Church in a time of brain rot

As deportation fears keep immigrants from work, their churches feel financial strain
Religion News Service: Newly strained finances are just one reality that Latino immigrant churches are adjusting to as the Trump administration accelerates a promised mass deportation campaign and other aggressive changes to immigration policy.

Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication
The Guardian: As Harvard’s feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an “education and Palestine” issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom

Dispute over former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris’s retirement cash heads to court
CBS News: Morris, 63, is demanding millions of dollars in payments and retirement benefits from the church following his resignation last year. Morris stepped down after allegations resurfaced that he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.

Late Jesuit global leader didn’t stop known child molester from becoming priest — court documents
The Guardian: Pedro Arrupe is a candidate for sainthood, but an abuse victim’s lawsuit turned up evidence that he didn’t prevent child molester Donald Dickerson from being ordained after learning of allegations.

Yellowstone has been a ‘sacred wonderland’ of spiritual power and religious activity for centuries – and for different faith groups
The Conversation: Few realize that religion has been part of Yellowstone’s appeal throughout the park’s history.

Church in a time of brain rot*
Christianity Today: Technologies that promised mutual understanding have instead fomented confusion and fraud. Can Christians model a better way?

The rise and fall of the British cult that hid in plain sight
The Guardian: Philippa Barnes was a child when her family joined the Jesus Fellowship. As an adult, she helped expose the shocking scale of abuse it had perpetrated

Churches, seminaries among US cultural sites awarded funds to preserve Black history
Religion News Service: The grants aim to support historical spaces of “Black American joy, resilience, innovation, and activism” in their preservation efforts, according to a news release.

How the QAnon movement entered mainstream politics — and why the silence on Epstein files matters
The Conversation: The Justice Department asked a federal court on July 18, 2025, to unseal grand jury transcripts in Jeffrey Epstein’s case.

Singing hymns to warn the bears*
Christianity Today: On the outskirts of Anchorage, a Southern Baptist retired science education professor captures creation on her cameras.