.

Several recent studies led by Harvard epidemiologist Tyler VanderWeele do exactly this. In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2016, using data from over 70,000 women who were part of the Nurses’ Health Study from 1992 to 2012, VanderWeele and colleagues found that those who attended religious services at least once a week had 33% lower mortality, from any cause, over a 16-year period. In particular, deaths due to cancer or cardiovascular disease were 75% the rate among non-attenders. While religion-associated reductions in smoking and increases in social support explained some of the benefit, the data suggested that religion worked through other, as yet unexplained, avenues too.

VanderWeele’s team found a similar benefit when it came to suicide risk. Among the nurses, attending services at least once a week or more cut the suicide rate by 80%, even when controlling for diagnoses of depression, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Researchers asked detailed questions to isolate the effect of social support from that of religious activity and found that while social connection did have a positive effect, it didn’t completely explain the benefits religion offered.

Read it all.

Andy Vermaut shares:Is Religion Good For Your Health?: Studying the health benefits of religious activity involves special challenges, and researchers are developing new methods to meet them. Thank you! https://t.co/v4RpNSZyNZ pic.twitter.com/CUuUSpGSXJ

— Andy Vermaut (@AndyVermaut) June 8, 2023

Numerous fatal shootings have occurred at churches in recent years. In March, an armed assailant killed six people at The Covenant School, a Christian school in Nashville, Tenn. Shootings have also occurred at other places of worship like Jewish synagogues and Sikh temples.

When asked about their protocols when they gather for worship, around 4 in 5 US Protestant pastors (81%) say their church has some type of security measure in place, according to a study from Lifeway Research. Still, more than 1 in 6 (17%) say they don’t use any of the seven potential measures included in the study, and 2 percent aren’t sure.

“Churches are not immune to violence, disputes, domestic disagreements, vandalism and burglary,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “While loving one another is a core Christian teaching, churchgoers still sin, and non-churchgoers are invited and welcomed. So real security risks exist whether a congregation wants to acknowledge them or not.”

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George Winston, who during decades when pop and rock dominated the musical landscape became a best-selling musician by playing soothing piano instrumentals in a style that was often described as new age but that he liked to call “rural folk piano,” died on Sunday in Williamsport, Pa. He was 74.

His publicist, Jesse Cutler, said the cause was cancer. Mr. Winston, who lived in the Bay Area, had dealt with several cancers for years while continuing to record and perform; he credited a 2013 bone marrow transplant with extending his life. He was staying in Williamsport near where his tour manager lives, Mr. Cutler said.

Mr. Winston released his first album, “Ballads and Blues,” in 1972, but it was “Autumn,” released in 1980 on the fledgling Windham Hill label, based in Palo Alto, Calif., that propelled his career. It consisted of seven solo piano compositions that were, like most of his music, inspired by nature. They bore simple titles — “Sea,” “Moon,” “Woods” — and hit a sweet spot for many listeners. Sales soared into the hundreds of thousands.

“By attuning his emotions to the serenity, order and power of nature rather than to the violently frenetic tones of our contemporary cityscape,” Lee Underwood wrote in a review in DownBeat, “Winston provides us with a perfect aural and psychological antidote to the urban madness.”

Read it all.

Say what you will about "New Age" music, but so much of the stuff on the Windham Hill label is astoundingly beautiful, and George Winston's records still sound incredible. RIP #georgewinston Pianist With a Popular Soothing Sound, Dies at 74 https://t.co/H9DktgLIA8

— Scott Heim (@Scott_Heim) June 8, 2023

In Keller’s case, that meant building a church for New Yorkers that addressed their blunt, exhausting and even cynical concerns about life.

In that first sermon after 9/11, Keller noted that everyone had an opinion about New York City and America as a whole. Some were claiming that “God is punishing us” because of rampant immorality. Others said America had been judged because of social injustice and greed. Instead of blaming the victims, Keller said it was time to ask who would stand their ground and love their neighbors.

“Maybe we are going to have to be a little less concerned about our own careers and more concerned about the community,” he said. “So, let’s enter in. Let’s not just ‘fix it.’ Let’s weep with those who weep.”

