A letter of legal claim has been sent to St Andrew the Great, Cambridge (formerly the Round Church), on behalf of seven Zimbabwean victims of John Smyth. It alleges that senior clergy and church officers “orchestrated a cover-up that enabled Smyth to continue abusing boys for decades”.

The letter, sent by Leigh Day Solicitors, argues that the failure to report Smyth’s abuse in the UK between 1982 and 1984 “directly led to his relocation to Zimbabwe, where he continued to prey on vulnerable boys”.

The claimants are six men who say that they were abused as teenagers at Christian holiday camps run by Smyth in Zimbabwe, and the mother of Guide Nyachuru, a 16-year-old boy whose body was found in a swimming pool at one of Smyth’s camps in 1992. The abuse included forced nudity, beatings with table tennis and jokari bats, indecent exposure, groping, and intrusive conversations about masturbation.

Smyth, described in a review by Keith Makin last year as “arguably, the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England” (News, 8 November 2024), moved to Zimbabwe in August 1984 and began to run holiday camps in the country. The move followed the completion in 1982 of a report by the Revd Mark Ruston, then Vicar of the Round Church, commissioned after a British Smyth victim grew so fearful of beatings that he tried to take his own life.

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Letter alleges that senior clergy and church officers ‘orchestrated a cover-up that enabled Smyth to continue abusing boys for decades’ https://t.co/yqWhzbyyjl

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 7, 2025

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Her predecessor as Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, resigned in the wake of a sex abuse scandal in which he was accused of taking inadequate action. The selection of Bishop Sarah to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury is seen as response to that controversy, though, given the theological trajectory of the Church of England, the appointment of a woman to the highest clerical leadership position in the church was inevitable. It was just a matter of time, and, at the end of last week, the time came.

Two of the last three primates had been advertised as some kind of evangelical. In both cases, with George Carey and Justin Welby, they turned out to be the kind of evangelicals who are not evangelical. Both withered in conviction while in office. If they had any strong convictions in the past, those convictions seemed to disappear as soon as they put on Canterbury’s miter. Conservatives in the Church of England—and there are brave ones left—are now put in a devil’s bind. Evangelical priests in the Diocese of London, where Sarah Mullally has been bishop, were allowed to appeal for external episcopal oversight. Now that she is to be Archbishop of Canterbury, that would seem to be impossible.

Understandably, conservatives in the Anglican Communion are up in arms. Many expressed outrage at the appointment of Sarah Mullally to Canterbury, both for the fact that they do not recognize a woman as priest or bishop, and because this particular woman bishop is quite liberal. Interestingly, she cited her experience as a nurse in coming out against assisted suicide, now debated in Britain’s House of Lords. You can imagine the puns. It certainly does appear that the Church of England is being self-euthanized. On LGBTQ issues the new archbishop is all in on welcoming practicing homosexuals in the church and blessing their unions. It is hard to see how the church will not move swiftly under her leadership to embrace legalized same-sex marriage and all the rest—meaning, all the letters of GLBTQ, and that pesky + sign as well.

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“A liberal nurse to lead a dying church?: The Church of England’s first female Archbishop of Canterbury is devastating news for conservative Anglicans” — my column today @wngdotorg.https://t.co/6THg1wlmrG

— Albert Mohler (@albertmohler) October 6, 2025

To fully understand this ongoing debate, one must consider the historical role of Christianity in America, the legal protections for religious freedom (despite the spread of secularism) amid a decades-old culture war highlighted by societal shifts starting in the 1960s.

As a result, Christianity in the United States is certainly undergoing a transition. It is moving from a position of cultural centrality to one of pluralistic coexistence, especially since new waves of immigrants over the last 30 years who are Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists move to the United States.

In a 2022 post, veteran journalist Richard Ostling, a regular Religion Unplugged contributor, observed:

“Christian nationalism” became common coinage in the U.S. fairly recently, usually raised by cultural liberals who view it with alarm, and often with “White” as an added adjective. The term is not generally embraced by those considered to be participants.

As journalist Samuel Goldman remarks, to describe something as Christian nationalism “is inevitably to reject it.”

