Is generosity in Britain a thing of the past? A report from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), UK Giving Report 2026, published in March, suggests that both donation levels and the number of people giving are falling.

In 2025, the British public donated an estimated £14 billion, a 9.1-per-cent decrease from £15.4 billion in 2024 — the first decrease in giving since 2021, the report states. The decrease is driven by lower average donations in 2025 of £65, down from £72 in 2024. The report’s findings are based on responses from 12,913 over-16s.

Nevertheless, research specifically into the trends of legacy giving suggests a more positive outlook. The director of Remember A Charity, Lucinda Frostick, says that research shows “a really slow, steady, positive increase in the proportion of people choosing to leave a gift in their will”.

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🎗️ As global economic conditions hit charitable giving, the significance of legacies for charities and churches needs to be better understood — and talked about, ✍️ Amelia Braddick #Features #ChurchTimes https://t.co/licTByPzro

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 5, 2026

Russia agreed to supply Iran with 90 launchers for the advanced guided missiles widely used by its forces in Ukraine, a sign of Moscow’s military support for Tehran despite the demands of its own sputtering war effort.

A production schedule for 2024 and 2025 from a major Russian defence manufacturer, seen by the FT, details an export order for the helicopter-mounted launchers to a buyer identified by a code name used in Russian defence documents to refer to Iran. The order, which has not been previously reported, shows how the two allies have strengthened their military ties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Western intelligence officials say Russia and Iran have further deepened their partnership during the war in the Middle East this year, despite US President Donald Trump’s recent claims that Moscow was doing “very little, if anything” to help the Islamic republic. 

Read it all.

Russia deepened Iran support with missile launcher deal https://t.co/10SHf9wy0b

— Financial Times (@FT) November 5, 2026

Surfers call it the washing machine. When a giant wave throws you off your board and plunges you underwater, you lose all sense of where you are. That is what befell Donald Trump and his party on November 3rd, as they were slammed by tens of millions of American voters. They have still to grasp just how much their country has changed.

Already it is clear this was not a normal midterm swing against a sitting president, but the biggest wave-election since the aftermath of Watergate more than 50 years ago. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, flipping seats deep into once-safe red waters, from South Carolina to Texas.

The coming days will spell out two further lessons. One is that this is not just a triumph for Democrats, but also for American democracy. Voters cannot be taken for granted. If they are angry, they will turn against parties they have long supported. The other lesson, which follows from this, is that both parties now need to find a new way of doing politics—one that spends less time riling up their constituents and more getting things done on their behalf.

The wave has swept across America.

Read it all.

Donald Trump’s humiliation offers America an opportunity https://t.co/Naxd9wxajs https://t.co/sXRA5MiMCp

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) November 5, 2026

The national elections, just completed, added five states that will be completely controlled by Democrats next year, i.e., legislature and governor. They are, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Every one of these is ripe for legalizing assisted suicide, as that policy is now part of the liberal/progressive issue agenda. Most have already seen serious efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed death — even when Republicans held some power. Indeed, the electorally late (defeated for reelection) Governor Joe Lombardo of Nevada vetoed a legalization bill a few years ago.

Every one of these is ripe for legalizing assisted suicide, as that policy is now part of the liberal/progressive issue agenda. Most have already seen serious efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed death — even when Republicans held some power. Indeed, the electorally late (defeated for reelection) Governor Joe Lombardo of Nevada vetoed a legalization bill a few years ago.

Other states that are already governed by a so-called Democratic trifecta, but which have not yet legalized assisted suicide, are Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Efforts have been made to legalize assisted suicide in all of these as well, with Massachusetts voters rejecting assisted suicide in 2012 — thanks in large part to the opposition by Ted Kennedy’s widow.

I think all of these states will see renewed legalization attempts in the next two years. 

Read it all.

The other Democratic trifecta states have already legalized assisted suicide. But that is never the end of it. The first laws passed are not meant to be ceilings but launching pads. https://t.co/w842Yov8xR

— Wesley J. Smith (@theWesleyJSmith) November 5, 2026

But at least those young men had plenty of options for gambling online and buying legal weed. Here we come to the territory where the new right simply failed. Many of its tribunes had promised cultural renewal, a more assertive religious conservatism to counter progressivism’s moral framework, a war on porn and other digital addictions. This was the aspect of the new right that liberals attacked as theocratic or “integralist,” but they didn’t need to worry, because in the second Trump administration it only showed up in social media posts about Reformation Day and St. Michael the Archangel.