Keller was more than aware that he was an outsider when he left the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary near Philadelphia to accept a challenge from the Presbyterian Church in America to start a New York congregation. No one else wanted the job. The bookish preacher understood the depth of the “monolithic public philosophy of secularism” that dominated Manhattan culture, said Tony Carnes, who edits A Journey through NYC Religions’ website.

“The church-planter mantra at that time was that you came to New York to die. … Tim came here to stay,” said Carnes, a longtime member of Redeemer.

Read it all.

A Catholic Cardinal’s Appreciation of Pastor Tim Keller @CardinalDolan https://t.co/6fCbwPYOKv

— Public Discourse (@PublicDiscourse) May 30, 2023

Since President Xi Jinping secured a precedent-defying third term in October, the Communist Party’s top decision-making body has skipped publishing a statement for three separate months. During the Chinese leader’s second term, it took the party nearly five years to miss the same number of statements.

While there is no public mandate for the Politburo to meet monthly, it has done so for 90% of Xi’s decade-plus tenure, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of government statements.

It’s unclear whether the Politburo failed to convene in November, January and May, or if the elite group discussed sensitive matters it didn’t want to reveal. It’s still possible for state media to release statements on the body’s activities. Sometimes the party releases transcripts of Xi’s remarks months, or even years, later.

Read it all.

China’s Missing Politburo Statements Fan Fears of Data Gaps https://t.co/Er8jen72mx

— Andrew J Phelan (@ajphelo) June 7, 2023

Drone strikes inside Russia are now a near-daily occurrence. Those in Moscow have had limited military impact. But, along with hits on refineries and airfields, ground incursions in the southern Belgorod region and assassinations of several prominent Russian war supporters, the attacks have caused a psychological shift.

Fifteen months after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, expecting a quick victory, the war has come to the heart of Russia. The country’s elites, who believed themselves safe as the invasion campaign rumbled far away, are rattled.

As Moscow struggles with how to respond, each new attack is a blow to the official narrative of Russian supremacy and a challenge to Putin’s image of invincibility.

“The society is starting to worry: Will the war expand inside Russia?” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “There is a slow internal erosion under way, in attitudes towards the war and towards the elites.”

Read it all.

Ukraine’s top commander Zaluzhny argued last fall that Russia’s “center of gravity” in the war is impunity, a sense among Russians that the war is remote and doesn’t touch their lives. My piece on how recent drone strikes and, now, incursions, upend this. https://t.co/4nRRR23dT4

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 6, 2023

Aa the NHS faces mounting problems, from thousands of appointments lost through strikes to record-length waits for treatment, a church in Hampshire is attempting to boost the welfare of its community.

St Mary’s, Andover, is taking referrals from five GP surgeries in the town for places on social-improvement courses, which it organises. The Lighthouse project offers support, which includes: a well-being course at the town’s further education college; debt-management advice in a partnership with the charity Christians Against Poverty; and the Good Grub Club, a community cooking and food programme that seeks to prevent food waste.

The church also operates the Life Bus: a double-decker that visits housing estates for “Make and Munch” lunch and crafts sessions. The project has supported at least 800 people since it began, and has engaged more than 170 volunteers.

The Vicar of St Mary’s, the Revd Chris Bradish, said: “There are many people who visit their GP with non-clinical needs — some may need help with debt, loneliness, or they may be struggling with other issues in their lives, such as food poverty. The partnership has meant that their needs can be assessed, and they can be offered help and time through social prescribing.”

Read it all (registration or subscription).

GPs refer ‘non-clincial needs’ to parish church https://t.co/litoa60sJX

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 3, 2023

For months a guessing game has played out in military circles worldwide: where and when would Ukraine conduct its counter-offensive? Most expected it to come through Zaporizhia province, in the south of the country, perhaps directed at the city of Melitopol, with the aim of cutting the “land bridge” seized by Russian troops at the start of the war that connects occupied Crimea with Russia itself. Western officials had expected the offensive to begin two weeks ago, and some were getting impatient.

