Separation of church and university

 There are tensions between churches and universities, and one of them is playing out between the United Methodist Church and several Methodist universities.

Here's the story from  Inside Higher ED:

SMU Wants to Separate From the Church but Keep the ‘Methodist’
The Texas Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in an ongoing legal saga between the United Methodist Church and Southern Methodist University over who governs the university.  By  Sara Weissman 

"A contentious, six-year legal battle between the United Methodist Church and Southern Methodist University is coming before the Texas Supreme Court today.

"The controversy centers around who maintains control over the university—its Board of Trustees or the church—after the university tried to distance itself in 2019. The move came at a time when the church strengthened restrictive policies toward LGBTQ+ ordinations and marriages, exacerbating ideological fault lines within the denomination. SMU president R. Gerald Turner said at the time that the church decision would have no bearing on the university as “a separate corporate entity governed by the SMU Board of Trustees” and the university would continue to follow its nondiscrimination statement, which includes “sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.”

...

"The conflict started when university leaders changed its articles of incorporation in November 2019 “to make it clear that SMU is solely maintained and controlled by its board as the ultimate authority for the university,” Turner said at the time. The Board of Trustees also removed language that the university was “to be forever owned, maintained and controlled by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church.”

...

"“Put simply, the Trustees of SMU had and have no authority to amend the Articles of Incorporation without the prior approval and authorization of SCJC,” the 2019 lawsuit reads. The church has accused the university of breach of contract and fiduciary duties.

...

"Affiliated institutions are required to go through a process every 10 years where they affirm they’re following church policies and procedures, although they have the option to let their affiliation lapse. But the United Methodist Church and its advocates are adamant that SMU went about asserting its independence in the wrong way."

Organ transplant ban by Taliban in Afghanistan (BBC)

 Afshin Nikzad forwards me this report from  the BBC Persian service (in Farsi, but automatically translated by Chrome):

Kidney transplant halted in Afghanistan  by Sajjad Mohammadi

"A number of private hospitals in Kabul and Herat told the BBC that the Taliban government has banned kidney transplants in Afghan hospitals for a month now.

"The Taliban government's Ministry of Encouraging Good and Forbidding Evil announced about a month ago that, according to the seventh paragraph of Article 18 of the ministry's law, the sale and use of human body parts such as kidneys, liver, eyes, and hair is prohibited.

"The ministry said: "The basis and purpose of this decision is to preserve human dignity and respect, and the human body has special sanctity, and its organs should not under any circumstances be used as a means of commercialization or profiteering."

Marriage markets among religious Jews

 Here's a 2024 report:

The Challenges of Singlehood among American Orthodox Jews Part II  by  Dr. Matt Williams, Dr. Michelle Shain, Dr. Guila Benchimol, Channah Cohen, and Elisha Penn, The Center for Communal Research of the Orthodox Union  ou.org/research

Note: a shadchan is a matchmaker, a shidduch is a match.

 

"Matchmakers believe single men and women need someone “in the middle” to coach or guide them through the dating process. Some matchmakers see it as their role to help single individuals understand what compatibility looks like in a partner and that some single individuals’ expectations are “very unrealistic.” They express “trying to change the mindset” of the people they try to set up. Because some matchmakers feel that single people are inflexible about their “list” and are “looking for people they cannot have,” they may offer “a little bit of tweaking” or “point certain things out” to single men and women about their dating choices. One matchmaker describes her work as “1% idea, 99% counseling, guiding, phone calls.”  

...

"In summary, the single men and women interviewed and surveyed rarely feel they can successfully find a spouse on their own. Based on the survey findings, they are correct—the more one diversifies the types of finders they use, the more likely they are to meet eligible dates.
"At the same time, single men and women express frustration at the difficulty of accessing relevant potential partners. Few women and less than half of men feel they are frequently exposed to quality potential matches.
"Within our sample, more than a third (male 35%, female, 36%) of respondents met someone they dated in  the last six months through friends and family, well over the 20% who met through a matchmaker. Friends  and family play a key role in helping single men and women find a suitable partner as they are the ones who know them best and can suggest compatible people to date. This finding is echoed in the forthcoming OU study on the shidduch system in the Yeshivish community. Perhaps because it is not formalized like matchmakers, the role friends and family play is often overlooked, but it is a very effective way to meet  potential dates"

 

HT: Daniel Lerer 

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Earlier, for  some secular comparisons: 

Friday, August 9, 2019

Coupling up with the help of the internet

 

and on the importance of matchmaking: 

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

What has G-d been doing since the Creation? (Matchmaking, of course...))