Otherwise, the new right in power was a force for libertinism, with corruption in Washington, D.C., going hand in hand with policies that favored vice. The pro-life movement vanished, the quest for pro-family policy was stillborn, and the idea of a new patriotic elite for a new America dissolved into a grifter’s mindset, leering side-eyed at Sydney Sweeney’s bust. Any religious revival in the wider culture probably helped elect religious Democrats, not a sinful-seeming GOP.

Nothing in this sad story means that the new right is simply finished. It’s not like there is some other form of conservatism more attuned to late-2020s reality waiting in the wings.

But the movement will be starting over. It needs leaders who either find a way to separate themselves from the Trump record or else were on the outside all along. It needs to repudiate corruption and stupidity. 

Read it all.

Read @Douthat60 on how the new right failed.https://t.co/io5ZKvZWMU https://t.co/sTh251EKgl

— Oliver Wiseman (@ollywiseman) November 4, 2026

Reparations for slavery would amount to a “vast fine on the entire British people for a crime they did not commit”, the former Archbishop of Canterbury the Rt Revd Justin Welby said this week.

“You may be able to fine individual people for their conduct, but not everyone for their nationality,” he wrote in The Independent on Tuesday. “Group punishment is a moral evil. It mixes up the guilty and the innocent even when it is about contemporary times, let alone two centuries past.”

The article was published on the same day as a speech made by the King at the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in St John’s, Antigua. The transatlantic trade in enslaved persons was a “shameful chapter of history” that “fills my heart with horror and my soul with the most profound personal sorrow”, the King said.

The UK Government has so far resisted calls for reparations, although the Prime Minister has indicated that a formal apology may be forthcoming.

Read it all.

💷 Reparations for slavery ⛓️‍💥 would amount to a “vast fine on the entire British people for a crime they did not commit”, the former Archbishop of Canterbury the Rt Revd Justin Welby said this week. #ChurchTimes #ChurchNews https://t.co/BeWPsnLZMk

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 4, 2026

he architect of the Republican midterm collapse stepped out from the rubble on Tuesday night and insisted it wasn’t his fault.

“I wasn’t on the ballot,” President Donald Trump posted to social media. “And if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE.”

Except, of course, the Trump name was stamped on every brick. His war of choice in Iran drove up US gas prices and alienated supporters drawn to his pledge of no more foreign conflicts. Allegations of profiteering by the president and those close to him, and his obsession with gilding the White House, went down badly with voters struggling to pay their bills. His handpicked Senate candidates in ruby-red states like Texas and South Carolina proved so unpalatable that Democrats won for the first time in decades.

“The Democratic strategy was to nationalize the election and make it all about Trump. To tell voters they can end Trump and end Trumpism right now. That pitch resonated with people on the left,” said Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist. “This became a referendum on the president.”

Read it all.

The architect of the Republican midterm collapse stepped out from the rubble on Tuesday night and insisted it wasn’t his fault. https://t.co/CgzEVvTdGk

— Bloomberg Government (@BGOV) November 4, 2026

In the end, it wasn’t just a wave. It was a wipeout.

A Democrat won a Senate seat in Kansas for the first time since the Herbert Hoover administration. The party picked up Senate seats in Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina. Republicans even fell short in House districts in the South where they had tried to give themselves an edge by drawing new, gerrymandered maps.

The sweeping Democratic victories on Tuesday night offered a decisive rebuke to President Trump and his aggressive, often chaotic second-term agenda.

The party seized control of both houses of Congress. Voters rejected Republicans in conservative states that supported Mr. Trump by double-digit margins just two years ago, in places that had not seen competitive elections for major seats in decades.

Even some Democrats were stunned by the extent of their wins, which included defeating Greg Abbott, the three-term Republican governor of Texas; and Susan Collins, the five-term Republican senator from Maine.

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NYT top #midtermelections this was all about a negative vote on the president and his policies #politics #usa https://t.co/OUkC2Lqi9p

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 4, 2026

America’s referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term is underway.

With polls set to open Tuesday morning for the US midterm elections and tens of millions of early ballots already cast, voters say they are frustrated by the high cost of living, fuel prices that spiked after the launch of the Iran war and uncertainty over where their jobs and the world’s largest economy are headed in the age of AI.