On June 4th—two days before the anniversary of D-Day, the start of the liberation of Europe from the Nazis—Ukrainian forces launched what Russia’s defence ministry called a “large-scale” assault on five axes in the south-east of Donetsk province, in eastern Ukraine. Some of them may indeed threaten the land bridge; others were further to the north. Western officials tell The Economist that this does in fact mark the start of the offensive, with attacks also under way on other parts of the front. Yet the cream of Ukraine’s forces has not yet appeared on the battlefield.

Read it all.

Our take on Ukraine’s counter-offensive—by me, @ArkadyOstrovsky & @olliecarroll. We think attacks of last 24 hours in Donetsk (& elsewhere) are not just as business as usual. But we probably aren’t seeing the main effort just yet. Watch this space. https://t.co/lTyDJc7ykX

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) June 5, 2023

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces:

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

Read it all (audio link also available).

Today marks 79 years since #DDay, the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi tyranny.

"We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking" – General Dwight Eisenhower. pic.twitter.com/j2y4zRiH8k

— Royal Marines (@RoyalMarines) June 6, 2023

“My Fellow Americans:

“Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

“And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
“They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest — until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

“For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

“And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them — help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

“Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

“Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

“And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment — let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace — a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

“Thy will be done, Almighty God.

“Amen.”

You can listen to the actual audio if you want here and today of all days is the day to do that. Also, there is more on background and another audio link there.–KSH.

6 June 1944: The D-Day landings during World War II begin. Some 155,000 Allied troops land on beaches in Normandy, France. The code name for the exercise was Operation #Overlord. #WWII #WW2 #history #HistoryMatters #DDay #OperationOverlord #OTD #ad https://t.co/EtMB9atRH0 pic.twitter.com/Twdzk1QO6J

— Today In History (@URDailyHistory) June 6, 2023

Sadly, much of this wildlife is at risk from climate change and associated biodiversity loss. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. 15% of all our species are threatened with extinction, 97% of our wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s, and we have lost 492 animal and plant species in England since the 1800s. This can be even more pronounced on a local level – since 1900, one species of plant has been lost every two years on average on a county level.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, biodiversity loss and degradation, and damages to and transformation of ecosystems are already key risks for every region of the world due to past global warming, and will continue to escalate with every increment of temperature. This crisis of nature is now being recognised alongside the climate crisis as a serious threat to the future of the people and other creatures living on the planet.

Part of our Christian discipleship, as we care for creation, is to notice what we’re interconnected with, so that we can wonder at God’s creation and then take action to safeguard it on this island we call home.

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Do you care about nature? We thought so. Please do contribute to this conversation about the "People's Plan for Nature" before 30th October to have your say on how we can and should go about protecting the natural world. https://t.co/VvhjJaGEKs

— @StJohnsSE8 (@stjohnsse8) October 12, 2022

Countless pastoral leaders worldwide are eager to faithfully lead their churches, but they lack access to training. This is especially the case in majority world contexts in Latin America, Africa, and Asia where the gospel continues to rapidly grow—with hundreds of new congregations birthed daily.

Founded in 1846, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) now represents churches in over 130 countries and estimates there are 50,000 new baptized believers each day. These believers need pastoral leaders who are trained to effectively lead their congregations.

The challenge is highlighted when we draw a contrast with the United States, where there is one trained pastor for every 230 people. By comparison, majority world churches have one trained pastor for every 450,000 people.

This colossal leadership imbalance will only expand as the majority world church continues to surge and spread. Already, theological education is struggling to keep up, and unless something changes, the gap will only increase in the future.

If we are to meet the training needs of thousands of pastors like Roy, the worldwide trajectory must be reset. Theological education, no matter the form, has a long history of being fragmented, with most programs operating in silos, lacking a sense of collegiality. Regrettably, this inward posture makes training even less accessible to local ministries, weakening the collective capacity to prepare leaders for the Lord’s church.

A new theological education posture is needed.

Read it all.

Love it: "Standards to measure effective spiritual formation training are being developed in Nigeria and India. Oral pastoral leadership programs have started in South Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia—and will soon in Tanzania and Senegal." https://t.co/PvanxuRkCI

— W. David O. Taylor (@wdavidotaylor) June 5, 2023

It felt as if he had always been there, a steady sight on a busy corner in a college town.

