According to Professor Jonathan Lanman from Queen’s University Belfast, “Our large cross-cultural surveys reveal that while many factors may influence one’s beliefs in small ways, the key factor is the extent to which one is socialised to be a theist.” He added: ‘Many other popular theories, such as intelligence, emotional stoicism, broken homes, and rebelliousness, do not stand up to empirical scrutiny.”

And Dr Lois Lee from the University of Kent commented: “The UK is entering its first atheist age. Whilst atheism has been prominent in our culture for some time – be it through Karl Marx, George Eliot, or Ricky Gervais – it is only now that atheists have begun to outnumber theists for the first time in our history.”

This is not the first obituary for Christianity. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of Christianity have been greatly exaggerated, largely because its atheist critics resent having to bow to a religion in a society that, they insist, no longer bows to God. In their eyes Christianity is a pernicious influence; at best it is a private hobby that everyone else is forced to fund….

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In the UK, according to a recent survey, there are more atheists than people who believe in God. Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast spent three years asking why atheism has grown around the world. Is Christianity on the decline where you live?https://t.co/kjtewirOtP

— Mercator (@mercatornet) October 8, 2024

TV presenter and conservationist Chris Packham has led calls to the Church of England to commit to re-wilding 30 per cent of its land. 

The call is backed by high profile figures including former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, former cabinet minister Michael Gove, and actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry, as well as 100,000 members of the public. 

The campaign, by the Wild Card group, was launched on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, where Packham unravelled the ’95 Wild Theses’ – a spin on Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses that triggered the Protestant Reformation. 

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Chris Packham leads calls to rewild Church of England https://t.co/4f3SxzEfvE

— Sharon K. Gilbert (@sharonkgilbert) October 8, 2024

The Rev. Rt. Jack Iker, also known as the “lion of Fort Worth,” died Oct. 5 at the age of 75. 

Iker is survived by his wife, Donna Iker, their three daughters and four grandchildren. 

Born Aug. 31, 1949, Iker was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as a Rector of the church of the Redeemer in Florida before being consecrated as bishop coadjutor, someone who assists a diocesan bishop, for the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth on April 24, 1993. 

Iker became the third bishop to serve the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth on Jan. 1, 1995. 

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"Many of the men who served under [Anglican Bishop Jack] Iker in Texas praised him for his faithfulness in the face of sustained opposition. The word they used most often was steadfast," writes @danielsilliman. https://t.co/fLzwpks6gK

— Jeff Walton (@jeffreyhwalton) October 15, 2024

“Nuclear Nightmare,” screamed the headline in Time magazine on April 9th 1979. One of the two reactors at a nuclear-power plant at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania had suffered an accident. The governor ordered an evacuation of all vulnerable people within five miles of the plant as radioactive gas escaped.

In the end, the accident resulted in no injuries or loss of life. Two decades later, The Economist visited the Pennsylvania hinterlands and found the second, unproblematic reactor still running well and enjoying strong local support. It cranked out power until it was mothballed in 2019 owing not to safety concerns but to competition from cheap shale gas.

Now Three Mile Island is coming back from the dead. On September 20th Microsoft, a tech giant, and Constellation Energy, the utility that decommissioned the trouble-free reactor, signed a deal to return it to service. The utility will spend about $1.6bn to restore the plant by 2028. Microsoft will then buy its carbon-free power for the next 20 years.

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Great look at how Big Tech is leveraging its market power and analytics to shift more project risk onto renewable energy developers:https://t.co/n3MsUpHbnj

— Lee Harris (@leee_harris) October 8, 2024

In 2022, Ian caused about $60 billion of insured losses. Milton may result in $60 billion to $75 billion of damages and losses, with some models showing the total reach as much as $150 billion, Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research, said in an X post.

Cat-bond investors may also take a hit from the inland flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. Moody’s RMS estimates that US private-market insured losses from Helene will be $8 billion to $14 billion.

“Helene was a one-in-a-thousand year rainfall event,” said Jonathan Schneyer, director of catastrophe response at CoreLogic Inc., a catastrophe-modeling firm in Irvine, California. “It shows the power of a hurricane further inland.”

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Catastrophe bond investors made big profits in 2023 and narrowly dodged a payout for Hurricane Beryl. Milton will likely end that streak. The storm “could lead to one of the biggest reinsurance loss events in history” https://t.co/bZyBgbkjTc

— Amanda Kolson Hurley (@amandakhurley) October 9, 2024

O God, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Robert Grosseteste to be a bishop and pastor in thy church and to feed thy flock: Give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of thy Holy Ghost, that they may minister in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Robert Grosseteste, c. 1175-Oct. 1253. As Bishop of Lincoln he was conscientious and regular in visiting his diocese, which was a departure from the usual practice of his day. Grosseteste was also a supporter of the Franciscans. pic.twitter.com/3efhLujto9

— Saint Barnabas Anglican Church (@Barnabas_FW) October 9, 2024

Write deeply upon our minds, O Lord our God, the lessons of thy holy Word, that only the pure in heart can see thee.  Leave us not in the bondage of any sinful inclination.  May we neither deceive ourselves with the thought that we have no sin, nor idly acquiesce in aught of which our conscience accuses us.  Strengthen us by thy Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of faith, and grant that no day may pass without its victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The disciples of John told him of all these things. And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me.”

When the messengers of John had gone, he began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written,

‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
who shall prepare thy way before thee.’

I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (When they heard this all the people and the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John; but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place and calling to one another,

‘We piped to you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not weep.’

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

–John 7:18-35