With a storyline that holds true to that of C.S. Lewis’ book, breathtaking real and computer-created scenery and clever use of modern technology to bring to life the myriad of fabulous creatures - fauns, centaurs, minotaurs, dwarfs and all manner of talking animals - that populate the story, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a beautifully crafted film which should please fans of Lewis’ book while at the same opening it up to a whole new audience of filmgoers.

    Director Andrew Adamson (Shrek and Shrek 2) has pulled out all stops to create the fantastic world of Narnia which, backed with superb casting, leaves the audience with an unforgettable cinematic experience.

      DAVID ADAMS finds the film adaption of C.S. Lewis' classic book holds true to the original... | more...|

ESSAY: PURITANS MISS THE REAL MESSAGE OF NARNIA
      It is hard to find a group today more puritanical than the anti-Christian, anti-Narnia brigade. They have unleashed an entirely disproportionate assault on the film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which opened in Melbourne at the weekend.

      Britain's Observer newspaper called it "holy war", while Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee wrote that "adults who wince at the worst elements of Christian belief may need a sickbag handy". Of the idea of Christ dying to save sinners, she sneers like a petulant adolescent, "did we ask him to?"

      Such critics are appalled that the film may smuggle in some form of subliminal Christian proselytising of unwary children.

     In an article first published in The Age newspaper in Melbourne, BARNEY ZWARTZ argues that The Chronicles of Narnia is part of a long tradition of films that have sought to persude people under the "cover of a good story"...  | more...|

In his own time, Jesus amazed people with his miracles. He astonished them with his teaching. Finally, he shocked many of them with the manner of his death.

      The Gospel is a surprising message. God broke through the clutter of humanity's disjointed perceptions and skewed orientation to spring the most unexpected and most glittering of all surprises.

      Through a baby born in a stable, through a man who evicted sickness and made waves stand still, God sprang out at us shouting: 'Surprise! I still love you!'

      MAL FLETCHER reflects on the surprise Christmas represents...  | more...|

The man inspired to make the new film End of the Spear - about five missionaries slain in Ecuador in the Fifties - never set foot in a movie theater until a few years ago.

      Eight years ago, Green witnessed something that changed the course of his life. On a trip to Guatemala he watched a man receive a Bible for the first time from Wycliffe Bible Translators. “This guy waited 40 years to get his Bible and he wept and wept,” Green recalls. The man’s tears left an indelible mark.

     “I was raised not to go to movies,” says Mart Green, founder of Every Tribe Entertainment. His parents and grandparents never set foot in a movie theater either, and he maintained that standard with his own children.

      Yet on January 20th, he’s set to release a $US20 million film (in the US) about five American missionaries who dared to make contact with one of the most violent tribes ever documented by anthropologists. In End of the Spear Green explores the story that’s never been told before - from the tribe’s perspective, demonstrating the remarkable way God altered the tribe’s brutal behavior.

      MARK ELLIS of Assist News Service reports...  | more...|

Australia’s youth rank suicide and self-harm, physical and sexual abuse and family conflicts as the three most significant issues of concern, according to Mission Australia's latest annual survey of youth attitudes.

     Asked to rank 10 issues according to their level of importance, more than 41 per cent of the 11,300 youth who took part in this year’s survey ranked suicide and self harm in their top three responses - a significant increase on last year’s figure of 33.7 per cent.

     Physical/sexual abuse was the second issue most frequently ranked in their top three responses with 37.5 per cent of respondents doing so while 34.8 per cent ranked family conflict among the top three responses.

      DAVID ADAMS reports on the results of Mission Australia's fourth annual youth survey...  | more...|

Nestled between Lower Stone Mountain and Unaka Mountain in Eastern Tennessee of the United States stands a 1920's-era white log cabin with a refrigerator that has seen better days now resting on the front porch.

      Call in during the day and you may find the residents - 28-year-old Mandee Radford and 31-year-old Cristi Johnson, two of the three members of the band Alathea - are out hiking in the mountains or driving along one of the nearby dirt roads in their Dodge pick-up truck.
      Knock on the door on a cold night and chances are you’ll find them sitting by the fireplace doing some songwriting, their border-collie cross, Thumper, never too far away.

