Unifying Away from the Reformation; Disappearing Pastors; Adopting Russia; Superbug Spread; Growing Neurons; The Date Your Heart will Fail; Robot Street; Smiling Venus; Galileo's Time; and 10,000 Quadrillion Asteroid

False Unity

'Unity' call on Reformation anniversary bbc

A statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has said the split caused "lasting damage" to the unity of the Church - something that contradicted the teaching of Jesus and left a "legacy of mistrust and competition".

Recognizing Half of U.S.; Fading Sunday; Chicago's Illogical Transgender Rulling; Banned Books; Training Kids for War; Ignoring Missile Treaty; Philippines Ram; Miami Zika Pools; Horse Tech for Humans; and Mars in Ultaviolet

Privacy

Half of US adults are recorded in police facial recognition databases, study says theguardian

A report from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology georgetown.edu found that more than 117 million adults are captured in a “virtual, perpetual lineup”, which means law enforcement offices across the US can scan their photos and use unregulated software to track law-abiding citizens in government datasets.

Also see the report: The Perpetual Line-up perpetuallineup.org

Judged Not Liberal; Transgender Delayed on Technicality; Religious Freedom and Gasps of Horror; Syria: One Way or Another; Iranian Shield; NK Snub; Poor Folk Down Below; Teaching Kids to Hate Jews; Apologize Just Enough; and Stereo in Space

Sorry there was no blog yesterday - I prepared it, but then after running some unexpected errands I forgot that I never actually posted it :) Today includes yesterday's articles...

Society

Christian judge fights to keep job world.wng.org

The Wyoming Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics wyo.gov has asked the high court to remove Judge Ruth Neely, the Pinedale municipal judge and part-time circuit court magistrate, from office, ban her for life from the Wyoming judiciary, and fine her $40,000. Her offense? In response to a reporter’s question, Neely stated her Christian perspective on marriage precluded her from officiating a same-sex wedding. That statement, the commission said, was enough to show bias and an inability to adjudicate the law impartially.

The Tale of Jesus' Wife; Canada's Death Sentence; Calling Religious Liberty Hate; Sin, a Minor Doctrine; Wedding Pagans; Fingerprinting Babies; Meet Olli; Common Sense, AI; Amelia; Human Edit Request; Final Warning to Hamas; Palestinians' Water Border; Calls to Strike Assad Now; and Shark Traffic

Fraud

The Unbelievable Tale of Jesus’s Wife theatlantic v

The American Association of Museums’ Guide to Provenance Research warns that an investigation of an object’s origins “is not unlike detective work”: “One may spend hours, days, or weeks following a trail that leads nowhere.” When I started to dig, however, I uncovered more than I’d ever expected—a warren of secrets and lies that spanned from the industrial districts of Berlin to the swingers scene of southwest Florida, and from the halls of Harvard and the Vatican to the headquarters of the East German Stasi.

This is a fascinating long-form article by a reporter who set out to find the origins of a (supposed) 1,300 yr-old papyrus about Jesus' wife, and the ensuing series of lies, historical invention, and deceit of the man behind it. It's a long read, but worth it - particularly for those who've heard the Biblically unsupported "Jesus had a wife" argument. Warning: some aspects of the primary figure's personal life uncovered during the investigation are sexually graphic in nature (the article doesn't dwell TOO MUCH on them).