Democrats are expected by many to take control of the House of Representatives, with opinion polls signaling for months that the party has a wide enough advantage with voters to overcome headwinds from Republican-led redistricting efforts.

Winning the Senate is more uncertain but has shifted from being a Democratic pipe dream mere months ago to a real possibility, with the GOP unexpectedly playing defense in traditionally safe bastions like Kansas, Texas, Alaska and South Carolina.

Read it all.

Trump isn’t on the ballot Tuesday, but his policies and record are front and center as US voters decide control of Congress https://t.co/zYDJPfcizp

— Bloomberg (@business) November 3, 2026

The economy, healthcare and the situation in Iran lead in importance to U.S. voters in this year’s election, among 11 issues rated. Half of registered voters say the economy and healthcare are extremely important to their vote, and 47% say the same about Iran. Roughly four in 10 rate income and wealth distribution (44%), gas prices (42%), immigration (40%) and abortion (38%) as extremely important.

About a third rate crime and the Israeli-Palestinian situation (35% each) as extremely important, while construction of AI data centers (30%) and climate change (29%) rank lowest.

These results are based on registered voters interviewed in an Oct. 1-19 Gallup survey, which asked Americans to say whether each issue is extremely important, very important, moderately important or not that important to their vote for Congress this year. Majorities of voters rate every issue except climate change as at least very important.

Read it all.

The Issues Voters Say Matter Most This Midterm https://t.co/9JCE1hHYMv

— james starosta (@jimjudistar) October 29, 2026

The Iran war has triggered the largest energy crisis in history, or so the conventional wisdom says. Epochal stuff — but only half-true, because oil is only half the story.

Thanks to the shale revolution and an enviable geological endowment, US and Canadian natural gas consumers are dodging the economic fallout of the Iran conflict. For America, long worried about its reliance on foreign fossil fuels, it’s an embarrassment of riches.

While European and Asian consumers are now paying north of $30 per million British thermal unit for their gas, US buyers pay around $3 per mBtu. Last week, US gas prices briefly touched a two-year low of $2.5 per mBut — in the middle of an energy crisis. Canadian costs are even lower, at about $1.5 per mBtu.

The price difference between gas in Europe and Asia versus North America, reaching now a ratio of 12 times, has never been wider; not during the 2022 gas shock following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nor in 2011-2012 after the Fukushima nuclear accident, which forced Japan into gas to keep the lights on.

Read it all.

@iribnews_irib It’s never been this profitable to export US natural gas. America is making a fortune in the energy crisis. https://t.co/0LLrPkUHno

— Sister Rosetta (@rosetta_sister) November 2, 2026

After Javio Bolsonaro stepped off the plane in Miami on Wednesday morning, uniformed officers used umbrellas to shield him and his family from cameras. Their arrival followed an extraordinary effort by a small circle of influential Trump allies, senior U.S. officials and Argentine President Javier Milei to help him fly to the U.S. and secure entry, despite a Brazilian court order barring Bolsonaro from leaving the country. Referring to himself as the “leader of Brazil,” Bolsonaro thanked President Trump for welcoming him to a “land of freedoms” and Milei for his “courage” and “sense of justice” in a statement from Miami Wednesday. After Trump personally approved admitting Bolsonaro and his family to the U.S. on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to issue them visas, according to people familiar with the arrangements. 

The operation to whisk Bolsonaro out of Brazil to the U.S. took shape on Monday, as allies grew concerned that he could face arrest. Although the criminal investigations into Bolsonaro predated the election, the Supreme Court order barring him from leaving Brazil and requiring him to surrender his passports came shortly after his defeat and fueled accusations that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was determined to punish his political rival.

Working with Flávio Bolsonaro’s well-connected younger brother Eduardo, a small group including Trump adviser Jason Miller secured a charter jet to take him from Argentina to Florida. 

The Trump administration’s decision to provide refuge to Bolsonaro marks the culmination of the family’s yearslong lobbying campaign to enlist the U.S. president and his inner circle in its legal and political battles at home. The personal alliance between the two most powerful political families in the hemisphere has reshaped relations between the U.S. and Brazil. Last year, Trump imposed steep tariffs on the country citing its treatment of Bolsonaro and sanctioned the same Supreme Court justice who barred Bolsonaro from leaving Brazil.

