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May 5, 2026

Today’s Briefing

Floods are scattering churches in several African countries.

Karl Zinsmeister, an adviser to former president George W. Bush, was the most interesting man Marvin Olasky knew.

Motherhood was supposed to be a slog. But Kate Lucky writes she found joy instead.

Young people in China are turning to fortunetelling, including through AI astrology apps, as the economy falters. Pastors are pushing back.

Church membership is like health care.

On The Bulletin: the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act, the DHS shutdown ends, American troops in Europe, and whether Christians should keep the term evangelical.

Behind the Story

From editor in chief Marvin Olasky: Karl Zinsmeister, a Christian who was President George W. Bush’s chief domestic policy adviser from 2006 to 2009, died of lung cancer last Thursday at age 67 after an extraordinary life. He was a college national champion rower only a year after taking up the sport: “Good heart and lungs,” he said. He renovated—carpentry, plastering, electrical wiring—nine or ten century-old houses and then lived in them.

Zinsmeister was editor in chief of two national magazines and became a middle-aged, frontline embedded reporter during the Iraq War. On learning to row, edit, and work in the White House, he said, “I love discovering new things and figuring out something that’s completely mysterious to me.” For more, please read my obit and an interview I did with him on Substack.

Karl and I were friends for 30 years. With all the pessimism in America today, I’m glad both of us saw similar things in life and editing: “You get people who have some germ of talent and then a lot of enthusiasm. … Remarkable things can happen. I’ve seen that so many times. It’s not a fairy tale to me. It’s real life.”

In Other News

The National Association of Evangelicals and World Relief said the Trump administration’s immigration policies could separate more than 1 million US citizens from their spouses or children.
Mel Gibson’s two-part follow-up to The Passion of the Christ has finished filming in Italy. The films will be released next spring.
Tech companies are consulting the Catholic church more than any other religious institution on generative artificial intelligence.

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Moms, God Sees You

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”…

Today in Christian History

May 6, 1527: An army of barbarians who had been sent—but were no longer controlled—by Emperor Charles V sacks Rome. Many Protestants interpreted the attack as a divine rebuke, and some Catholics agreed: “We who should have been the salt of the earth decayed until we were good for nothing,” wrote Cardinal Cajetan, Luther’s adversary.

Courts Briefly Pause Abortion by Mail, Then Allow It to Resume

May 4, 2026 The Supreme Court on Monday restored nationwide access to the abortion pill mifepristone, in a rapid reversal of a lower court ruling that blocked women from obtaining…

Not Everything Is Christian Nationalism

US Congressman Chip Roy recently introduced a piece of legislation called the “MAMDANI Act.” The bill was named as a jab against New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic…

Gen Z Women Are Not Commodities

Scrolling through Instagram a few months ago, I came across a reel that made me stop and stare. A woman with a full face of makeup and an unnaturally small…

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IN THE MAGAZINE

In this issue of Christianity Today and in this season of the Christian year, we explore the bookends of life: birth and death. You’ll read Karen Swallow Prior’s essay on childlessness and Kara Bettis Carvalho’s overview of reproductive technologies. Haleluya Hadero reports on artificially intelligent griefbots, and Kristy Etheridge discusses physician-assisted suicide. There is much work to be done to promote life. We talk with Fleming Rutledge about the Crucifixion, knowing that while suffering lasts for a season, Jesus has triumphed over death through his death. This Lenten and Easter season, may these words be a companion as you consider how you might bring life in the spaces you inhabit.

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