     It’s a lifestyle that’s directly reflected in the music the band (who all lived in the cabin until Carrie Theobold married and moved to Nashville) write.

      JOE MONTAGUE meets Alathea's Mandee Radford, Cristi Johnson and Carrie Theobold...and their constant companion Thumper...  | more...|

When it comes to the issue of the death penalty, in the church there is clearly divided opinion on the issue.

      On the one hand, some Christians say that we should support a government’s right to use capital punishment. After all, the Bible allows for it. The Old Testament has a number of places that show they used capital punishment. It is even mandated in the law (for example, Exodus 21:12-14; Deuteronomy 22:25, and so on). Some laws were so important that offenders were put to death. And doesn’t the Bible teach “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”?

      But, on the other hand, other Christians say that it is not God’s ideal way for humans to treat each other by taking any life. They argue that the Old Testament was fulfilled in Christ (Matthew 5:17-48) and we are not Hebrews living under the Old Covenant but Christians living under the New! Jesus repudiated “an eye for an eye” in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “You have heard that it was said ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’, but I say to you, do not resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:38-44).
     On the eve of the controversial hanging of Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van in Singapore, JIM REIHER provides a Christian perspective on the issue of the death penalty...  | more...|

Many will question the appropriateness of the Church delving beyond what has become its more familiar international terrain of providing aid. People of faith are often the first to question any political involvement of the Church, seeing in history its worst periods being those when it became too preoccupied with the affairs of state. Still others will be dismayed that, having identified part of the problem as the lack of liberty in states controlled by religious zealotry, I should seek to exacerbate the problem by introducing another religious player.

      However, this view, popular with those who want to marginalise the influence of the Church and its values, fails to acknowledge that for all its failures in particular events or periods of history, the effect of Christianity on the development of the world has, on balance, been very much positive and remains so.

      We like to trumpet the civilising influence of Greece and Rome on the world, and indeed the thinkers and administrators of those times left us much that still resonates strongly in the West. But much of the more humane nature of these societies was strongly influenced by Christianity.
      In the annual Acton Lecture on Religion and Freedom, executive chairman of the Australian Christian Lobby, JIM WALLACE, argues the Church has a fundamental role to play, as it always has, in the fight for freedom...  | more...|

Springing from the imagination of Sydney-born creator Chris Waters, Angel Wars Guardian Force is quickly becoming regarded as one of the best and most ambitious animation projects to ever bear a Christian message.

      Although he now resides in California, Waters' ties to Australia remain strong. The 29-year-old still refers to Melbourne - where his parents live - with a certain fondness: "The most beautiful city in the world. It is the most liveable city. It is gorgeous."

     Angel Wars Guardian Force is heavily influenced by both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis - as a child Waters realised at a young age that much could be learned from these fantasy writers.

      Drawing a similarity between his work and C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, he says that both have hidden Christian meanings in them yet remain “one step removed so that someone who isn't a Christian can still appreciate the struggle and not feel like they are being preached to or being smacked over their head”.
      Chris Waters, Australian-born creator of Angel Wars Guardian Force, tells JOE MONTAGUE the animated series is all about talking to kids in language they can understand...  | more...|

We’re only a few days into the Schoolies Week season across Australia and already the headlines have started to flow with talk of binge drinking, uncontrollable partying and allegations of bashings and sexual offences.

      What many who read the headlines don’t know is that behind the scenes, like every year since the late 1990s, teams of Christian “hotel chaplains” are out among the thousands of high school leavers flocking to coastal resorts around the country offering support, advice and those ubiquitous red frogs.

