“The Green Party’s motion declaring Zionism to be racism touches on questions of profound moral and political complexity. For my own part, I do not believe that Zionism can simply be equated with racism. I recognise the ways in which the policies and actions of successive Israeli governments have contributed to dispossession, inequality and the denial of Palestinian rights, and I believe these must be confronted honestly.

“I am also concerned that this motion may leave many Jewish people feeling misunderstood, marginalised or unwelcome within a political movement that should be committed to the full participation and equal dignity of all communities. 

“At the same time, we should recognise what Zionism means for many Jews: a profound longing for safety, belonging and self-determination, shaped by centuries of persecution and the Holocaust. That history cannot simply be dismissed. Nor can acknowledging it be allowed to obscure the equal dignity and rights of Palestinians. Both peoples have legitimate claims to safety, freedom and a future in which they can flourish.

“This matters particularly in Britain….”

Read it all.

‘Antisemitism is evil, it must be confronted wherever it appears’The Bishop of Willesden, Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, the Church of England’s Lead Bishop for Interfaith Engagement and Vice-Chair of the Commission on Interfaith Relations, spoke at the Standing Strong: Extinguish Antisemitism rally in London earlier this week.Read the full address at: https://t.co/Rmkhfn7r55@Lustherev #antisemitism #interfaith #HopeNotHate

— Woolf Institute (@Woolf_Institute) May 15, 2026

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has officially condemned gambling since its earliest years. Throughout the 20th century, prophets and apostles preached against the spiritually corrosive vice, and the Church encouraged members to oppose pro-gambling ballot initiatives. But the last time a senior Church leader addressed gambling at its General Conference—the Church’s semiannual global broadcast and most prominent pulpit—was in 2005. The long silence from the conference pulpit may have allowed some members to convince themselves that the Church had softened its stance—or that their Kalshi habit was not a religious issue at all.

The silence ended this past Saturday, when President D. Todd Christofferson, a senior leader in the Church’s highest governing body, used his General Conference address to condemn gambling. His remarks were well researched: He recited various statistics about the industry’s expansion, and spelled out the ruinous social consequences. He detailed the popular forms of online gambling and even offered a quick survey of the bets you can make on prediction markets—including the timing of the Second Coming. (“Where do you go to collect on that bet?” he wondered.)

But then Christofferson arrived at the real point of his talk.

“For us as Latter-day Saints, overarching all other concerns is the fact that gambling is morally wrong,” he said. “Gambling is built on the desire to obtain something for nothing. Its structure requires that any gain comes at others’ expense. It’s hard to reconcile that with the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.” He went on to say that Christians should be wise stewards of their God-given resources, and that “gambling produces nothing of value and enriches only its purveyors.”

He also addressed those in his audience who believe that they can gamble casually without becoming addicted. “Since your recreational gambling may lead a weaker brother or sister into temptation, just don’t do it,” Christofferson said. “Every soul is precious.”

Read it all.

This past weekend, senior Latter-day Saint leader @ChristoffDTodd did something that has become surprisingly rare: He made an unapologetic moral argument against gambling.I wrote about the religious leaders pushing back against the sports-betting boom. https://t.co/0FeDCYVV07

— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 6, 2026

The Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, said: “My first thoughts today are with the women whose courage brought this retrial to a conclusion. They have now given evidence, in full, not once but twice. It is unfortunate that that was necessary, and I am acutely conscious of the cost it has had for them. I am also conscious of the distress experienced by many others who have not been part of the criminal proceedings.

“Last year I offered an unreserved apology for the abuse of power and leadership that took place within the Nine O’Clock Service.  Today’s verdict adds to that same picture, and my apology stands in full.

“Last year I also commissioned an independent Safeguarding Practice Review into how the Church responded at the time. We took the decision to delay that review until these outstanding charges had been resolved, so as not to cut across the retrial. With today’s verdict, that review will now begin, and I remain committed to seeing it through, and to acting on its findings.”

Read it all.

Chris Brain, the founder of the Nine O’Clock Service in Sheffield, has been found guilty of one count of rape and four counts of indecent assault, after a second trial. #ChurchTimes #ChurchNews https://t.co/F2OC9HioAn

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 5, 2026

The communiqué also announced the failure of negotiations between the church’s Court for the Trial of a Bishop, Edgar’s diocese, and the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. The two dioceses were attempting to conduct a panel inquiry into the court’s troubled private proceedings during the trial of the Rt. Rev. Stewart Ruch, who was acquitted of episcopal negligence last year.

“Despite good-faith efforts on all sides, the parties were unable to agree on protocols for the panel’s work that would both address the questions raised by the two dioceses and satisfy the Court’s interest in protecting its independence. This effort has therefore concluded,” the communiqué said.

On October 1, the standing committee of Edgar’s diocese called the communiqué’s explanation “insufficient” and published documents detailing correspondence between the panel, the court, and the denomination’s Executive Committee.

According to those documents, negotiations broke down between the court and the six-lawyer panel—including chancellors from the dioceses of the Living Word, Canada, South Carolina, the Gulf Atlantic, and the Mid-Atlantic, and the Rev. Canon Andrew Rowell, chair of the province’s governance committee—when the court declined to provide access to the record of the Ruch trial after failing to gain the consent of Bishop Ruch and both sides’ counsel.

“We are ready to complete the task requested of us, but we are unable to do so without access to the Record of the Trial Court in the Ruch matter. We express deep concern about the practice of closing trials to the public without clearly articulated reasons,” the panel wrote in an August 21 letter to the Executive Committee.

South Carolina and the Mid-Atlantic had been prepared to challenge the court’s view of its independence earlier this year by bringing resolutions to the Provincial Council’s June meeting that aimed to compel the public release of the trial’s transcripts.

