iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Like I said: Lots of folks ripped on Obama recently for saying Democrats need to "tell a moral and ethical story about how we live together in this moment." Whether or not that approach will *work* is one question, but it's absolutely a thing that is *happening* out there on the trail.

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Pastor barred from returning to the U.S. works to lead his congregation from afar

Also, if you think this story is powerful, you gotta listen to @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social's audio version for NPR as well (RNS has an ongoing partnership with NPR): www.npr.org/2026/09/29/n...

npr.org

Pastoring is an intense job. But what happens when a pastor is stuck thousands of miles away from his church –- with no hope of returning anytime soon?

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This is your regular reminder that if you have a story idea, want to leak something or want to share what you're seeing inside the government and/or your faith community, you can reach me via Signal here: jackmjenkins.60 There are also other ways to reach me in my bio.

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And y'all wonder why I ask you what you're reading every weekend.

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Is Claude Conscious? Inside Anthropic’s Quest to Instill Morality Into Its A.I. Models

Genuinely engrossing reporting here from the Times. Some of this is a re-tread of stuff that has already been reported, but the extensive interviews with Olah and others inside Anthropic is all very new, and deeply revealing. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...

nytimes.com

In a series of private meetings, the company consulted religious scholars to help instill morality into its A.I. models — and make the case that Claude could be conscious.

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I get the reason (TV, streaming, etc.), but the "finishing a book" stat almost feels counterintuitive here.

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Side note: *Just this weekend* I was trying to grab some data on liberal arts majors, but the metrics I could easily find were all “how much money does the degree make you” and not “how much do these graduates benefit society in ways that are hard to replicate, specifically” and I feel that was odd.

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Buried lede: among those speaking out against this is Gregory Baylor, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, a major conservative Christian legal group: “The government shouldn’t punish people who pursue socially valuable callings just because in its judgment they don’t earn enough money.”

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Via @clairegiangrave.bsky.social, aboard the papal plane: Pope Leo says existential concerns about AI "should be taken seriously." Also: Leo noted German Catholics, Protestants have spoken about how the AfD Party is “not an authentic expression of Christianity.” religionnews.com/2026/09/28/p...

Pope Leo says existential concerns about AI 'should be taken seriously'

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (RNS) — 'If someone were to ask me, am I in panic mode? No, I sleep at night,' the pope said. But, he doesn’t believe the warnings regarding AI are 'fake news, as some have said...

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Woke megachurch pastor, Dem nominee called on congregation to repent for driving, eating beef

lol Fox News just calling someone "woke" without quotation marks in a headline (though notably not in the piece) like it's completely a normal descriptor. This makes me curious if they'd label popes that way, given the Vatican's vocal stance on climate. www.foxnews.com/politics/wok...

foxnews.com

Adam Hamilton, the Democrat seeking to be the first Kansans sent to the Senate in nearly a century, once asked his church congregation to repent for eating beef.

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I feel like we've all just sort of gotten used to the idea of regular people doing national television interviews from their homes, which is simultaneously probably a good shift and something that would've been considered weird or anomalous 15 years ago.

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For those keeping track: next Congress likely will have three Democratic pastors: * Warnock * Emanuel Cleaver (long-time incumbent) * Haynes (first-time congressman) Four other pastors/seminarians are in close races: * James Talarico * Sarah Trone Garriott * Lindsay James * Adam Hamilton

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FWIW, Rev. Adam Hamilton is actually one of *two* megachurch pastors running for Congress as Democrats this year. The other is Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III, and he actually is *very* likely to end up in Congress, as he won the primary in the deep-blue district. religionnews.com/2026/07/28/b...

‘Blessed’: Frederick Haynes, pastor and candidate, on his politics, faith and health

WASHINGTON (RNS) — ‘The church has been so supportive that, I mean, they've been more excited about my campaign than I have,’ Haynes said of his historically Black Dallas megachurch.

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Andrew Whitehead @andrew-whitehead.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I feel like this also suggests that insisting kids stay off social media kinda works, actually. Like, yes, kids find workarounds, and these middle schoolers found a way to chat with friends in an NPR comment section. But, like, an NPR comment section sure as heck ain't TikTok.