Hovering above 6 feet tall with hazel eyes and hair streaked with gray, David Breaux was a graduate of Stanford University and had been an aspiring screenwriter. But such details belonged to a past he rarely spoke of. He had reimagined his purpose, becoming a fixture at the intersection of Third and C Streets in Davis, Calif.

It was there that he held a notebook and offered passers-by a question: Would you care to share your definition of compassion? You, charmed by the interaction, most likely jotted something down. And then maybe you stuck around to talk a little more.

Over the years, Mr. Breaux made countless connections and grew a reputation as a communal therapist of sorts. Business owners revealed their anxieties. Students spoke of finals week. Unhappy mothers divulged marital problems.

“If you’ve ever been through a divorce, you feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you and that you might not make it. I sat down there with him, and he really saved me,” said Kristin Stansby, 54, a shift manager at a local CVS Pharmacy. “You just really felt you could pour your heart out to him.”

Read it all.

After graduating from Stanford in 2009, David Breaux struggled to find his path — until he dove into the idea of selflessness and found his calling as “the Compassion Guy.” But in late April, he was found stabbed to death on a park bench at 50 years old. https://t.co/EYpivrx5Q8

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 5, 2023

On the surface, Iraq appears to have achieved a measure of stability. The country finally has a functioning government after a yearlong political vacuum. Terrorist violence has fallen to its lowest rate since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Even the country’s Iran-backed militias—long a source of tension with Washington—have significantly reduced their attacks on U.S. diplomatic and military sites. In a May 4 speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan credited a U.S strategy built on the “twin pillars of deterrence and diplomacy” for the decrease in attacks on U.S. interests.

As Sullivan’s speech illustrates, President Joe Biden’s national security team sees a quiet Middle East as an end unto itself—including in Iraq. Although Sullivan was quick to add that he was “not pulling out the victory flag on Iraq” and that the United States still has “a broad agenda” to strengthen Baghdad’s independence from Tehran, his real metric of success was clearly the de-escalation of tensions between the United States and the Iran-backed militias that dominate the Iraqi government. The White House believes that regional de-escalation is necessary to allow the United States to focus on its competition with China. But in Iraq, this approach promises to have long-term costs: the U.S. desire for calm is being exploited by Tehran’s allies to destabilize its politics.

Iraq may look calm, but looks can be deceiving. The country is actually entering a uniquely dangerous period: Iran’s allies have achieved unprecedented control of Iraq’s parliament, judiciary, and executive branch, and they are rapidly rigging the political system in their favor and looting the state of its resources. Washington’s complacent attitude toward these events is only setting it up for costly involvement later. Iraq is the world’s third-largest oil producer and a country whose collapse could destabilize the entire Middle East through the spread of refugees and terrorism. Great-power competition has never been an excuse to tune out the threats facing the country—and it shouldn’t be one now.

Read it all.

.@Mikeknightsiraq discusses the Iran-backed militias standing behind Iraq’s current government—and how Washington can help give Iraq’s youth, reformers, and anticorruption investigators the opportunity to defend the country’s fragile democracy. https://t.co/V5VSWBzH75

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) June 5, 2023

Experts say that even advanced AI doesn’t match the writing skills of a human: It lacks personal voice and style, and it often churns out wrong, nonsensical or biased answers. But for many companies, the cost-cutting is worth a drop in quality.

“We’re really in a crisis point,” said Sarah T. Roberts, an associate professor at University of California in Los Angeles specializing in digital labor. “[AI] is coming for the jobs that were supposed to be automation-proof.”

AI and algorithms have been a part of the working world for decades. For years, consumer-product companies, grocery stores and warehouse logistics firms have used predictive algorithms and robots with AI-fueled vision systems to help make business decisions, automate some rote tasks and manage inventory. Industrial plants and factories have been dominated by robots for much of the 20th century, and countless office tasks have been replaced by software.

But the recent wave of generative artificial intelligence – which uses complex algorithms trained on billions of words and images from the open internet to produce text, images and audio – has the potential for a new stage of disruption. The technology’s ability to churn out human-sounding prose puts highly paid knowledge workers in the crosshairs for replacement, experts said.

