We cannot always create something out of nothing. Rather, we change what already exists, and these tiny alterations give us meaning and purpose in our lives.

Peter Berger, a leading scholar in the sociology of religion, died in Brookline, Massachusetts, on June 27 at age 88 of heart failure.

Amid ceremonies marking this year’s 500th anniversary of the Reformation, one of Protes­tantism’s leading branches has officially said it now agrees with the Vatican on the main issue at the root of its split from the Roman Catholic Church half a millennium ago.

The World Communion of Reformed Churches, holding its worldwide General Council in Leipzig, Germany, signed a declaration in early July endorsing the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran agreement on how Christians might be worthy of salvation in the eyes of God.

“We more often remember when we have been hurt or wounded," the spiritual director said. “But kindness and love abound.”

American Jewish leaders, frustrated by a recent Israeli government decision to abandon an agreement to create a pluralistic, state-funded prayer space at the Western Wall, plan to plead their case directly to the Israeli public.

“We want the Israeli Jewish community to understand why we are upset,” said Jerry Silverman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America. “This isn’t a Reform or Conservative issue, it’s a Jewish issue, a unity issue.”

The nation is always at its best when we eschew certainty.

(The Christian Science Monitor) When 200 British Muslim imams declared that they would refuse to say funeral prayers for the perpetrators of the recent terrorist attack near London Bridge, their statement marked a striking and unprecedented rejection of terrorism.

Grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts do not make the cut, but parents, siblings, half-siblings, and in-laws apparently do.

The Supreme Court partially revived the Trump administration’s travel ban affecting six Muslim-majority countries. But it made clear the ban should not apply to those with “a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”

What will it take for us to turn away from the lesser gods who are consuming our children without hindrance?

Former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey stepped down from an honorary role after a report on child sexual abuse accused the Church of England of collusion under his leadership.

Carey resigned after current arch­bishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made the unprecedented decision to ask him to step aside from his post as honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Ox­ford, a position of­ten given to re­tired senior clergy.