Edgar withdrew the resolutions before they came to the floor in favor of attempting the negotiated inquiry, but noted the diocese might reintroduce them to the Council in the event of failure. The Council’s next meeting is scheduled for June of 2027, though special meetings may be called by the archbishop, a majority of the Executive Committee, or by any fifteen Council delegates.

Read it all.

ICYMI on the ACNA Ruch trial review: the chancellor panel, which was drawn from a variety of dioceses, was denied access to the transcripts and trial record and could not move forward without that access. https://t.co/JU5UtpAaGU pic.twitter.com/GjsTslmtPm

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) October 2, 2026

Best-selling British author Os Guinness never planned to be a writer. America helped make him one, with a little help from Switzerland. Since then, hundreds of thousands of readers have turned to the Christian public intellectual to understand both their walk with God and their place in the world.

Guinness’s 1998 title The Call, perhaps his most widely recognized book, helps believers discover their God-given purpose in life. The Global Public Square (2013) addresses religious freedom and the role of faith in society. And A Freedom Like No Other, published this year, continues his esteem of the American republic and its constitutional liberty.

But this liberty is also at risk, Guinness cautions. A visit to the US in 1968 began his intellectual relationship with America, as he traveled from Harvard to Berkeley amid political assassinations, race riots, and a liberal counterculture upending traditional values. And as he interviewed leading figures from the right and the left, he came to a startling conclusion.

“I hardly met any evangelicals who really understood what was going on,” he said in a 2025 interview.

Guinness’s travels led to his first book in 1973, The Dust of Death, a critique of cultural trends in the 1960s. For a man who never planned to be a writer, he proved prolific in the decades that followed, penning more than 30 titles.

Read it all.

Os Guinness Still Challenges Christians to Think

The tumult of the 1960s sparked a literary journey that hasn’t stopped for the prolific social critic.https://t.co/XnmWTZZodU

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) September 30, 2026

(To Be Shared as Helpful)
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We are writing to you today in response to the Provincial newsletter that was sent out on September 28. The very last issue addressed in this email under the heading of “Follow-up from Provincial Council” was the chancellor-led inquiry that ended prematurely. The following timeline sets yesterday’s announcement in its proper context and reveals an ongoing issue with transparency in our province.

February 20, 2026 – The ADOSC Standing Committee sent a letter to the Executive Committee of the ACNA expressing certain concerns about the lack of transparency in the proceedings and Final Order  in the ecclesiastical trial of Bishop Stewart Ruch. The letter includes a request for the release of the complete transcript of the trial and pretrial proceedings, with appropriate protections of the identities of abuse victims or victims advocates.
March 20, 2026 – Executive Committee responds to the ADOSC Standing Committee letter that it does not have the power to compel the Court to action. In response to our request for the release of the transcript of the trial and proceedings They make no further recommendation, except to contact the Clerk of Court directly.

“The Executive Committee is unable to order the release of trial transcripts, video recordings, motions, and other court documents, as you requested. The Court for the Trial of a Bishop is an independent body elected directly by the Provincial Council and is not under the jurisdiction or direction of the Executive Committee.”

May 4, 2026 – In an email, the Clerk of Court denies the Standing Committee’s request for access to the transcript, and says the College of Bishops will receive the transcript and has the authority to distribute it further.

May 5, 2026 – the Provincial Dean, Provincial Chancellor, and members of the Executive Committee meet with the Standing Committee of the ADOSC and encourage the submission of two resolutions to the Provincial Council regarding the release of the Ruch Trial transcript and the release of the final report of the ongoing Lathrup Investigation. Subsequently, two resolutions are submitted and also endorsed by the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.

June 18, 2026 – At Provincial Council, an agreement is reached between the Rt. Rev. David Bryan, President of the Court, with the Rt. Rev. Chip Edgar and the Rt. Rev Chris Warner, Bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, to withdraw the two resolutions in exchange for the formation of a Chancellor’s Panel to conduct a third-party mediated inquiry of the Ruch proceedings. During Provincial Council, the motions are withdrawn and the inquiry is announced.

“I want to say that I fully support this proposed action. Please understand that the court in no way wants to hide its work. In fact, I think Bishop Chip’s algebra teacher would be pleased that we showed our work to the entire College of Bishops. And they’ve been able to review the full transcript. What we’re concerned about is protecting the dignity of the people who participated in the proceedings and honoring the commitments of confidentiality which we had with all of the people that participated in those proceedings. I’m very thankful that we have worked out a way to approach these issues relationally to come together and to have the opportunity to ask questions and to answer questions that I pray will build trust in our province.” – Bp. David Bryan, remarks during Provincial Council, Afternoon Session.

August 21, 2026 – The established Chancellor’s Panel writes to the Executive Committee and the Bishops involved in the agreement stating they could not conduct their work because the Court will not execute the proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the work of the Chancellor’s Panel, and will not provide access to the transcript.

