American author and poet Maya Angelou died this morning at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C., her son Guy B. Johnson said in a statement. The 86-year-old had been a professor of American studies at Wake Forest University since 1982.

“She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being,” Johnson said. “She was a warrior for equality, tolerance, and peace.”

Angelou had been set to appear this week at the Major League Baseball Beacon Awards Luncheon, but canceled in recent days citing an unspecified illness.

Nigeria’s military claims it has located almost 300 schoolgirls kidnapped by militants, but military chiefs and President Goodluck Jonathan have not agreed on how to free them. Military officials said use of force risks the kidnappers might kill their hostages. 

The country’s defense chief, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, announced Monday night the military had located the girls, but offered no details or a way forward. “We can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back,” he said.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a controversial figure on many counts. I wrote a research paper on him one semester in college hoping to come to a conclusion. The only conclusion I came to was that, while I wasn’t sure what I thought about all of his theology and actions, there was one thing I respected greatly about him: Bonhoeffer decided what he believed about something and then acted on it without reserve, regardless of the cost.

It is on this backdrop that his book The Cost of Discipleship becomes even more powerful.

Record floods in the Balkans last week forced half a million people from their homes and led to at least 44 death as of yesterday, including 22 in Bosnia, 20 in Serbia, and two in Croatia. One quarter of Bosnia’s population of 4 million has been affected by the six days of floods and the resulting 2,100 landslides.

Receding waters yesterday revealed thousands of dead livestock abandoned by fleeing owners. Today, as floodwaters continued to dissipate in Bosnia and Serbia, it’s revealing billions of dollars worth of damage. 

After spending two months recovering in an Iranian hospital, Saeed Abedini has been returned to Rajai Shahr Prison, according to a report released today by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). 

Family members said he was beaten at the hospital before officials dragged him back to the prison. 

California lawmakers are preparing to “modernize” the family. A new bill, passed by the state assembly a few weeks ago, allows gay fathers and mothers to choose whether they want to identify themselves as “father,” “mother,” or just “parent” on a child’s birth certificate. The bill is currently on its way to the state Senate. 

I like space and time travel stories as much as the next person. I grew up on Star Wars, watched Star Trek in hotel rooms while my parents explained the cultural significance, and am still in denial about how much I enjoy Doctor Who. But I have noticed a trend among space stories. In the case that they have any underlying philosophy at all, it is often atheistic, progressive, or even straight up evolutionary. The closest to “religious” is probably Star Wars, with its yin-and-yangish Force.