The Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in a battle over whether Southern Methodist University can separate from the United Methodist Church. The university, founded in Dallas by Methodists in the early 20th century, has been trying to extricate itself since 2019, a period of intense turmoil in the denomination over whether the church should accept gay clergy or gay marriage. (Graham, The New York Times)
Read MoreAround half of adults across the world hold antisemitic beliefs and deny the historic facts of the Holocaust, according to the latest edition of the largest global study of anti-Jewish attitudes by the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based advocacy group. (Pancevski, The Wall Street Journal)
Read MoreTens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first of a series of major baths in the Maha Kumbh festival, the largest religious congregation on Earth. (Saaliq, AP News)
Read MoreThe government has been warned by the equalities watchdog that rules could “disproportionately curtail” freedom of expression and be applied to “overheard conversations”. Ministers have proposed that employers must protect workers from being harassed at work by “third parties” such as customers or clients. If they fail to do so they could be sued. (Scott, The Times)
Read MoreThe new Syrian government’s consistent rhetoric of tolerance has some analysts asking: Is the talk merely an attempt to assuage a nervous international audience? (Casper, Christianity Today)
Read MoreAfter rising for about 20 years, the share of U.S. adults who are not living with a spouse or partner has modestly declined since 2019. In 2023, 42% of adults were unpartnered, down from 44% in 2019, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. (Fry, Pew Research)
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