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Time magazine senior editor Tony Karon writes a personal Internet blog that he calls the “Rootless Cosmopolitan,” a term Russian dictator Joseph Stalin used as a euphemistic pejorative for Jew during his anti-Semitic purges of the 1940s.

Karon explains that he can wear Stalin’s negative description of a Jew ”as a badge of honor” since he is an African Jew with roots in Eastern Europe. He also worked for a decade in his native South Africa as an activist in the struggle against apartheid.

Leaders from 40 Baptist organizations are joining forces with former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton to hold a gathering next January that will emphasize their common goals, especially to counter the public image of Baptists as predominantly tied to conservative political and cultural stances.

The “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant” was announced last month at the Carter Center in Atlanta during a meeting of the two presidents—who were both raised Southern Baptist—and dozens of leaders who together represent an estimated 20 million Baptists in North America.

Fourteen members of a 200-member advisory group to the Atlanta-based Carter Center have resigned in protest over former president Jimmy Carter’s recent book and statements on the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate.

At the same time, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, a group that represents nearly 2,000 Reform rabbis, has canceled plans to visit the Carter Center during the group’s March convention in the city.