“At the end of July 2026, we were provided information indicating that the Court for the Trial of a Bishop will not execute the proposed MOU or provide us access to the Record of the Trial Court in the Ruch matter. As of this writing, that remains our understanding. Accordingly, we are unable at this time to complete the task requested of us.” (see below)

August 24-26, 2026 – Bp. Bryan asks Bp. Ruch and both parties’ counsel to consent to the Chancellors’ inquiry. On all accounts, consent is not granted. Bp. Bryan declares the inquiry is over. (see below)

August 29, 2026 – Despite Bp. Dobbs’ involvement in the establishment of the MOU, Bp. Dobbs and the Executive Committee write to all involved stating they have no oversight over the inquiry and that they understand the issue is closed. – Email from Ms. Deborah Tepley (see below)

September 28, 2026 – The Provincial Office reports that the College of Bishops was informed that:

“…despite good-faith efforts on all sides, the parties were unable to agree on protocols for the panel’s work that would both address the questions raised by the two dioceses and satisfy the Court’s interest in protecting its independence. This effort has therefore concluded.” (see below)

 
With great concern for our province and with hope for greater transparency, we believe that the provincial announcement about the end of the Chancellor’s Inquiry is an insufficient explanation. The encouragement, endorsement, and subsequent announcement of an inquiry by agreed upon and experienced diocesan chancellors with access to all records was a sign of hope for transparency. With its retraction, we are left wondering how trust will be built unless there is follow-through. Before the Ruch trial concluded, the court itself volunteered to “issue its findings and all of the evidence that supports those findings in an order, appropriately redacted where necessary to protect vulnerable individuals” (Response to Resignation Letter, July 23, 2025). We ask only that they would keep their word. Yet we do not lose heart, for we are convinced that all things are possible through our Lord Jesus Christ. Please join us in prayer for the Anglican Church in North America, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, and our shared mission for the spread of the Gospel.

  With unwavering hope,

  The Standing Committee of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina.

Executive Committee Response, March 20, 2026

Bp. David Bryan, remarks during Provincial Council, Afternoon Session, Thursday, June 18 2026

Chancellor’s Panel Status Report, August 21, 2026

Email from Bp. Bryan, August 26, 2026 

Email from Ms. Deborah Tepley, August 29, 2026

College of Bishops Recap email, Sept 28, 2026

A Clergy Update from the #Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina Standing Committee https://t.co/HXIKcHdUJD #acna #ethics #duprocess #justice #transparency #accountability TK pic.twitter.com/AtymQy8foR

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) October 1, 2026

Thirty years ago in Seattle, I was sad to see a homeless man sleeping in a park at the top level of a double slide. It was a nice playground—I could imagine little brothers enjoying a race down that slide—but as things were, parents and kids stayed away. 

What I witnessed then was nothing compared to what Michael Powell recently reported in The Atlantic about that same park today: 

As I arrived, a drug user squatted next to a child’s slide and relieved himself. Others had set up tents and colonized the park pavilion, where they heated fentanyl on tinfoil and inhaled the fumes with glass pipes. A few went old-school and injected it.

Likewise, I remember Burlington, Vermont, as a beautiful city. But Powell reported the view from City Hall now: “At least 70 users and dealers, many looking hyperkinetic in the way of the strung out.” 

He quoted Shabnam Nolan of the King Street Center, where poor children get tutoring: Why does drug users’ “right to ‘dignity’ violate children’s right to come to our center without seeing blood and needles?”

The Burlington Mayor’s Office website warbles about “harm reduction,” which means opening a $2 million center (with funding from the state legislature) so addicts can use their drugs in private. And yet, Powell talked with one mother of three young children who has a fentanyl dealer for a next-door neighbor. “Everyone talks about needle exchange and harm reduction,” she said. “I mean, okay. But it’s like my children and I are living in the zombie apocalypse.”

Read it all.

What Went Wrong in America’s Addiction Recovery Policy?

From west to east, many cities are enabling the slow suicide of vulnerable people. How did we get here?https://t.co/AwLD8K0Zkn

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) September 30, 2026

The federal government’s budget deficit is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue; in 2026 that is projected to be $2.1 trillion. The government’s budget debt is the total amount owed to creditors; in 2026 that is projected to be $32 trillion. Those are big numbers. If you personally owed someone $32 trillion, you (and your creditor) might be a bit concerned. 

Obviously, the U.S. government has more resources than you do, so we need a different gauge. The most often-used measure compares the size of the debt to GDP, which measures the total amount of production in the country. The CBO estimates that in 2026, the debt-to-GDP ratio will be around 101 percent. (The only time it was higher—106 percent—was at the end of World War II.) If the U.S. government wanted to pay off its entire debt right now, it would need all of the income generated in the entire economy this year. That seems very alarming until you remember that the government doesn’t have to pay off its entire debt this year. If you have a home mortgage, it is likely that the value of your debt exceeds your current income, but you aren’t worried because you do not have to pay off the entire debt today. 

Nevertheless, when the size of government debt is equal to the size of the GDP, many people get worried. Reinhart and Rogoff, for example, showed that when debt-to-GDP ratios are higher than 90 percent, economic problems arise. But a country with the economic size and power of the current United States can presumably weather a higher ratio than the norm. Theoretically, there is a debt-to-GDP ratio that will create problems even in the largest economy in the world, but we have no way of precisely determining that limit from the experience of smaller countries in the past. 

While it is hard to estimate the effect of the existing debt-to-GDP ratio, the trajectory of that ratio is noteworthy.

Read it all.

Bad news – we cannot grow our way out of the debt. pic.twitter.com/5fWs28zRIX

— Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) September 24, 2026

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) has once again rejected proposals for prayers and liturgy to be developed for same-sex couples, despite pleas from its outgoing Archbishop, Dr Thabo Makgoba.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since 2006. A motion from the diocese of False Bay, in Western Cape, asked the Church’s Provincial Synod, which met in Benoni, Ekurhuleni last week, to develop prayers for couples in same-sex unions. The motion was lost by seven votes, 78-71, with ten abstentions.

Dr Makgoba, who has been Primate since 2008, has called repeatedly for the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community. He appealed to the Synod: “We pray for trees, we pray for cars, we pray for avocados!”

A second motion, from the diocese of Johannesburg, proposed compiling a separate liturgy to serve what it called the “grave pastoral need” of the LGBTQ+ community, but this was also lost.

Read it all.