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Reposted by Jack Jenkins

Who is resisting Christian Nationalism? Check out this new report from @prri.org & @snfagora.bsky.social's Meanings and Democracy Lab. State legislatures & religious diversity shape CN resistance across all 50 states prri.org/research/res... @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social @robertpjones.bsky.social

prri.org

Resistance to Christian Nationalism in All 50 States: A PRRI-Meanings of Democracy Lab Report

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D.C.-area parents seek "vaccine friendly" doctors as practices crack down

“It has nothing to do with religion," (pediatrician Michael Hopper) says. "It has everything to do with the skepticism that politicians are putting out there." (Religion note: there were some pre-COVID religious oppositions to some vaccines, but they were rare*) www.axios.com/local/washin...

axios.com

Some local families are switching pediatricians as clinics enforce immunization policies.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 27/09/2026

Every time I visit a mall these days, I spend roughly 75% of the time internally wrestling with the question "what even IS a mall anymore?" I've never come up with a good answer. Modern malls defy our puny human categories.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 27/09/2026

What are you reading this weekend?

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 27/09/2026

I feel like Disney is just sitting on one of the best Star Wars IPs — Doctor Aphra — but I also get that you really gotta do it right for it to land, so I hope they take as much time as they need to find the right person/team to make it.

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The kids are good. Also: Berhalter. Who has always been good, haters notwithstanding. #USMNT

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Reposted by Jack Jenkins

In case you missed it: I sat down with Rev. Adam Hamilton, the megachurch pastor running for U.S. Senate in Kansas — as a Democrat. He’s been an outlier throughout his career, and he’s running a campaign that could end up making Kansas — no joke — closer than Texas. religionnews.com/2026/09/23/h...

How megapastor Adam Hamilton could break the GOP's hold on Kansas

LEAWOOD, Kansas (RNS) — While Democrats have long been considered a longshot for statewide races in Kansas, the Rev. Adam Hamilton's candidacy has proven unexpectedly competitive.

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How megapastor Adam Hamilton could break the GOP's hold on Kansas

LEAWOOD, Kansas (RNS) — While Democrats have long been considered a longshot for statewide races in Kansas, the Rev. Adam Hamilton's candidacy has proven unexpectedly competitive.

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Whether or not you agree w/Obama here (and there’s a lot to debate about his point), this isn’t unclear at all. As a religion and politics reporter, I can assure you: Obama is talking about a real thing, that candidates in *both parties* are playing with right now, with real political impact.

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NEW: In a new letter, more than 120 Christian leaders — including many prominent evangelicals — urge the Trump administration not to withhold $1.35 billion designated for global health initiatives. Among the signers: one of Trump's own evangelical advisers. religionnews.com/2026/09/25/1...

120 Christian leaders urge Trump administration not to withhold $1B in global health funds

(RNS) — The group, which included a religious adviser to Trump, sent a letter to Trump officials — an unusual instance of evangelical leaders urging the administration to change course.

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Alice Miranda Ollstein @alicemiranda.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

No, but only because I almost never drink iced coffee. With rare exception, coffee should be hot.

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Reposted by Jack Jenkins

Indeed! That is Reverend Jody Harrison, representing the interfaith group Texas Impact

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Reposted by Jack Jenkins

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 25/09/2026

The prayer service has concluded. ICE vehicles continue to move in and out of the lot as it went on. Presbyterian Rev. David Black, whom federal immigration agents shot with less lethal rounds outside this facility last year, also joined in this morning's prayer service.

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Reposted by Jack Jenkins

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 25/09/2026

Good morning from the ICE facility in Broadview, IL. As ICE vehicles trickle in and out of the lot, a small group of Chicagoland locals are holding a prayer service for those impacted by deportation efforts. The area around the facility is open, contrasting prior months of "protest zones."

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Religion note: Seeing at least one likely pastor (wearing a stole) in here. (Many prominent anti-abortion activists are religious, but faith leaders have been an active part of the abortion rights movement essentially since the beginning.)

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Like everyone else, I will say: the NYTimes got all the right shows in here, but got all the rankings wrong. Also: I've watched exactly one episode of Breaking Bad. Yes, I know it's fantastic. But "guy's whole life falls apart and he turns to making drugs" just doesn't do it for me.