Read it all.

Technology used to automate dirty and repetitive jobs. Now, artificial intelligence chatbots are replacing workers with high-paid jobs as well. https://t.co/oqqx1XJUem

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 2, 2023

Two sets of programmes for the #FACupFinal pic.twitter.com/jR5ORjDpkm

— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) June 3, 2023

Any decision at the end of the LLF process was going to face challenges but the responses to the bishops’ proposals suggest that there are four particular failures in their approach which have made matters worse. 

Firstly, in contrast to the detailed work of LLF, and failing to draw on that work, the bishops gave minimal explanation or theological justification for their proposals. Secondly, they proposed a liturgical response to different life situations without—as the ten points above demonstrate—offering any account of what pattern of same-sex relationship might be considered fitting within Christian discipleship. When asked about this the Bishop of London said in an answer (to Q163) in February, that we need to wait for the Pastoral Guidance as that “will include setting out unequivocally the necessary qualities for a relationship to be considered chaste, faithful and holy”. Thirdly, although committing to uphold the doctrine of marriage and thus rejecting a change to extend this to include same-sex marriage, the bishops were not clear as to what else—particularly in relation to sexual behaviour—should be considered as part of the doctrine of marriage. Nor were they clear whether they were proposing to change current teaching on sexual ethics. It was, for example, unclear whether what the Bishop of London had stated only in November last year in answer to a Synod question still applied: 

Canon B 30 does indeed continue to articulate the doctrine of the Church, including asserting that holy matrimony is the proper context for sexual intimacy. 

All three of these failings arose because it seems there was not sufficient time to achieve any consensus on them. The problem is that without any clarity and consensus in these areas, the proposals are inherently unstable and arguably incoherent. 

A further cause of instability and incoherence is a fourth feature of the proposals (number 7 above): to justify offering the prayers, including prayers of blessing, to couples in same-sex marriages the bishops, with the support of the Legal Office, offered a novel and contentious argument distinguishing holy matrimony from civil same-sex marriages. The relationship between civil marriage and holy matrimony after the introduction of same-sex marriage was not a question covered within LLF although it produced an invaluable “Brief History of Marriage Law” by Professor Julian Rivers. The answer now being offered represents a complete reversal of all previous legal and theological statements including in the Church of England’s successful case defending the refusal of Bishop Inwood, Acting Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, to give a licence to Jeremy Pemberton who was in a civil same-sex marriage. There, as set out in the original employment tribunal judgment of October 2015, the employment appeal tribunal judgment of December 2016 and the Court of Appeal Decision in March 2018, a key argument advanced was that the bishops’ actions were necessary because to be in a same-sex civil marriage was incompatible with the doctrine of the Church of England in relation to marriage.

Read it all.

The Prayers of Love and Faith put the practical cart before the theological horse. What questions do we first need to ask about the pattern of holy life God calls us to before we can discuss the Prayers with any coherence? @theologyethics1 @simonsarmiento https://t.co/i3nHup7SH1

— Dr Ian Paul (@Psephizo) June 2, 2023

AI experts issued a dire warning on Tuesday: Artificial intelligence models could soon be smarter and more powerful than us and it is time to impose limits to ensure they don’t take control over humans or destroy the world.

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” a group of scientists and tech industry leaders said in a statement that was posted on the Center for AI Safety’s website.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed AI research lab that is behind ChatGPT, and the so-called godfather of AI who recently left Google, Geoffrey Hinton, were among the hundreds of leading figures who signed the we’re-on-the-brink-of-crisis statement.

Read it all.

Leading experts warn of a risk of extinction from AI: The AI programs we are creating could outsmart us and lead to our collective demise, according to the tech industry's leading experts who say it's time to address the threats they pose. https://t.co/DHjdFeMnbh pic.twitter.com/oNzV6ESJUM

— Marcus Evans 📚 ⚛️ 🔭 ⚖️ 💙 🎼 🏅 (@MarcuswevansSr) May 31, 2023

Amitai Etzioni, the Israeli-American sociologist who drew wide attention and storms of derision by fathering the Communitarian movement, a vision of society in which people are asked to care less about their own rights than about one another and the common good, died on Wednesday at his home in Washington. He was 94.

