Schisms over slavery, women and now, sexuality: A history of fractures among Methodists Raleigh NC News & Observer Un-united Methodists The church has long delayed an anticipated split over LGBTQ issues — until now. It’s not going to be easy. As some in North Carolina look to disaffiliate from UMC for more conservative theology, others … Continue reading U. S. Methodist Church Splitting Over LGBTQs & Gay Marriage
Big Change: U.S. veterans agency to offer abortions in cases of rape, incest & health risks Reuters — September 2, 2022 By Ismail Shakil The U.S. government will provide abortion services for the first time ever to veterans in cases of rape or incest, or when the pregnancy puts the life of the woman at … Continue reading VA Will Perform Abortions In Special Cases
Too busy . . . Someone here fits that description . . . Heading for Kyiv . . . then where? Will all our most extravagant hopes end this way? Ghosts: Gorby & Reagan . . . What if Mikhail had borrowed Ronnie’s astrologer .. .?? In post-Gorbachev Russia, this now passes for freedom of … Continue reading Gorbachev: An Elegy in Images
Washington Post — September 2, 2022 How I ditched my poverty tells By Tracy Moore A study published in the journal Nature last month about something called “bridging social capital” elicited many no-duhs on social media. The study’s big takeaway was that when the poor get a chance to meet the wealthier among us, they … Continue reading Self-Reinvention or Self-Erasure? An Abiding American Dilemma
New York Times — September 2, 2022 I Was Onstage With Salman Rushdie That Day, and What I Saw Was Remarkable By Henry Reese Violence against writers was the topic I was about to interview the novelist Salman Rushdie about at the Chautauqua Institution on Aug. 12. We were being introduced onstage when out of … Continue reading A Network of Good Deeds: Providing Asylum to Threatened Writers