Now, what began as a domestic political and legal battle in Brazil is becoming a test of how far Trump is willing to wield American power on behalf of a foreign political dynasty—with potentially far-reaching consequences for the second-largest democracy in the Americas.

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Less than 24 hours after losing Brazil’s presidential election, Flávio Bolsonaro appeared to vanish into a convoy of four dark cars https://t.co/T2SRrBPxEc via @WSJ

— Jose de Cordoba (@Jose_deCordoba) October 29, 2026

American spy agencies had gathered striking intelligence.

A top executive at a Singapore-based data center company was under scrutiny for possibly steering advanced Nvidia A.I. chips to China. And now American officials had concluded that she was a Chinese intelligence asset, funneling information to Beijing.

But what came next was even more alarming. Surveillance of the executive, Alice Huang or Huang Le, a Chinese citizen, revealed that she had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive.

For years, Washington has worked to deny China the technology needed to match or surpass the United States in the intense global competition for superiority in artificial intelligence. The discovery that Beijing was getting reports from someone with direct access to Mr. Huang, one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump’s, set off alarms at the White House.

Read it all.

Wow.https://t.co/ovzrTKn4CR https://t.co/VlJTst2k4X

— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) October 29, 2026

After a prolonged decline, religion in the United States has shown signs of strength and stability in recent years.

Since 2020, steady percentages of U.S. adults have said they identify with a religion, pray daily, consider religion to be very important in their lives and attend religious services at least monthly, according to the newest Pew Research Center surveys.

And the percentage of Americans who say they went to religious services in the last month continues to climb following a pandemic-era low point.

In a June 2026 survey, 34% of U.S. adults say “yes” when asked whether they went to religious services in person during the last month, and a total of 45% say they either attended religious services in person or watched them online or on TV in the last month. Both numbers are at their highest levels since the Center started asking these questions in July 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak

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We analyzed how the same 5,835 U.S. adults changed religiously between 2020 and 2025.Most Americans gave the same answers to our core questions about religion in 2025 that they gave in 2020. https://t.co/9pHddObAZC

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) October 28, 2026

The U.S. has told several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign after the U.S. midterm elections, people briefed on the conversations said.

The communications through diplomatic and military channels are among a growing number of indications that the U.S. and Israel are readying to launch a new round of heavy combat operations against Iran, risking a major escalation in hopes of degrading Tehran’s strength and pushing it toward negotiations. 

The U.S. military is sending an additional Patriot system to Israel from Texas to beef up its missile defenses in the country, according to flight tracking data and two officials with knowledge of the movement. The U.S. has also moved troops off bases in the Middle East where they were vulnerable in preparation for an escalation, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

U.S. forces in the region have been restocking their munitions, and bomber aircraft and jet fighters are preparing for strikes, some of the officials said. An additional aircraft carrier strike group and Marine expeditionary unit are also poised to join an armada of roughly 20 other warships operating in the Middle East next month, although some ships could rotate out.

Read it all.

This is what I’ve been hearing as well: "The US has told several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign after the midterms." https://t.co/ukJkDMOeHn

— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) October 28, 2026

I have witnessed – and, sadly, continue to witness – that every time a serious case of sexual immorality or abuse committed by a Christian leader comes to light, a familiar scene seems to repeat itself.

First comes the scandal. Then come the explanations, the statements and the requests for forgiveness. After a while, a question begins to be heard: when will he be able to return to ministry?

But whilst we discuss his future, there is another question that is asked far less frequently:

Who is restoring the victims? Who has listened to them? Who has protected their dignity? Who has taken an interest in the emotional, family and spiritual consequences that may accompany them for years to come?

I am concerned that, at times, we are extraordinarily quick to proclaim the restoration of the leader and extraordinarily slow to care for the people who were hurt.

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First comes the scandal. Then come the explanations, the statements and the requests for forgiveness. After a while, a question begins to be heard: when will he be able to return to ministry? By Marcos Zapata in Spain: https://t.co/kzVflvk4ZS

— Evangelical Focus (@Evan_Focus) October 26, 2026

The Church of England’s Deputy Lead Bishop for Housing has spoken of the ‘ambition and determination’ needed to break the cycle of homelessness as she attended a special summit on tackling rough sleeping.

The Bishop of Hull, Eleanor Sanderson, joined the Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, (pictured with Bishop Eleanor, above) and other faith representatives at the Rough Sleeping Summit hosted in Downing Street.

