Today's Top Five

1. Sacks: Divestment vote "could not have been more inappropriate"
It's clear that Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, is upset about the Church of England's General Synod vote to divest "from companies profiting from the illegal occupation" of Palestinian territory. In an article for the Jewish Chronicle, Sacks calls the vote "ill-judged even on its own terms. The immediate result will be to reduce the church's ability to act as a force for peace between Israel and the Palestinians for as long as the decision remains in force. … The church has chosen to take a stand on the politics of the Middle East over which it has no influence, knowing that it will have the most adverse repercussions on a situation over which it has enormous influence, namely Jewish-Christian relations in Britain. The Church could have chosen, instead of penalizing Israel, to invest in the Palestinian economy. … The church's gesture will hurt Israelis and Jews without helping the Palestinians." Given the Iranian president's call to wipe Israel off the map and the anti-Semitic tone of recent Muslim demonstrations, Sacks says, "The timing could not have been more inappropriate." Israel, he says, "needs support, not vilification."

2. Baptists united There's a great piece in today's Wall Street Journal that you probably can't read without a subscription. That's too bad, because summarizing it like this—church burnings have brought black and white Baptists together in Alabama—doesn't do it justice. That's because the relatively short story is inspiring and informative without softening the edges. The Alabama Baptist Convention State Board of Missions has distributed checks for "at least" $5,000 to all 10 of the burned ...