The death was confirmed by his son David.

Born to German-Jewish parents who fled from Hitler to Palestine, Mr. Etzioni fought for Israeli independence, moved to the United States in 1957 and became an influential academic and political figure. He wrote prodigiously, taught at George Washington University, testified before Congress and advised presidents, prime ministers and other Western leaders on foreign and national policies.

Barely a decade after landing in America, Mr. Etzioni was famous, writing books and articles far afield from the turgid corners of sociology — provocative commentaries on the nuclear arms race, European security, the Vietnam War, America’s racial and educational problems, energy and inflation policies and popular worries over pornography, student unrest and topics ranging from sex therapy to Hollywood hoopla.

Read it all.

Amitai Etzioni's strain of moderate 'communitarianism' earned him admirers but few followers.

He was intellectually omnivorous—it seemed that everything interested him—and unfailingly kind to writers (and editors) many decades his junior.

R.I.P.https://t.co/Qt3kgmU0Am

— Adam Keiper (@AdamKeiper) June 2, 2023

An American attack drone piloted by artificial intelligence turned on its imaginary human operators during a flight simulation and killed them because it did not like being given new orders, the chief testing officer of the US air force revealed.

After the military reprogrammed the drone not to kill the people who had the power to override its mission, the AI system instead turned its fire on the communications tower relaying the order.

The development foreshadows the plot of various science fiction films, including the Terminator film series and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey, in which the sentient computer Hal 9000 tries to kill the astronauts who attempt to switch it off.

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An American attack drone piloted by artificial intelligence turned on its human operators during a flight simulation and killed them because it did not like being given new orders, the chief testing officer of the US air force revealed https://t.co/nUMHymGizA

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) June 2, 2023

However, such is the level of crisis that all too often RE is being taught by non-specialists, simply because there are not enough trained RE teachers. High school pupils are now three times more likely to be taught RE by someone with no qualification in the subject than, for example, in history. Of those who teach RE in secondary schools over half spend most of their time teaching another subject (compared to only 13 per cent of those who teach English and 27 per cent of those who teach Geography). These same pressures contribute to many schools’ RE provision simply not being good enough.

What can be done?

The first step for the government to take is to acknowledge that there is a problem – with teacher recruitment across the board. The teaching profession as a whole needs a boost – to show that teaching is an attractive career. Significant workload reductions and pay increases will help this perception.

But there is a specific problem with RE recruitment. Postgraduate teacher training attracts a bursary to teach Geography of £25,000. RE trainees receive no bursary. I have heard of well qualified humanities or social science graduates who have chosen Geography over RE simply because of this. In years when there has been a bursary available to train as an RE teacher, then recruitment has risen significantly.

But what might really make a difference is a properly funded National Plan for RE to ensure it is properly resourced and taught by professionally trained teachers.

Read it all.

Why the RE teacher recruitment crisis is a problem in @seenunseenmag https://t.co/VvbpZisA8A #beyondtheordinary

— Paul Smalley (@PabloPedantic) May 15, 2023

Hurricane season in South Carolina officially begins Thursday and state officials are urging residents to prepare as soon as possible. According to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, South Carolina is one of the most vulnerable states to hurricanes and tropical storms all throughout the season, which lasts until Nov. 30.

Six coastal counties border the Atlantic Ocean. These counties have more than 200 miles of general coastline and another 21 inland counties may be directly affected by these storms. Densely populated coastal areas, especially during peak tourist seasons, coupled with the generally low coastal elevations significantly increase the state’s vulnerability.

South Carolina is expected to have a relatively normal hurricane season this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency predicts between 12 and 17 storms for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.

