Wake Forest News

The Conversation

In the Easter story, women are the first to proclaim the resurrection – but churches today are still divided over female preachers

“While some will attend services led by pastors who are women, the overwhelming majority of worshippers will not. Women constitute 23.7% of professional clergy in the U.S. and an increasing percentage of people earning graduate theology degrees,” writes religion professor Mary Foskett. “The matter is an especially timely one to consider at Easter. Churches will continue to debate whether to ordain women, depending on how they interpret specific parts of the Bible. Yet according to the Gospels, the New Testament as we know it would simply not exist were it not for the proclamation of women.”

March 20, 2026

San Francisco Chronicle

Why the betting markets may have a unique impact on California governor’s race

Economics professor Koleman Strumpf notes that prediction markets often outperform goals. “It’s real-time information,” he said. “The people in the market are generally quite smart because if they’re not smart, they’re going to lose money.” Strumpf says he’s studying how much of an influence the personal preferences of people trading on the markets influence their decisions. He’s skeptical they do – people participating ostensibly want to make money by predicting the winner correctly, regardless of who they like.

March 20, 2026