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa 🇿🇦 has again rejected two proposals for special prayers and liturgy to be developed for same-sex couples, despite pleas from its outgoing Archbishop, Dr Thabo Makgoba. #ChurchNews #ChurchTimes https://t.co/I7xTdsLljH

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 28, 2026

The Rector of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate, in London, the Revd William Taylor, has characterised the bishops of the Church of England as “false teachers” and “clear heretics”, in a sermon published on YouTube last week.

Speaking at St Helen’s on 10 September, Mr Taylor said that it was “quite simply impossible to fathom how a person could get consecrated by a group of bishops who are engaged in any way with the LLF process to move it forward” or remain “in any sense in spiritual fellowship” with them.

He took as his text Titus 3, focusing on St Paul’s injunction to “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.”

“How can you possibly be allowing somebody who is in fellowship with unfaithful, clear heretics to select your future leaders, to train your new church workers, ordain your new deacons and presbyters, and install your new incumbents?” Mr Taylor said.

Read it all.

City of London churches sever ties with bishopshttps://t.co/xTTRIs8g9B via @ChurchTimes

— Glenna Demeter (@Glennademeter) September 25, 2026

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is with renewed hope and deep gratitude to our Lord Jesus Christ that I announce to you that the Anglican Church in North America’s College of Bishops have sentenced Bishop Edgar to a censure with no accompanying pastoral admonition. There are no restrictions to his exercise of his episcopal office and, this action puts to rest the official  response of the Province to the [shared eucharist and] Chapel dedication at Porter-Gaud. Thank you for your prayers and concerns for Bishop Edgar. We now return our hearts and focus to the Gospel mission that is our primary calling.

Faithfully,

Shay +

The Very Rev. Shay Gaillard
President Standing Committee   

Reminder to all that the ACNA College of Bishops begins its meeting today, where they will decide how to sentence both Bp Chip Edgar (who consented to discipline) and Bp Derek Jones (who was convicted last month and has made no appeal): https://t.co/BOy9Ukki3r

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) September 21, 2026

The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America deposed Derek Jones from the Sacred Ministry on September 23, 2026.

This is in response to his guilt of four canonical charges against him, as determined by the Court for the Trial of a Bishop. The facts now established show that over a period of many years he has offended against God and the Body of Christ through acts of wickedness, cruelty, and abuse of power against chaplains with limited recourse.

The pain and destruction to these chaplains and their families is loathsome, and we are deeply ashamed and lament that members of this body who knew about this behavior neither urgently nor robustly addressed concerns and complaints regarding Mr. Jones.

Having read the affidavits and victim statements, we commit to continual prayer for victims known and unknown, pleading for God’s healing and hope. We also commit as a College to do everything in our power to address these injustices.

While we understand that we are unable to fully expunge the pain, destruction, and despair inflicted upon the lives of those who suffered, the College is undertaking a process by which chaplains may obtain canonical and pastoral restoration.

As part of our collective repentance, we recognize the culture of our College must change and we are seeking to understand how this abuse was allowed to happen.

Finally, the goal of disciplining a bishop is to protect the sheep and to invite the fallen shepherd to repent. Let us all fix our eyes on Christ Jesus the Good Shepherd under whose authority and care we all stand.

ACNA News: The College of Bishops has deposed Derek Jones, former chaplaincy bishop, from the ministry. "… we are deeply ashamed and lament that members of this body who knew about [his] behavior neither urgently nor robustly addressed concerns and complaints regarding [him]." pic.twitter.com/bf4kDRoymY

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) September 24, 2026

As part of those concrete steps to rebuilding trust, I hope that the CoB is considering these questions:

What is the plan for releasing the Lathrop report? This report examines the Provincial Office’s handling of the disciplinary process for Bp. Stewart Ruch, and its publication (with appropriate redactions) would increase transparency and display a desire for accountability. (Additionally, thoughtful preparation will avoid the problems that plagued the release of the Husch-Blackwell report during the investigation into Bp. Ruch.)

Will the transcripts of the Ruch trial be released? Given the many irregularities in that trial, making the transcripts available would show that the province is willing to be transparent about its own processes.

Will the College release the presentment against Bishop Edgar? As of now, we do not know what charges were brought against Bp. Edgar, nor who brought them, which shrouds the disciplinary process in secrecy and veils potential conflicts of interest on the part of the presenting bishops.

As the province transitions to the new disciplinary process outlined in the recently passed revisions to Title IV of the canons, how specifically does the province intend to care for reporters and whistleblowers? What are the protections against retaliation for those who raise concerns?

What specific steps will the province take to rebuild trust after the Wood trial concludes? Regardless of the outcome, the ACNA must grapple with how to move forward and demonstrate its commitment to caring for reporters and keeping the disciplinary process transparent….

What message does it send to the province that a presentment could be filed so swiftly against Bp. Chip Edgar for blessing a school chapel [as I have noted elsewhere this is NOT the heart of the issue it is participation in and reception of the Eucharist] alongside an Episcopal priest, while it took significantly longer—and much persistence from reporters—for presentments to be filed against Bps. Ruch, Jones, and Wood?

Read it all.

Today on Substack, we’re naming questions we hope the College of Bishops addresses as it convenes this week. Which questions would you prioritize?https://t.co/dFw7dfdeys

— anglicanrenewal (@anglicanrenewal) September 21, 2026

Lambeth Palace said on Thursday that it had withdrawn an interfaith award given to a Muslim cleric by the Archbishop of Canterbury last week (News,18 September).

Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi was given the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation last Friday — 11 September — for his “outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan”. He was described in the citation as a “prominent Muslim scholar and religious leader in Pakistan, known for his unwavering commitment to promoting religious tolerance and interfaith harmony”.

The Church Times understands that Mr Ashrafi’s nomination was made before Archbishop Mullally’s time in office.