The event brought together businesses, charities, civil society organisations and local leaders, to commit to local and national action to end rough sleeping through the provision of homes, jobs and practical support. 

Ending rough sleeping was the Prime Minister’s first pledge when he entered Downing Street, and he announced a further £432 million yesterday to be set out in the Budget later this week, towards this goal.

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“This ministry fosters hope, dignity and a sense of belonging for everyone in our communities.”The Bishop of Hull joined the Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, at the Rough Sleeping Summit hosted in Downing Street.📰 https://t.co/GxBdeVapv5. https://t.co/k7LUiBns29

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) October 27, 2026

O Everlasting God, whose servant Cedd carried the good news of your Son to the people of Essex: grant that we who commemorate his service may know the hope of the gospel in our hearts and manifest its light in all our ways; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen (moved from yesterday; KSH).

Oct 26: Feast of Cedd (†664), bishop. Priest of Lindisfarne sent to preach among the Middle Angles and then East Saxons before becoming bishop of the latter. He founded monasteries including Lestingeham (Lastingham, North Yorkshire), where he died of plague. 📸Helge Klaus Rieder https://t.co/u7vz83z5QQ

— North Ages (@NorthAges) October 26, 2026

Southwell Minster will run out of funds next year, and needs £20 million “just to catch up on works that have not been done over many years”, the Dean, the Very Revd Stephen Evans, warned on Friday.

It could face closure, he said, describing the situation as “the most critical point in the Minster’s history”.

Dr Evans took up his post in April this year, following the retirement of the previous Dean, the Very Revd Nicola Sullivan, in July 2024 (News, 12 July 2024), and the interim tenure of Canon Neil Evans (no relation). The 2024 accounts had been produced 156 days late, he said, and it was during the “forensic process” of trying to close the accounts for 2025, and approach the end of 2026, that the true extent of the problem had become clear.

There are still no accounts for 2025. The Dean said that a succession of interim finance staff had been one of many factors that had contributed to the situation with the accounts, but that, overall, this was “just a sad tale of a cathedral among many other cathedrals” running out of money. 

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In a dramatic reversal from the first round of voting, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil was re-elected on Sunday, besting his conservative rival and defying a right-wing wave that has swept through Latin America.

In just three weeks, Mr. Lula found more than 10 million new votes. He gained ground nearly everywhere, attracting vast new support in major cities like São Paulo and in his strongholds across the northeast, according to official results.

After a chaotic Election Day, Mr. Lula’s right-wing rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, said that he would not accept the results and called for the election to be annulled.

Mr. Bolsonaro led by two percent in the first round of voting, and few pollsters expected Mr. Lula to turn things around. Many candidates who were eliminated endorsed Mr. Bolsonaro, and analysts expected he would pick up most of their votes.

But Mr. Lula reversed what had been a conservative shift, the results show. He reestablished his dominance in small towns. He made gains in working-class suburbs around some of the country’s biggest cities. He appeared to be helped by a broad, unexpected increase in turnout.

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Deu no @nyt!How Lula Came Back https://t.co/7Fib4h9Ez7 via @NYTimes

— Carlos Alberto Jr. (@cajr1569) October 26, 2026

On July 5 the Northwest Chinese Baptist Church in Phoenix opened its weekly Mandarin service with a verse from the Old Testament. A pianist, a guitarist and a drummer prepared to lead the 100 congregants in song. The deacon read out the preamble to the Declaration of Independence — “We hold these truths to be self-evident” — and then invited the congregation to rise and sing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It was a good moment to exalt American ideals. The prior night, fireworks marked America’s 250th anniversary of independence.

The next speaker was a guest, Timothy Cheng, the chief executive of a Christian media company. Flicking through a slide presentation, he spoke about the significance of semiconductors, noting that chips made in Taiwan are the lifeblood of the American economy. He clicked to the next slide. The faces of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Jensen Huang appeared on the screen.

“In earlier years, Western missionaries brought knowledge, education and English to the East,” Mr. Cheng said. “They brought the Gospels and Western medicine. Now that Taiwanese have become fortunate and strong, why should they not transfer knowledge to the United States to make it powerful?”…

The parents are more concerned. Not about food fights — though the idea perplexes them — but about the laxity of education. Arizona’s public schools rank among the lowest in the country for graduation rates and the third-lowest in spending per pupil.
Taiwanese families were enticed to the United States in substantial part by the promise of sending their children to American colleges. Now parents fret that the Arizona educational system won’t help their kids get there. They’re nonplussed that teachers sometimes wave off assigning homework to high school seniors; some schools allow seniors to take Friday afternoons off. The idea astonishes parents used to spending big sums on extracurricular prep.

