Religion touches nearly every corner of public life — from courtrooms in Australia to city halls in New York to podcasts examining faith, democracy, and technology. Religion News Service has gathered a wide-ranging set of stories and conversations that reflect how religious questions are shaping news across the globe this week.
A Bishop Sentenced
Leading the news cycle is a report from the Associated Press: a former Australian Catholic bishop has been sentenced for sexually abusing Indigenous men. The case adds to a long record of clergy misconduct cases that have drawn scrutiny to the Catholic Church in Australia and around the world.
The Oct. 7 Anniversary — Multiple Perspectives
Several stories this week center on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza. Cara Anna reports on the widening gap between how Israelis and much of the international community perceive the war — while the world sees tragedy in Gaza, many Israelis, still shaped by the trauma of Oct. 7, see an ongoing and existential threat.
Separately, Lindsey Bahr covers the U.S. opening of the Israeli documentary NAZA, which has reignited debate over the conflict. And Jacob Kornbluh and Molly Myers report on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who marked the first Oct. 7 anniversary of his mayoralty by describing Israel’s military campaign as genocide, drawing protests in response.
Religious Communities Under Pressure
Trisha Mukherjee reports that an Ohio Hindu temple was vandalized, leaving worshippers shaken. The incident is part of a broader pattern of attacks on houses of worship that has been documented across the country in recent years.
Opinion and Analysis
On the opinion side, historian Peter C. Mancall examines Columbus’s own writings to show how religion and conquest were intertwined from the earliest days of European exploration. His analysis centers on the Book of Prophecies, which reveals how Columbus framed brutal colonization as a divinely ordained mission.
Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin takes a different kind of retrospective look in his column, revisiting Israel’s acclaimed TV series Fauda three years after Oct. 7 to draw out new lessons about revenge, trauma, and moral complexity.
Thomas Reese contributes a policy-focused piece examining the contradictory effects of the Trump administration on the green energy sector — arguing that even as the administration challenges clean energy policy, market forces are accelerating the transition.
What’s on the Podcasts
Religion News Service’s podcast lineup this week covers ground from political theory to theology to technology.
Saved by the City features a conversation with scholar Bradley B. Onishi about a growing movement that argues the answer to saving Western civilization is installing a monarch — and the unlikely coalition of voices pushing that idea.
The State of Belief, available at religionnews.com/the-state-of-belief, focuses on helping people move from feeling overwhelmed to taking part in creating positive change at the ballot box and in their own neighborhoods.
Complexified tackles Pete Hegseth’s push to have faith treated like physical fitness in the military — and asks whose beliefs would actually define a soldier’s readiness.
The Martini Judaism podcast asks what it truly means to be made in God’s image, drawing on the work of scholar Tomer Persico to explore what Rabbi Salkin calls the most important one-liner in the history of Western civilization.
And Money Meet Meaning poses a timely question in its latest episode: Can artificial intelligence make us richer, freer, and more human — or does it simply turn efficiency into the newest object of worship? The episode is available to stream directly.
More Stories Worth Reading
Other recent coverage from Religion News Service includes a look at what a thousand years of golden roses reveal about papal authority and influence, from Leo IX to the current Pope Leo XIV. There’s also a warm feature on a Philippine church where priests blessed pets in honor of the feast of St. Francis.
On more difficult terrain, one opinion writer who authored a history of antisemitism in America says she is stunned by what she is witnessing now. And a new documentary is receiving attention for centering the experiences of Black LGBTQ+ Christians.
Readers who want to follow these and other stories can explore RNS’s full coverage across topics including Love Thy Neighbor, browse columns from RNS contributors, test their knowledge with RNS Games, or subscribe to the RNS Morning Report newsletter for daily religion journalism delivered to their inbox.
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