Photos of Mr Ashrafi receiving the award from the Archbishop next to his wife wearing the niqab attracted attention after being published on social media on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Nick Timothy, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, began publishing links to previous comments made by Mr Ashrafi.

Read it all.

Lambeth Palace said on Thursday that it had withdrawn an interfaith award given to a Muslim cleric by the Archbishop of Canterbury last weekhttps://t.co/GYqfoUtH6o

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 18, 2026

Mr. Kramer doesn’t shy away from pointing the finger at Germany’s newer demographic sources of antisemitism, even as he cites the latest official figures, which show right-wing extremism as the single largest identifiable source of antisemitic crime. In 2024, he says, 48.4% of antisemitic offenses were classified as right-wing, compared with 31.1% as fueled by “foreign ideology” and 11% by “religious ideology.” He stresses that “antisemitism linked to Islamist and anti-Israel milieus has risen sharply since Oct. 7 and is now a major part of the threat picture.”

And so, 25 years after it opened, Berlin’s Jewish Museum must face up to an existential challenge. It’s no longer enough to “explain Jewish culture to Germans from a Jewish perspective,” as Ms. Berg describes the institution’s founding mission. It must adapt to—and push back against—a spate of ugliness and violence in Germany that flows from sources old and new, from a resurgent right that many believe is nostalgic for a Nazi past and from an arriviste cohort of Islamist Jew-haters who teem in Germany’s cities.

“We cannot ever be complacent,” Ms. Berg says, as she navigates the barriers outside her buildings, each bollard proof of how hard it is for a German Jew to live in peace.

Read it all.

Fun Fact: Daniel Libeskind, who designed the Jewish Museum Berlin, and the National Holocaust Momument in Ottawa, is the uncle of Canada's NDP leader, @avilewis. https://t.co/edrdD9AwDz

— Phil Pothen 🇨🇦 he/him (@pothen) September 9, 2026

Did it not trouble her conscience that, as the beneficiary of several generations’ work invested in female emancipation, which have culminated with her being the very first woman to hold the Archbishopric of Canterbury, she gave a tacit endorsement to those who would be contemptuous of women holding any such exalted office in church or state?

Did she not think, being the beneficiary of these hard-won liberties, that she should be at pains to advocate for them fearlessly, rather than turning a blind eye when others are denied them?

Perhaps she forgot the Christian insistence on the inalienable dignity of all humans, made as they are in the image of God, which runs so strongly through scripture that – for the modern Church of England – it outdoes even St Paul’s demand that women should remain covered and silent in church. Or the dignity of women in the Christian story – the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, the women who first discovered the Resurrection. How could she appear at such ease when other women around her are denied the respect due to their dignity?

This whole affair leaves serious questions for Lambeth Palace to answer. If none of these questions came to the Archbishop’s mind, then she must answer for her naïveté, and her advisers must explain why she was put in this position.

Read it all.

New @Telegraph I've written on the fiasco of Sarah Mullally and the award to bin Laden supporter Tahir Ashrafi. Gift access in next post… pic.twitter.com/UWjNYmEBNv

— BijanOmrani (@BijanOmrani) September 17, 2026

In December, Edward Hughes and Louis Kirsch, two of the world’s leading artificial intelligence researchers, left Google. Their goal: to build an A.I. system smart enough to build a better A.I. system.

At their new London start-up, Inherent, they now spend their days working alongside a prototype called Faraday. Named for the 19th-century English physicist Michael Faraday, it gathers mountains of data capturing the daily activities of Dr. Hughes, Dr. Kirsch and Inherent’s other researchers: emails, instant messages, meeting transcripts and their ongoing chats with Faraday itself. The company then uses this data to build a better version of Faraday.

“Faraday has access to everything that goes on at the company,” Dr. Hughes said. “We want to give it data describing the process we go through, to discover something.”

Though Inherent pledges to keep humans involved in this elaborate process, many other companies are building similar technology, and some leading researchers believe A.I. systems will eventually be powerful enough to improve themselves with little or no help from human developers — a mind-bending goal that computer scientists call recursive self-improvement, or R.S.I.

Two Silicon Valley start-ups — each valued at $4 billion — are proudly pursuing this dream, and leading labs like OpenAI and Anthropic are chasing it too. They hope to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence that discovers drugs, creates new materials, speeds other forms of scientific discovery and, one day, surpasses human intelligence in practically every way.

Read it all.

The Liftoff Scenario That Terrifies A.I. Doomsayers: “Recursive self-improvement” is the idea that artificial intelligence could learn to build & train itself, creating exponential new progress — & risk (NYT) https://t.co/y5RXO0VbEu

— Candice Rose (@CandiceRose) September 16, 2026

MPs have voted against proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, bringing the latest effort to change the law to an end.

Following a debate in which both sides made emotional speeches, the House of Commons voted 286 to 270 – a majority of 16 – against the proposed legislation.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would have allowed adults with fewer than six months to live to apply to be given help to end their own life, subject to certain safeguards.

A similar bill in the last parliamentary session was supported by MPs before stalling in the House of Lords. The decision from MPs on Friday rules out the prospect of changes to the law on assisted dying in the short term.

Read it all.

The assisted suicide Bill is dead. After two years of debate, MPs have rejected it by 286 votes to 270.

A victory for vulnerable people — and a reminder that bad legislation becomes harder to defend the more closely it is scrutinised, writes @AdamPollockhttps://t.co/d7JZTQ5iiU

— The Critic (@TheCriticMag) September 12, 2026

Among the growing fears about artificial intelligence, one threat has proved particularly alarming: the possibility that A.I. could be used to create a new wave of biological weapons.

In April, biosecurity experts warned that it was disturbingly easy to get advice from chatbots about making pathogens more dangerous. In June, scientists and A.I. executives signed an open letter calling for new controls on the fabrication of DNA because A.I. can now speed up the design of toxins and viruses.