Read it all.

I went to Phoenix to spend time with the Taiwanese community. TSMC will invest $265 billion and send thousands of engineers and their families, which marvel at their new lives in the SunbeltMy first feature as a contributing writer to the New York Times: https://t.co/n73RydKBiD

— Dan Wang (@danwwang) October 23, 2026

Christian charities and campaigners have condemned the Government’s approval of the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea. Tearfund and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) have called for the decision to be reversed.

They emphasised the consequences for communities already suffering from climate change, and urged government ministers to refuse permission for the much larger Rosebank oilfield.

The Government announced on Wednesday that the Energy Secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, had agreed that the regulator could grant consent for gas to be produced at the Jackdaw field. The Labour Party promised in its election manifesto not to issue any licences to explore new oilfields and gas fields, but Jackdaw already held a licence.

Ms Fahnbulleh said on Wednesday: “This decision will support the country’s energy security with home-grown gas this winter and help minimise the UK’s use of imported higher-emission fuels as we continue our transition to renewables and nuclear. The decision is compatible with our legally binding climate commitments, and we remain resolute in ending new licences for oil and gas and achieving net zero by 2050.”

Read it all.

Christian charities and campaigners have condemned the Government’s approval of the Jackdaw gas field 🌊 in the North Sea #ChurchTimes #ChurchNews https://t.co/mcw9bY1Jnn

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 23, 2026

Of all the predictions Alexis de Tocqueville made while surveying the youthful United States, one of the boldest concerned religion. Notwithstanding Protestantism’s apparent American dominance, the Frenchman prophesied that Roman Catholicism would be the long-term victor in a democratic age. “Our posterity will tend more and more to a single division into two parts,” he wrote in Democracy in America, with “some relinquishing Christianity entirely, and others returning to the bosom of the Church of Rome.”

The last few years have given that prediction new life. From the spate of traditionalist-inclined college converts to the heretofore secular humanists who have thrilled to Pope Leo XIV’s critique of artificial intelligence, it often feels like Catholicism is the strongest religious alternative to post-Christian tribalism, nihilism, and transhumanism. Writing for the Catholic magazine Commonweal, Wesleyan University’s Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, himself a non-Catholic, envisions “a Catholic century,” in which the church’s thought becomes a “default option” for people seeking the common good amid liberalism’s crisis and AI-driven dehumanization.

As a Catholic I have a similar reading of the intellectual situation. But it’s also essential to look beyond the intelligentsia to assess the health and future of religion. And in the wider culture, the form of Christianity that’s most adapted to late-modern America is clearly not the Church of Rome. It’s evangelical Protestantism. The vibes of a Catholic moment are real enough, but evangelicalism’s resilience is our era’s more fundamental fact.

You can see that resilience across almost every means of measurement: conversion rates, retention rates, identification rates, church attendance, intensity of belief. A recent overview from Ryan Burge, the religion data analyst, showed that evangelicals have maintained a roughly steady share of the U.S. population since the 1970s, while both Catholicism and the so-called “mainline” denominations (Congregationalist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and so on) that once dominated American Christianity have seen marked decline. In the 2020s, evangelicals are more than twice as likely to attend church weekly as Catholics. They are also twice as likely to describe religious faith as “very important” in their lives.

Read it all.

For all the buzz around a ‘Catholic century,’ evangelicalism is the denomination best placed to thrive in contemporary America. https://t.co/e3hTYPNEmb

— The Free Press (@TheFP) October 22, 2026

O God, who adorned Saint Acca with a love for sacred liturgy, noble chant, and the deep study of your Word, grant that by your Holy Spirit we may follow his example and be your faithful followers in the path you call us to to walk in, through Jesus Christ our Lord who with you and the Holy Spirit ever livest and reigneth forever and ever, Amen (moved from yesterday;KSH).

Today is the feast day for Saint Acca of Hexham: https://t.co/7mcrniO1ms https://t.co/R8Zj2TY3dA

— Rob Colley (@Welshracer) October 20, 2026

Meanwhile, the publication itself sent out a news release earlier this month headlined “Christianity Today Announces New Editorial Leadership Team as the Ministry Celebrates Its 70th Year.