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Another thing here: Hamilton actually preached at the National Prayer Service for Obama's second inauguration — widely considered part of Obama's attempt to avoid rocking the boat, given Hamilton's "centrist views." Naturally, @rns.org *broke* that news at the time. religionnews.com/2013/01/18/r...

RNS EXCLUSIVE: Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton to preach at inaugural National Prayer Service

(RNS) The Rev. Adam Hamilton, a United Methodist pastor from Kansas known for his centrist views, will deliver the sermon at the National Prayer Service Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral, which...

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Hamilton actually talked to me at length about exactly this last month. I.e., he sees his experience leading a politically diverse megachurch as directly transferable to both political campaigning and governing. religionnews.com/2026/09/23/h...

How megapastor Adam Hamilton could break the GOP's hold on Kansas

LEAWOOD, Kansas (RNS) — While Democrats have long been considered a longshot for statewide races in Kansas, the Rev. Adam Hamilton's candidacy has proven unexpectedly competitive.

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A thing about "theobros" is they're "Reformed," i.e., Calvinist. But the largest Reformed denomination in the U.S. isn't any of the ones they belong to. It's the PC(USA) — a liberal mainline whose members include Rep. Sarah McBride and James Talarico, and which ordains women and LGBTQ+ folks, etc.

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In which my RNS colleague @bmietana.bsky.social tracks the "Rise of the Jim Crow theobros." Fascinating an unsettling reporting here, but this is a key line: "…along the way, they are turning outrage into cash." religionnews.com/2026/09/24/t...

The rise of the Jim Crow theobros

(RNS) — A group of Reformed pastors and influencers has wedded old-school segregationist theology with the hypermasculinity of the manosphere and the savvy of the attention economy to preach and sell ...

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 24/09/2026

Okay but *why* do this, exactly?

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Reposted by Jack Jenkins

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 24/09/2026

Orthodox Jewish protesters gathered outside the U.N. headquarters ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech shared a friendly exchange with the Palestinian permanent observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 24/09/2026

Since I've gotten a few comments about this in my mentions: megachurch is often *associated* with evangelicalism, because they have a lot of megachurches. But the term is a descriptor of a church's size (often described as more than 2,000 attendees on a Sunday), not its theology or ecclesiology.

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Reposted by Jack Jenkins

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

BREAKING on MS NOW: MS NOW journalists have begun regaining access to the White House.

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Reposted by Jack Jenkins

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 23/09/2026

Big subtext: Hamilton is proving to be a hard target for the GOP. When Vance attacked his faith, a local UMC bishop and 120 UMC pastors issued statements defending him. When his competitor Sen. Marshall called him a pastor who is "too woke for Kansas," Marshall's *own pastor* suggested otherwise.

But the attacks have also revealed the positive reputation Hamilton has forged among his co-religionists. Last week, David Wilson, the United Methodist bishop who oversees Hamilton’s regional conference, published a statement dismissing attacks on Hamilton by Vance and Marshall as “inaccurate and unwarranted,” describing them as an “invective against the church, of which Adam is the founding pastor.”

“The language used, in effect, criticizes fellow Christians merely for living up to what Jesus taught in the Gospel texts,” wrote Wilson, who oversees the Great Plains Annual Conference.

A few days later, 120 UMC pastors from across the state signed a public letter to Marshall, urging the senator and the Vice President to tone down the rhetoric.

“When you attack Adam’s pastoral ministry, his home congregation, and our denomination as a whole, you sow seeds of division and dissent,” read the letter. “You tear at the fabric that is the body of Christ.”

And when Marshall derided Hamilton in August as a “megachurch pastor that’s too woke for Kansas,” Hamilton’s campaign quickly noted that the pastor of Marshall’s own non-denominational church has publicly referred to Hamilton as a “middle-of-the-road pastor who is willing to listen to all sides.”

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 24/09/2026

I talk about this a good bit in the article, but in case it wasn’t clear: a mainline megachurch, while not unprecedented (they used to be more of a thing), is striking to behold in 2026. It feels like it couldn’t exist in this political era. But there it is, with thousands in the pews.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 23/09/2026

NEW: Last month, I flew to Kansas to speak with Rev. Adam Hamilton, the megachurch pastor running for Senate — as a Democrat. He talked to me about "progressive evangelicalism," and I talked to his congregants. And here's the thing: he has a real chance of winning. religionnews.com/2026/09/23/h...