In August, scientists reported that they had used A.I. to build viruses not seen in nature. And on Thursday, Anthropic announced that it had blocked several attempts to use its models by people who might have been trying to weaponize pathogens.

Dario Amodei, the chief executive of Anthropic, followed up with a call on Saturday to slow down the development of A.I., with a set of proposals to keep it safe.

Read it all.

A.I. Queries From Abroad Raise Fears of a Biological Weapons Race
Today’s chatbots aren’t likely to help lone actors invent a deadly pathogen, experts say. But newer models, trained in biology, may need stronger safeguardshttps://t.co/x3XhW9s4ph

— Emily Turrettini (@textually) September 14, 2026

In 1888, George Eastman marketed the Kodak camera with the memorable advertising promise: “You press the button, we do the rest.” Photography, a complicated task requiring considerable technical knowledge, suddenly became accessible to ordinary consumers.  

Eastman created a company that became an early practitioner of welfare capitalism. Eastman issued weekly paychecks and distributed bonuses and profit-sharing payments. In 1919, Eastman gave employees one-third of his personal holdings in Kodak stock, then worth $10 million. The firm later established retirement annuities, life insurance, and disability benefits. Eastman believed that the goodwill and loyalty of employees were important sources of Kodak’s prosperity.  

After World War II, major American firms adopted the Kodak model of investing in their employees. In The End of Loyalty, former Wall Street Journal reporter Rick Wartzman describes the 1940s and 1950s as a working-class golden age in which firms such as General Motors, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, and Coca-Cola felt obligated to “lend a helping hand to workers” and to “shield them against the vicissitudes of life.”    

Paul Osterman’s important new book, Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment, describes how thoroughly that model has eroded.  

Read it all.

The Unravelling of The American Employment Compact – Public Discourse https://t.co/0Vs231wbO3

— Allen Mendenhall (@allenmendenhall) September 9, 2026

 What is happening?

On October 23, 2025, The Washington Post reported that Archbishop Steve Wood, leader of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), is the subject of a formal presentment—a canonical complaint alleging sexual misconduct and other violations of church canons.

Summary of Allegations

• The presentment, filed October 20, 2025, centers on claims by Claire Buxton, a former children’s ministry director at St. Andrew’s Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
• Buxton alleges that between 2021 and 2024, Wood made inappropriate comments and gestures toward her, culminating in an unwanted advance in April 2024, when he allegedly attempted to kiss her.
• She also reported receiving about $3,500 in unsolicited payments from church funds over a 13-month period.
• Additional accusations in the presentment include plagiarized sermons, bullying of staff, and misuse of church resources.
• On November 7, 2025, The Washington Post reported that a second woman had come forward with allegations of sexual harassment, and the presentment was amended to include her affidavit and additional testimony from former colleagues.

Wood has stated he believes the allegations “lack merit” and has expressed trust in the ACNA’s canonical process.

2. What is the ACNA doing about it?

Upon receiving the presentment, ACNA initiated its disciplinary process, referring the case to a Board of Inquiry to determine whether an ecclesiastical trial is warranted.

November 4, 2025, the ACNA reported that Archbishop Wood took a voluntary, paid leave of absence from his roles as Archbishop and Bishop of the Carolinas. Bishop Ray Sutton, Dean of the Province, was appointed to oversee the Archbishop’s duties during the investigation. To help ensure objectivity in the proceedings, Bishop Sutton formally recused himself from all matters pertaining to Archbishop Wood’s Board of Inquiry and any subsequent disciplinary process, according to the ACNA.

Bishop Sutton appointed Bishop Julian Dobbs, who is serving as Dean of Provincial Affairs, to form a three-member panel of bishops to represent Bishop Sutton in any action he may be required to take in the disciplinary process against Archbishop Wood. This newly formed panel will review and approve the composition of the Board of Inquiry (BOI) to ensure its impartiality, and receive its report.

Wood also announced his retirement as rector of St. Andrew’s, describing it as previously planned.

November 16, 2025, Bishop Julian Dobbs, with the written consent of the five senior diocesan bishops of the College, determined by date of admission, Bishop Julian Dobbs inhibited Archbishop Stephen D. Wood from the exercise or ordained ministry in the Anglican Church in North America, in accordance with the canons of our Church. This inhibition does not determine guilt or innocence, nor does it pre-judge any allegation or any step that may follow. The canons provide for the imposition of an inhibition when it is determined to be in the best interests of the Church to do so. The inhibition document may be found here: [link to inhibition document].

As stipulated in the Constitution of the Anglican Diocese of the Carolinas, Bishop David Bryan, as Bishop Suffragan, is now assuming the duties of Acting Bishop of the Diocese of the Carolinas for the duration of this period.

The ACNA has emphasized that Archbishop Wood is accountable to the same canonical standards and disciplinary process as any other leader accused of misconduct.

Read it all.

The Anglican Church in North America (@The_ACNA) has never put a sitting archbishop on trial.

That changes next week when the trial of Steve Wood begins. He faces charges of sexual immorality, abuse of church power and violating his ordination vows.https://t.co/9dP3rILsAF

— Roys Report (@ReachRoysReport) September 4, 2026

CHARLESTON, SC — At long last Archbishop Steve Wood goes to trial for allegations that could derail his future hopes and aspirations and lead to a future of ignominy and shame. Exonerated, he will go back to leading a denomination struggling over the ordination of women and distrust by a growing number of laity disillusioned by his leadership. He faces a split among his fractious military chaplains, unresolved lawsuits and much more. 

No archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America has ever stood in the dock of his own church. Wood is the first. The denomination that was born in 2009 out of a flight from the Episcopal Church — a flight undertaken in the name of holiness, orthodoxy, and the plain reading of Scripture — now finds itself asking whether it can hold its own primate to the standard it once demanded of Canterbury. That is the real question the six-day trial in Charleston will answer, and it is far larger than the fate of one man. 

The court will not make it easy to watch. The proceedings, seated September 7 through 12 with extension dates reserved for September 21 through 26, are closed to the public. The Court for the Trial of a Bishop, presided over by the Rt. Rev. Ryan Reed, has given each side fifteen hours — no more — to lay out its case, examine and cross-examine witnesses, and argue before the bench. 

The Charges

Wood answers three formal charges: violation of his ordination vows; conduct giving just cause for scandal or offense, including the abuse of ecclesiastical power; and sexual immorality. They are among the gravest a bishop can face, and they carry, on conviction, the prospect of deposition. 

The Allegations

Behind the three charges lies a presentment that ranges wider still.

The case broke into public view in October 2025, when The Washington Post reported that Wood had been accused of sexual harassment during his long tenure as rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina — the flagship parish he built over twenty-five years and the platform from which he rose to the archbishopric. Claire Buxton, a divorced mother of three who served as the parish’s children’s ministry director, alleges that Wood began behaving inappropriately toward her in the fall of 2021, showered her with attention and with money — more than three thousand dollars, she says, drawn from church funds — called her by a pet name, and, in April 2024, attempted to kiss her in his office. 

A presentment — the canonical instrument by which charges are brought — was filed that same month by a group of Wood’s former colleagues, among them four presbyters and seven lay people. It carried not only Buxton’s account but allegations that Wood bullied his staff and plagiarized sermons. In November it was resubmitted to add the account of a second woman, who said Wood had pressured her into situations that made her uncomfortable and had invited her to drink with him, and to add the claim of the province’s former communications director that Wood had conspired with other senior leaders to tilt the church’s investigative machinery in a “bishop-friendly” direction. 

Wood has denied the allegations, declining to comment on the most recent.

Read it all.

The Anglican Church in North America (@The_ACNA) has never put a sitting archbishop on trial.

That changes next week when the trial of Steve Wood begins. He faces charges of sexual immorality, abuse of church power and violating his ordination vows.https://t.co/9dP3rILsAF

— Roys Report (@ReachRoysReport) September 4, 2026

The Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, Steve Wood, will face a church trial starting on Monday (Sept. 7). It’s the young denomination’s first trial of a sitting archbishop.

He faces three charges: violation of ordination vows, abuse of church power and sexual immorality.

“Our young Province finds itself in a challenging and uncomfortable season,” Julian Dobbs, who has taken over the archbishop’s duties, wrote in an email to the denomination on Tuesday. “Our unity, fervor, and faith are surely being tested.”

Read it all.

(RNS) — ‘Our young Province finds itself in a challenging and uncomfortable season,’ Julian Dobbs, who has taken over the archbishop’s duties, wrote in an email to the denomination on Tuesday. ‘Our unity, fervor, and faith are surely being tested.’ https://t.co/eyrrP5OR4I

— RNS (@RNS) September 8, 2026

The Rt. Rev. Chip Edgar, bishop of the ACNA’s Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, has been canonically charged with misconduct a week after he apologized for publicly dedicating a school chapel together with his counterpart in the Episcopal Church.

“I share this with heaviness of heart but in obedience to the truth Christ calls us to proclaim,” wrote the Rt. Rev. Julian Dobbs, acting primate of the ACNA, in an announcement of the charges against Bishop Edgar on September 2.

On August 18, Edgar had joined the Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, in dedicating St. Timothy’s Chapel at the Porter-Gaud School in Charleston. The bishops, who both sit on the board of the independent Episcopal school, blessed the chapel’s furniture and distributed the Holy Communion to the mixed congregation. Photos of the event circulated widely and prompted a wave of public criticism.

The following week, Edgar expressed regret that his participation alongside Woodliff-Stanley had caused “anger and pain.” In response, Dobbs denounced the event as an occasion of “great offense,” adding that the denomination’s College of Bishops would consider the matter further at their next meeting in September.

Instead, formal charges were filed against Edgar by August 30, according to a September 2 letter from his standing committee. Dobbs’s same-day announcement stated that “the seriousness of the situation led a complement of Bishops” to file the charges, which Dobbs did not describe, but which the standing committee said accused Edgar of conduct giving “just cause for scandal or offense” at the chapel dedication.

Read it all.

New for @Livng_Church: ACNA Bishop Chip Edgar has accepted charges of "scandal or offense" made confidentially after joining his Episcopal counterpart in blessing a school chapel.https://t.co/3k15eoVR5S

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) September 4, 2026

The joint blessing of a chapel at a historic school by an Episcopal bishop and an Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) bishop has stirred up deep controversy in the ACNA, with an August 26 statement from its acting primate sharply criticizing the service and promising that the church’s College of Bishops would rule on the situation next month.

Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and Bishop Chip Edgar of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina participated alongside each other at the August 18 blessing of St. Timothy’s Chapel, a 600-seat church on the campus of Charleston’s Porter-Gaud School.

Photos of the event circulating on social media show the two bishops leading prayers together, draping a hanging over the chapel’s altar, laughing, and embracing warmly.

Both bishops are members of the independent Episcopal school’s Board of Trustees, and worked together early in their episcopates to resolve remaining tensions from the 2012 division of the original Diocese of South Carolina

“We took our seats on the board and we pretty quickly built trust,” Woodliff-Stanley said. “We’re not naïve; we know there are differences.”

Differences aside, they blessed the chapel jointly. The event included a Eucharist celebrated by the Rev. David A. Madison, Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES), of which Porter-Gaud is a member. The school’s chaplain, the Rev. Palmer Kennedy, a priest of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, preached.