      Andy Gourley, who founded the schoolies support network Hotel Chaplaincy in 1997, says he first became involved in helping out at Schoolies when working with youth through his church, Citipointe Church in Brisbane, running skateboard safari clubs for young people.
    It's Schoolies Week season again and behind the headlines Christian "hotel chaplains" are out among the school leavers providing support and positive role models. DAVID ADAMS reports on the people who'll be handing out more than four tonnes of red frogs over the coming weeks...  | more...|

     SIGHT asked a range of Christian leaders what they thought of the Federal Government's IR law reforms. Here's what Rev John Henderson, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia, Jim Wallace, executive chairman of the Australian Christian Lobby, Rev Dr Dean Drayton, president of the Uniting Church in Australia, and Anglican Primate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, had to say...  | more...|

The possibility that our existence might be the product of some purposeful intelligent intervention, rather than of random processes, is certainly not a new consideration and has not always been pushed solely by Biblical creationists. Current debate over this possibility has, in Australia, been ignited by the openness of the Federal Minister for Education, Brendan Nelson, to the introduction of 'intelligent design' in Australian science classes, albeit with parental consent.

      This theory suggests that many natural features of our world are the result of an intelligent cause, rather than undirected chance, as in natural selection. While it is adopted by many who would profess a religious faith, it is also supported many who would not. If it offers one unifying principle amongst its adherents, then it is perhaps that the seemingly universal and uncritical acceptance of traditional Darwinian evolution is not warranted by an examination of the scientific evidence for our origins.
     School teacher ROB NYHUIS argues that to ignore the possibility of 'intelligent design' is just bad science...  | more...|

With thousands of athletes and their supporters expected to descend on Melbourne early next year to take part in the Commonwealth Games, youth, family and community organisation Fusion is urging Christians to seize the moment and get involved in “open crowd festivals”.

      The festivals have been running for more than 15 years in Australia with hundreds successfully staged around traditional celebrations such as Christmas, Easter and ANZAC Day.

      They were also held at the Sydney and then the Athens Olympic Games and based upon their success, further open crowd festivals are planned for the Soccer World Cup in Germany and the upcoming Beijing and London Olympics.

      Brenton Reimann, executive officer at the Fusion Commonwealth Games Secretariat, explains that they’re about helping the community to celebrate and providing a point of engagement between the church and their communities.
    DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

"Throughout my political career I have been cautious in speaking publicly about my own faith. Today I want to explain why.

      You might expect a politician to say that the greatest danger when religion and politics mix is that politicians might impose their personal values on the rest of the community.

      I understand this concern. But in political life, we’re always debating values.

      As the industrial relations debate shows, values issues are a constant part of political debate. But my main concern in political life has always been different.

      If you do believe in God, as I do, then surely there can’t be any thing that’s ultimately more important than a person’s faith.

      And public figures who exploit religion for their own political ends risk doing something much worse than just playing politics."

     Federal Opposition Leader KIM BEAZLEY was among a number of speakers at the Australian Christian Lobby's national conference last weekend. Here is a full transcript of his speech...   | more...|

This month, around half a dozen trampers will set off on a 250 kilometre, 13-day hike along some of Australia’s spectacular southern coastline.

      And while they plan on enjoying the chance to experience the beautiful scenery around them, they also have a more serious purpose in mind: helping an orphanage in Bali.

     DAVID ADAMS reports... | more...|

         
"Stand. The word is multifaceted in its meaning; each implying strength. To me, the Oaktree Foundation’s Stand campaign was an opportunity to unite with young Australians to display our commitment to attaining UN Millennium Development Goals to halve world poverty by 2015."

     DANIELLE KIRK was among scores of young people who gathered in Melbourne's city centre this week to take part in a candlelit walk and eight minutes of silence organised by youth-run aid and development organisation, the Oaktree Foundation. The event was organised to encourage governments around the world to meet the United Nation's eight Millennium Development Goals. Kirk - one of the event's organisers - writes of why she took part...  | more...|

The arrest and imprisonment of Christian leaders. The burning of houses where they meet. The confiscation of Bibles and other books. Beatings, fines and secrecy.

      Such is the life of underground church members in Vietnam today, a country of more than 83 million people which has been under Communist rule since the end of the Vietnam War 30 years ago.

      Kim Anh and her husband Anthony* are missionaries working undercover for mission organisation Asian Outreach in Vietnam.