That release noted:

CT president and chief executive officer Nicole Martin announced the appointment of Erik Petrik as chief content officer and incoming editor in chief. Petrik, who previously served as chief creative officer at CT since 2020, is the founder of CT Media, where he executive produced CT’s acclaimed podcast series The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Petrik’s stint at CT has also included developing other popular podcast programs, including The Bulletin, Be Afraid, Wonderology, Being Human, and more; leading CT’s award-winning visual rebrand; and expanding the organization’s work across print, digital, audio, and video.

Petrik’s background spans journalism, film, pastoral ministry, and entrepreneurship. Study at Dallas Theological Seminary under evangelical stalwarts like Howard Hendricks and Darrell Bock informed his time as an ordained clergyman. Later at DTS, he helped pioneer spiritual formation as a field of study. Petrik has written, produced, and directed thousands of creative projects and is one of the founders of bulb Digital Portfolios, providing multimedia digital portfolios for the education market. He and his wife, Kelli, live in Colorado and have five adult children.

“With a media landscape dramatically changed over the last decade and promising more changes ahead, it was hard to imagine that we could find a leader with expertise in print, film, podcasts, church engagement, and art direction. But that’s what God has given us in Erik Petrik,” Martin said.

This transition follows the leadership of Marvin Olasky as editor in chief. Olasky, who stepped out of a previous retirement to serve the ministry at a crucial season of transition, will retire from CT in mid-October.

“When we asked Marvin to help as editor in chief last year, I was hoping he would give us at least six months of his one-of-a-kind expertise,” Martin said. “I was overjoyed that he instead gave us eighteen and that he accomplished so much in that time.”

While the release touted a “new editorial leadership team,” Petrik was the only person mentioned by name. The magazine’s positive spin on the changes failed to mention the layoffs of key journalists such as Olsen and the talented Harvest Prude, Christianity Today’s national political correspondent for the past three years.

Daniel Silliman, Christianity Today’s former senior news editor, left the magazine late last year, publicly voicing “both practical and philosophical” disagreements with its leadership. 

Read it all.

(Weekend Plug-in/@bobbyross) 🗒️ Does Old-Fashioned Reporting Matter To Christianity Today? Some Say No 🔌 https://t.co/Q4EOF2Og50

— Religion Unplugged (@ReligionMag) October 16, 2026

O God of the nations, who didst give to thy faithful servant Henry Martyn a brilliant mind, a loving heart, and a gift for languages, that he might translate the Scriptures and other holy writings for the peoples of India and Persia: Inspire in us, we beseech thee, a love like his, eager to commit both life and talents to thee who gavest them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever (moved from yesterday; KSH).

Henry Martyn, 1781 – 1812. Priest and Missionary to India and Persia. One of the founders of the Christian church in India and Iran. While in India he translated the NT into Hindustani, Persian, and Arabic, the Psalms into Persian, and the BCP into Hindustani. https://t.co/C69app75TG

— Saint Barnabas Anglican Church (@Barnabas_FW) October 19, 2024

Whatever Christian nationalism is, it takes its form and energy from its context. Over the past 12 months, the think tank Theos has been researching the apparent rise of Christian nationalism in Europe, with studies under way in France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and the UK.

What is clear, even at this stage, is that the nature of this phenomenon alters depending on whether, for example, you are living in a once Roman Catholic but now firmly and formally secular polity (like France), a nation that has self-consciously seen itself as the gatehouse for Christian European Civilisation (like Hungary), or a country, such as Britain, that has a remarkably deep Christian history, a formally Christian “constitution”, but very low levels of church attendance. All these factors pour into and colour the phenomena of Christian nationalism.

The UK research, which has just been published in the report Beyond “Christian Nationalism”, shows that there is something that could legitimately be termed “Christian nationalism” in today’s Britain. But it also shows that the concept of Christianity that you have in mind (belief? practice? ethics? identity?), and the concept of Britishness (civic/political? cultural? ethnic/natal?) will, not surprisingly, shape the way you think about how the two relate to each other….

Finally, for all that this group are strongly Christian — 81 per cent claiming affiliation, 81 per cent being baptised/christened, 49 per cent definitely believing in God or some “higher power” — they are not strongly church-attending: only 13 per cent attend weekly, compared with a sample average of 11 per cent. Nor do they show particularly strong levels of prayer.