The Merriam-Webster definition of plain “nationalism” is “loyalty and devotion to a nation” but adds this important wording, “especially a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups.”

“Nationalism” is not the same as “patriotism,” the natural and benign love and loyalty toward one’s homeland that characterizes all peoples and countries, including huge numbers of non-nationalists on America’s religious left as well as the right. Nor is it the same thing as either political or religious conservatism but is instead a narrow faction within those broad populations.

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The question of whether #Christianity is under attack, especially in the United States, is a complex and deeply polarizing one https://t.co/REqRKWg2aY

— Clemente Lisi (@ClementeLisi) October 8, 2025

France has been plunged into a fresh political crisis after Sébastien Lecornu, the newly appointed prime minister, unexpectedly resigned on October 6th after less than four weeks in the job. Mr Lecornu came under intense pressure the moment he unveiled a new minority government on Sunday night, keeping most of the incumbent ministers in big jobs in place. Opposition parties cried foul, and threatened to vote down his government with a no-confidence motion as early as this week. Even his coalition partners on the centre-right said they might quit. Mr Lecornu saw the writing on the wall, and decided to leave rather than be forced out.

France has now lost its fourth prime minister in little over a year, and Mr Lecornu becomes the shortest-serving prime minister under the Fifth Republic. A messy situation is fast turning into a crisis, prompting market worries as well as political uncertainty. On Monday morning the yield on France’s ten-year government bond rose nearly eight basis points to 3.6%, close to its highest level since 2011. The shares of France’s two largest banks fell by over 4%.

President Emmanuel Macron appointed the 39-year-old Mr Lecornu, a close political confidante, on September 9th. The new prime minister promised a “rupture” with the outgoing government, which was toppled by parliament the previous day after nine months in office. But when Mr Lecornu named his new team on October 5th, after weeks of discussion with different parliamentary parties, he kept most of the key ministers in place. It was less a new government than a recycling of the old one.

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The unexpected resignation of Sébastien Lecornu, now the shortest-serving prime minister under the fifth republic, has rattled markets and plunged France into yet more political uncertainty https://t.co/Yxd8WlrbDW

Photo: Reuters pic.twitter.com/hAEFJeStaV

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) October 6, 2025

Online sports betting is not legal in Minnesota, but that hasn’t stopped Ian White from trading money on the outcomes of N.F.L. games. Mr. White, a special education paraprofessional, said he downloaded Kalshi, a “prediction market” app, after seeing an ad on TikTok. He buys contracts worth $10 a game and has made about $130.

“I do consider Kalshi betting,” he said, “but I love how they get around it by selling futures.”

Kalshi can “get around” state gambling laws because on paper it is not a sports gambling app, like FanDuel or DraftKings. Those kinds of online sportsbooks are banned in 20 states, including Minnesota, California and Texas. Instead, Kalshi is an exchange selling financial products tied to the outcome of sporting events — and, with the tacit approval of the Trump administration, is currently available everywhere in the country.

If you wanted to, for example, wager $100 on a Dallas Cowboys victory this weekend, your experience on FanDuel and Kalshi would look remarkably similar….

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"… Kalshi, once known for offering wagers on elections, are now in the multibillion-dollar sports betting business and outside the reach of state regulations and taxes"

Is Sports Betting Illegal in Your State? Not if You Call It a ‘Prediction Market.’https://t.co/FSpVln6jtH

— Alfonso Straffon 🇨🇷🇺🇸🇲🇽 (@astraffon) October 5, 2025

O Spirit of the living God, who dost sanctify the lives of thy people, and dost build them up into a holy temple for thy habitation: Grant us so to know thy indwelling presence that we may be set free from lesser desires, and by thy grace may be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord.

—New Every Morning (The Prayer Book Of The Daily Broadcast Service) [BBC, 1900]

Morning everyone I hope you are well. An earlier walk across Loughrigg to Todd Crag overlooking Windermere. Have a great day.#LakeDistrict pic.twitter.com/RUAu4Z3OGZ

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) October 8, 2025

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

–Matthew 9:9-17

Morning all! 😁 pic.twitter.com/YbsVeL7g18

— Scot Down South (@LesleyAM13) October 8, 2025