      Anh says that while the re-election of US president George Bush last year made a positive impact on religious freedoms with the subsequent release earlier this year of all people imprisoned for their belief - including Christian leaders and Buddhist monks - the situation for Christians in Vietnam remains tough.

     Persecution remains common for Christians in Vietnam. DAVID ADAMS spoke with a missionary who has spent the past 10 years helping to spread God's Word in the south-east Asian nation...  | more...|

Discussions about guitar-driven rock melodies and sexual purity may not seem to have much in common but for the hard-rocking American sisters that comprise BarlowGirl, they are intrinsically connected.

      Becca, 25, Alyssa, 23 and Lauren Barlow, 20, recently spent an afternoon at their parents' home in Elgin, Illinois, in the central United States discussing how their music allows them to advance their views on sexual purity, dating and relationships.

      BarlowGirl's message is one of simply being friends with members of the opposite sex without dating. The ladies subscribe to the belief that God will provide the ideal mate.

      While some may consider their no dating philosophy to be controversial, it hasn't seemed to slow down acceptance of the band's melodies such as Grey.

     US-band BarlowGirl confesses to JOE MONTAGUE that they're "just crazy for God"...  | more...|

It was in a Borders bookstore in Kona, Hawaii, that the idea of writing the Gospel in poetic form began to take shape in Kealoha Wells’ mind.

      Diagnosed with leukemia in early 2002, the 33-year-old Hawaiian was in the latter stages of her recovery when she walked into the bookstore.

     “(I)t occurred to me that there was a Bible in nearly every language, with a translation for every Christian preference under the sun, but I had never seen the Gospel presented as poetry,” she would later recall when writing of her experience.

     “I thought it would be a wonderful way to share the truth of salvation with those who would never pick up a Bible and those who want to understand the message but are intimidated by the Book. So I pulled out my Bible and the chapter I already had an went to work, praising God all the while for such a great commission and a new lease on life...”

      The result is an 84-page book, The Gospel as Poetry, which contains the Gospel story itself as well as Biblical books including The Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle of James, Jude and Revelation - all written in poetic form.

    Translated into countless languages, we've seen magazine-format Bibles, limerick Bibles and even an SMS-text Bible. Nowa Hawaiian woman has written parts of the Bible as poetry. DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

For our latest report on the Asian earthquake, see the WorldView column... | more...|

THE INTERVIEW: GOSPEL FOR ASIA'S K.P. YOHANNAN

"The latest report says that maybe over 100,000 people lost their lives in this earthquake. This is horribly sickening. We can only pray effectively if we can feel the pain of those who are suffering just as Nehemiah felt the pain for his people back in Jerusalem. God always honors sincere, broken hearts who are willing to stand in the gap for a lost world."

      A team from Christian mission organisation Gospel for Asia was among the first missionaries and relief workers to respond to the devastating 8th October earthquake. DAVID ADAMS spoke via email with founder and president K.P. Yohannan...  | more...|

The destruction is total. In some areas whole villages have disappeared while others show towns like the once thriving Himalayan community of Balakot flattened as though a giant had trodden through them, crushing all in its path.

      Once again the world watched in horror, this time as news arrived of a devastating earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale which shook parts of northern Pakistan, India and the disputed Kashmir region as well as Afghanistan.

      Initial estimates from the 8th October earthquake put the death toll from the catastrophe at around 30,000 but that experts are now saying as many as 54,000 may have died in the region. Up to four million have been affected by the disaster with at least 500,000 people left homeless.

      Australian Greg Campbell was among a global rapid response team of experts sent in by World Vision in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

      Speaking to Sight from Islamabad in Pakistan earlier this week where there was only minimal damage, the IT specialist told of his recent visit to the town of Mansehra, close to the epicentre of the quake.

     DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

How to help:

A list of some of the organisations running appeals... | more...|

She was an international role model for the modern woman long before there was a ZOEgirl, BarlowGirl or Superchic[k].

      That is not to take anything away from the aforementioned groups but rather to give credit to this rock dynamo that first set the world on its ear as a teenager with stunning vocals and even more spectacular stage presence. Rebecca St James was taking a stance for sexual purity before marriage when others were still talking about more traditional themes during their concerts.