Read it all.

📈 Analysis: Defining Christian nationalism depends significantly on context, ✍️ Nick Spencer @theosnick #ChurchTimes #Analysis https://t.co/Nmnx8EkQRD

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 20, 2026

In Britain, students are being urged to walk out of lessons on November 20 as part of a strike across Europe. The Socialist Students group says it’s to protest against capitalism, climate chaos, the housing crisis, the “genocidal war against the Palestinians” and unemployment. This is what’s been termed “the omnicause”. And it’s being synchronised across western Europe.

In other words, we’re witnessing a much broader and deeper challenge than merely a crisis for France. It’s a war on the West being waged by groups with disparate agendas taking advantage of a civilisation in deep trouble. Those involved are leftists, anarchists, Islamists, assorted grievance artists and useful idiots imagining they’re marching for the “oppressed” of the earth — and with malevolent outside actors stirring the pot. Thus Vladimir Putin’s economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said of the French riots: “Left-wing globalists are sowing migration-driven chaos.”

Fox News reported this month that of 50 groups involved in the month-long French “student” protests, only 15 were actually student groups. The other 35 were a transnational network that included labour unions, communist or socialist organisations and a Palestinian advocacy group.
These groups were advancing political agendas involving capitalism, “austerity”, policing, military spending and Israel. One far-left environmental group declared in the midst of the riots, “Glory to the rebellious high school students … for an antifascist uprising.”

These insurrectionists are seizing their moment in a society that’s become demoralised in every sense. It’s lost both knowledge of and respect for its own historic identity and culture. 

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Absolutely stunning essay by @DouglasKMurray about the crisis in France. It includes this quote. https://t.co/XBw5Xr5lTp https://t.co/rW0GFvDAvj

— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) October 20, 2026

As Gallup recently reported, Americans’ use of alcohol is at its lowest point in history.

The question that follows, of course, is “Why the change?” There are numerous possible explanations. One of these involves religion.

At first glance, Gallup data on religion and drinking are counterintuitive. The country has become less religious overall. Yet, as I noted in a 2019 analysis, less religious Americans have historically been the most likely to drink. If changes in Americans’ religiosity were a primary driver of alcohol use, we should have seen an increase in drinking, not a decrease.

That hasn’t happened. Alcohol use is down despite the increasing numbers of less religious (and historically more likely to drink) Americans.

The explanation for these trends lies in changes in drinking patterns among those who are less religious. Those who attend religious services less than weekly — a growing group that constitutes the significant majority of all Americans — are now reporting their lowest use of alcohol in our Gallup timeline.

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Just 21% of U.S. adults attend religious services weekly, down from 30% about 15 years ago.While frequent religious service attendance has historically been associated with lower alcohol consumption, Americans are drinking less overall, including those who attend services less frequently.Full story: https://t.co/1NFtPa2KZK

— Gallup (@Gallup) October 16, 2026

Nearly five years into its fight for national survival, Ukraine has entered a moment of intense vulnerability, under growing pressure not only from Russia but also now from the United States.

A double blow came overnight on Wednesday.

Ukraine said that its military, with no warning, had lost some critical access to a military version of Starlink, a pillar of its battlefield communications. Kyiv relies on the satellite internet network, known as Starshield, which is paid for by the Pentagon. That led Ukrainian officials and analysts to surmise that the restrictions had come from Washington, as President Trump is locked in his latest feud with Ukraine’s leadership.

At the same time, Russia unleashed dozens of ballistic missiles in a broad attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure early Wednesday, cutting power to 600,000 people in the capital, Kyiv. It was a dark omen for a rapidly approaching winter in which Russia is gearing up to try to push Ukraine to the breaking point as Kyiv runs low on lifesaving air defenses.

It was unclear how long the Starshield restrictions would remain in place. Still, the Trump administration’s treatment of Ukraine has caused outrage in a country already reeling from a string of challenges.

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Ukraine’s Vulnerability Grows as Starlink is Restricted and Russia EscalatesKyiv has found itself increasingly vulnerable. A huge attack cut power to 600,000 people there, and a Pentagon-funded satellite program appeared to be curbed without warning. https://t.co/igpM7s86S9

— Sjoerd Nolf (@SjoerdNolf) October 14, 2026