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It was in 1787 that he first decided to put down a motion in the House of Commons about the slave trade. This nefarious traffic had been going on for three centuries, and the West Indian slave-owners were determined to oppose abolition to the end. Besides, Wilberforce was not a very prepossessing man. He was little and somewhat ugly, with poor eyesight and an upturned nose. When Boswell heard him speak, he pronounced him ‘a perfect shrimp’, but then had to concede that ‘presently the shrimp swelled into a whale.’ In 1789 Wilberforce said of the slave trade: “So enormous so dreadful, so irremediable did its wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for the abolition…. let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest till I had effected its abolition.

So abolition bills (which related to the trade) and Foreign Trade Bills (which would prohibit the involvement of British ships in it) were debated in the commons in 1789, 1791, 1792,194, 1796 (by which time Abolition had become ‘the grand object of my parliamentary existence’), 1798 and 1799. Yet they all failed. The Foreign Slave Bill was not passed until 1806 and the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill until 1807. This part of the campaign had taken eighteen years.

Next, soon after the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars, Wilberforce began to direct his energies to the abolition of slavery itself and the emancipation of the slaves. In 1823 the Anti-Slavery Society was formed. Twice that year and twice the following year, Wilberforce pleaded the slaves’ cause in the House of Commons. But in 1825 ill-health compelled him to resign as a member of parliament and to continue his campaign from outside. In 1831 he sent a message to the Anti-Slavery Society, in which he said, “Our motto must continue to be PERSEVERANCE. And ultimately I trust the Almighty will crown our efforts with success.” He did. In July 1833 the Abolition of Slavery Bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament, even though it included the undertaking to pay 20 million pounds in compensation to the slave-owners. ‘Thank God,’ wrote Wilberforce, that I have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give 20 million pounds for the abolition of slavery.’ Three days later he died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in national recognition of his FORTY-FIVE YEARS of persevering struggle on behalf of African slaves.

— John R W Stott, Issues facing Christians Today (Basingstoke: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1984), p. 334

#OTD July 29, 1833:
Death of William Wilberforce, who had done much to end slavery in British possessions.

Persuaded to join the campaign against slavery and faced with evidence of its horrors, he wrote:

"So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade's… pic.twitter.com/Noaw7qZQt2

— ☧ Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) July 29, 2026

Let thy continual mercy, O Lord, enkindle in thy Church the never-failing gift of love, that, following the example of thy servant William Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the poor, and maintain the cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his life for us, thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Politician William Wilberforce died #onthisday in 1833. He is remembered for taking up the cause of abolishing slavery alongside Prime Minister Charles Grey. He is buried close to the grave of William Pitt in the Abbey’s north transept, and his statue can be found in statesmen's… pic.twitter.com/mY5QlNaZfQ

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) July 29, 2026

Significant progress in church safeguarding is being undermined by resistance from senior officers, INEQE, the company auditing safeguarding in every diocese and cathedral, has said.

INEQE said in its 2025 audit that the Church of England was experiencing a “dangerous” period of institutional “drift” regarding future safeguarding structures.

The company also said that unprecedented engagement from more than 10,000 contributors showed “a maturing safeguarding culture, though critical structural inhibitors remain at the senior level”.

The findings are set out in INEQE’s 2025 Annual Report on the Independent Safeguarding Audits of Church of England Dioceses and Cathedrals, alongside two companion reports, Chorister Safeguarding and Victim and Survivor Engagement.

The audit highlighted “tangible” improvements in safeguarding, increasingly understood as a “gospel and theological imperative” rather than as merely an administrative requirement. The report also speaks of growing confidence among individuals in raising concerns without fear of reprisal.

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Church of England bishops have urged Ed Miliband to intervene to halt the executions and torture of Christians in Saudi Arabian jails.

Three bishops for Southwark, Chelmsford and Winchester have written to Mohammed bin Salman, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, urging him to call an immediate halt to the executions of more than 50 Ethiopian Christians currently on death row in the state.

They have also submitted their appeal to the Foreign Office seeking an intervention from Mr Miliband, the new Foreign Secretary, to save the lives of the Christian captives.

The bishops claimed there was evidence that the Ethiopians – who fled conflict in their own country – had been mistreated, with several of them tortured and forced to sign documents they could not read or understand.

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Good to see several English bishops calling on the Foreign Secretary to use British influence in Riyadh on behalf of 50 Ethiopian Christians facing execution. The Saudi regime remains brutally repressive.
Also good to read it all reported in the Telegraph.https://t.co/xmI8bFAmKW

— Philip Anderson (@P_G_Anderson) July 28, 2026

A new resource has been launched to “help churches of all denominations use AI thoughtfully, faithfully, and well” amid the “silent adoption” of AI in church life.

The AI Guidelines for Christian Ministry has been produced by the AI Christian Partnership (AICP), a not-for-profit organisation made up of Christian groups, theologians, technologists, and academics.

The guidelines have been created to avoid AI “gradually seeping into church life without proper discussion”, and to support churchpeople to understand the long-term impact on congregations, AICP said. “Although aimed at church ministers, leaders, and volunteers, they contain principles, ethics, and practical tips that all Christians can apply and use.”

Its founder, Chris Goswami, said: “AI can be a great asset for ministry, or it can leave us with a fast-food version of ministry. As with social media, it may only be much later, with hindsight, that we understand the impact of AI — therefore, we encourage churches with foresight to give serious consideration to this now.”

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A new resource has been launched to “help churches of all denominations use AI thoughtfully, faithfully, and well” amid the “silent adoption” of #AI in church life 💻https://t.co/xsPcd5RdrY

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 28, 2026