The Suffragan Bishop of Warrington, the Rt Revd Beverley Mason, has announced her resignation, after being away from the diocese for nearly two years.

Announcing the decision on Wednesday in a letter to the diocese, Bishop Mason said that she did not know what her future held, but she thanked supporters for their friendship and prayers.

The Interim Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd Ruth Worsley, said on Wednesday: “It is with heavy hearts we receive this news today. We are thankful for all that Bishop Bev has given in her ministry among us here in the Liverpool diocese. She goes with our love and prayers for the future.”

Bishop Mason has been on a leave of absence from Liverpool diocese since autumn 2023, and revealed in January that this was connected to a complaint that she had made about the then Bishop of Liverpool, Dr John Perumbalath. Dr Perumbalath resigned after Bishop Mason and another woman made allegations of misconduct against him, which he denied (News, 31 January).

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The Suffragan Bishop of Warrington, the Rt Revd Beverley Mason, has announced her resignation, after being away from the diocese for nearly two yearshttps://t.co/VB4gIbsrgb

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 4, 2025

Scientists have used artificial intelligence to choreograph teams of robots to work together without colliding, an advance that promises to boost the efficiency of carmaking and other complex production lines.

The system, known as RoboBallet, potentially allows machine troupes to plan their work faster and complete more tasks, according to research from UCL and Alphabet’s subsidiaries Google DeepMind and Intrinsic. The project shows how AI is driving efforts for industrial process optimisation, as developers seek to solve long-standing problems of robot team members getting in each other’s way.

“RoboBallet transforms industrial robotics into a choreographed dance, where each arm moves with precision, purpose, and awareness of its teammates,” said Matthew Lai, a researcher at UCL Computer Science and Google DeepMind. “It’s not just about avoiding crashes; it’s about achieving harmony at scale.

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AI ‘robot ballet’ promises to choreograph production line gains https://t.co/NNZ3ymsZtg

— FT Technology News (@fttechnews) September 3, 2025

At its military parade on Wednesday, China showcased hypersonic missiles to sink ships, drones that serve as wingmen and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that can strike the continental United States.

The jets that screamed across the sky and the columns of missiles and armored vehicles that rolled past Tiananmen Square in Beijing provided a rare look at China’s new weapons.

The massive military parade, presided over by China’s leader Xi Jinping, was a warning to his country’s prospective foes.

The anti-ship missiles seemed tailor-made to menace American forces in the Asia-Pacific region. Long-range rocket launchers magnified Beijing’s threat to Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy. The armored vehicles that can be dropped from planes appeared to extend China’s ability to defend its growing global interests.

If one theme stood out, analysts said, it was that the People’s Liberation Army is betting on unmanned systems to gain a potential edge in battle.

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China’s Latest Missiles, Drones and Submarines, Up Closehttps://t.co/PYguT31WQg

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) September 3, 2025

While a tech future in AI, democracy, and environmental solutions might sound exciting to some and uncompelling to others, Christians have always had a nuanced and hopeful response to the world’s greatest difficulties. First, Christians can encourage a holistic perspective, and that applies to AI and the preservation of democracy. Tech leaders or engineers often see the world through the lens of their hammers and software programs, and it is easy to condemn them for their reductionist view of the world and its problems.

But an overspiritual view of the challenges of this world has the same problem; seeing our world only through the lens of morality (“Poor families are broken because of divorce” or “We should just consume less, and the food shortage problem would be solved”) is reductionistic as well.

A Christian worldview could help us understand the problems of our times by seeing any challenge more holistically. Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd argues there are 15 or more different aspects of being in any phenomenon. We should look at a thing not only technically and physically (how many there are, how it moves, where it is located, how it reacts in its environment) but also psychologically, legally, morally, religiously, and so on through other perspectives.

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Neuralink, Mars colonization, transhumanism, an autocratic technocracy.

Can the tech bros save the world?https://t.co/WuaC9hDJbZ

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) September 4, 2025

Churchgoers  in the United States are increasingly mixing online and in-person worship, a new study suggests. Since the pandemic, many now attend several different churches.

The study, Exploring Pandemic Impact on Congregations, published by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, is based on a survey of 24,000 churchgoers in the US, carried out last autumn.

One quarter of respondents said that they regularly participated in both virtual services and in person. Newer churchgoers were more likely to attend both in person and online.

“By far, the most common reason [to attend online worship] is convenience,” the study said: it was given as a reason by nearly half (46 per cent) of respondents. Other reasons included illness, caring duties, and being homebound.

The study, Exploring Pandemic Impact on Congregations, published by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, is based on a survey of 24,000 churchgoers in the US, carried out last autumn.

One quarter of respondents said that they regularly participated in both virtual services and in person. Newer churchgoers were more likely to attend both in person and online.

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Churchgoers in the #UnitedStates are increasingly mixing online and in-person worship, a new study suggests. Since the pandemic, many now attend several different churches https://t.co/H4HiOXRQGS

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 4, 2025

O Lord our God, who hast committed to us the glorious gospel of our risen Saviour and Master: Grant that as we joyfully receive the good news for ourselves, so we may gratefully share it with others, and ever give glory to thee, by whose grace alone we are what we are: through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

I know I get a lot of stick for my gate obsession, which I really don't mind at all, but they're more than just a few planks of wood and an elegant cross-brace, aren't they?! They tell stories, they're the opening chapters of adventures, they symbolise new beginnings, different… pic.twitter.com/ky2FNSlJCc

— peaklass (@peaklass1) September 4, 2025

What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members? You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is in vain that the scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. He that speaks evil against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you that you judge your neighbor?

–James 4:1-12

Ich wünsche euch allen einen wunderschönen guten Morgen 😊 pic.twitter.com/HVlaaC2xwt

— Renate Umundum (@RUmundum) September 4, 2025