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A new hurricane season is upon South Carolina once again. Check out tips from the state’s 2023 hurricane guide on how to best prepare. https://t.co/Pbtit5gaPW

— Rock Hill Herald (@RHHerald) June 1, 2023

In the roughly 250 years since the Industrial Revolution the world’s population, like its wealth, has exploded. Before the end of this century, however, the number of people on the planet could shrink for the first time since the Black Death. The root cause is not a surge in deaths, but a slump in births. Across much of the world the fertility rate, the average number of births per woman, is collapsing. Although the trend may be familiar, its extent and its consequences are not. Even as artificial intelligence (ai) leads to surging optimism in some quarters, the baby bust hangs over the future of the world economy.

In 2000 the world’s fertility rate was 2.7 births per woman, comfortably above the “replacement rate” of 2.1, at which a population is stable. Today it is 2.3 and falling. The largest 15 countries by gdp all have a fertility rate below the replacement rate. That includes America and much of the rich world, but also China and India, neither of which is rich but which together account for more than a third of the global population.

The result is that in much of the world the patter of tiny feet is being drowned out by the clatter of walking sticks. The prime examples of ageing countries are no longer just Japan and Italy but also include Brazil, Mexico and Thailand. By 2030 more than half the inhabitants of East and South-East Asia will be over 40. As the old die and are not fully replaced, populations are likely to shrink. Outside Africa, the world’s population is forecast to peak in the 2050s and end the century smaller than it is today. Even in Africa, the fertility rate is falling fast.

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"The world's population could shrink for the first time since the Black Death due to declining fertility rates"

Global fertility has collapsed, with profound economic consequences https://t.co/HksCFeSrpN pic.twitter.com/JMCcDEXZKx

— Paul Kedrosky (@pkedrosky) June 1, 2023

The earth is already past safe limits for humans as temperature rise, water system disruption and destruction of natural habitats have reached boundaries, a study by a group of the world’s foremost scientists has found.

The research, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, identified eight earth system boundaries that included climate, biodiversity, water, natural ecosystems, land use and the effect of fertilisers and aerosols.

Human activities had pushed seven of these boundaries beyond their “safe and just limit” into risk zones that indicate the threat to planetary and human health, it said.

Researchers have traditionally focused on the effects of climate change or biodiversity loss on the planet itself, but the study from the Earth Commission group of scientists marks an attempt by experts to identify the limits after which humans will suffer significant harm.

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Earth past its safe limits for humans, scientists say https://t.co/eR5SjAUTul

— Financial Times (@FT) May 31, 2023

People who showed up to their restaurant jobs while sick were linked to 40 percent of food poisoning outbreaks with a known cause from 2017 to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released on Tuesday.

Paid sick leave and other policies that support sick workers could improve food safety outcomes, according to the report, which was based on a review of 800 food poisoning outbreaks, using data provided by 25 state and local health departments.

Of the 500 outbreaks where investigators identified at least one cause, 205 involved workers showing up sick, the report said. Other common causes included contaminated raw food items, in 88 cases, and cross-contamination of ingredients, in 68 cases.

In 555 of the outbreaks, investigators were able to determine what virus, bacterium, toxin, chemical or parasite was to blame. Most outbreaks were caused by salmonella or norovirus, the report said.

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Restaurant workers who showed up to their jobs while sick were linked to 40% of food poisoning outbreaks with a known cause, according to a CDC report released Tuesday. https://t.co/7momqxwjdt

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 31, 2023

The San Francisco Police Department is down more than 600 officers, almost 30 percent of its allotment. Phoenix needs about 500 more officers to be fully staffed. The D.C. police force is smaller than it has been in 50 years, despite troubling gun violence and carjackings, as officers leave faster than they can be replaced.

Police departments across the country are struggling to fill their ranks, creating what many current and former officials say is a staffing emergency that threatens public safety.

They cite an exodus of veteran officers amid new police accountability measures that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd, increased hostility from the communities they police, and criminal justice laws that seek to reduce the number of people in jail.

Advocates for police reform see the moment as an opportunity to hire a new generation of officers and reimagine policing. But as agencies seek fresh recruits, they are getting fewer qualified applicants than in past years — leading some to make the risky move of lowering the bar for hiring to fill their ranks.

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Police departments across the country are struggling to fill their ranks, creating what many current and former officials say is a staffing emergency that threatens public safety. https://t.co/vBL1FNOODf

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 28, 2023