      St James, who has just completed an Australian tour with US evangelist Greg Laurie, has worked tirelessly as a singer, songwriter, narrator, author, editor, spokesperson for Compassion Ministries and worn more additional hats than I have toes and fingers to count. She would be the first to tell you that God created the missive concerning sexual purity that she delivers to young women all around the world but she has carried the torch for the past twelve years of her life.

      Australia's Rebecca St James has making a stand for Christ with her music for years. She tells JOE MONTAGUE about her latest bid to reach teenage girls - this time using the written word...  | more...|

Kang Cheol Hwan says he was just nine-years-old when North Korean authorities arrested him along with other members of his family because of his grandfather’s alleged political crimes.

      He says he spent the next 10 years in a prison camp where he witnessed some children being kicked and worked to death, others being publicly executed and yet others dying of malnourishment.

     “In order to survive, I ate rats, cockroaches and snakes,” he says. “Children simply disappeared from the camp. I can’t understand how it’s still there and it’s a great shame on all mankind that these camps are still tolerated.”
      Kang Cheol Hwan’s story is one of numerous accounts human rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide have recorded coming out of North Korea.

      Human rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide has called for Christians around the world to join in praying for the future of isolationist North Korea as its people face famine, persecution and torture. DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

Australians rank the war on terror as the most important priority for world leaders followed by eliminating extreme poverty and hunger and protecting the environment, according to a new World Vision report.

      The report - Island Nation or Global Citizen? - also found that fear of an increase in terrorism tops Australians’ list of greatest worries followed closely by an expansion of the war on terrorism to other parts of the world and a serious disease threat or epidemic. Economic failure and job losses ranked at the bottom of the list.

      Toby Hall, chief operating officer at World Vision, says that while it wasn’t surprising fear of terrorism ranked so highly, it was important to recognise there are links between poverty and terrorism.

       “It’s possible for extremists...to manipulate people who are living in poverty more easily,” he says. “So we have to face the reality that there is a link between terrorism and some extreme poverty in some countries.”

       A World Vision report finds Australians rank the war on terror and the elimination of extreme hunger as the most important priorities for world leaders. DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

THE CHRISTIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY RESPONDS

"The tendency when you travel around and see as many Christians as I do you see this overwhelming eagerness to just turn over so many jobs of the church to political parties or business institutions,” says Rocketown Records recording artist Shaun Groves.

     “(People say) that person over there will take care of it or that group over there can do better than me. This is a wonderful object lesson that everybody else doesn't have the compassion or the solution that we have.

     “There are lots of good people who have come to help with the result of this hurricane but their help can only go so far. Our help can go all the way to the soul of the person."

      JOE MONTAGUE reports on a couple of initiatives the Christian music industry in the US have launched to help those most affected by Hurricane Katrina...  | more...|

ESSAY: THE LESSONS FROM KATRINA?

Since Katrina - a category four hurricane - struck the southern coast of the United States a little over two weeks ago, much of what we’ve seen through the media has amazed us. Initially there was the intensity of the damage, and then the seeming ineptitude of authorities as they struggled to respond to the unfolding human calamity. And throughout all this, for us, the same question - are there lessons for us here in Australia?

      While hurricanes regularly strike the south coast of the US (there were four major ones which hit Florida last year), Katrina seems to have inflicted much more damage and deaths than before.

      Overseas aid consultant and lecturer, CHRIS PIPER, takes a look at what lessons we can learn from the Hurricane Katrina...  | more...|

LATEST UPDATE: 12th September, 2005

Authorities now believe the death toll from Hurricane Katrina will not be as high as initially thought with the confirmed death toll of 400 far below initial estimates that thousands may have been killed.   

     DAVID ADAMS reports...  | more...|

What to pray for... | more...|

Dan Brown's international best-seller has captured the imagination of millions worldwide, not the least for its attempt to reinvent Christianity and its founder, Jesus Christ.

      A readable murder/mystery/thriller, it tells the tale of a Harvard academic enlisted to solve the murder of a curator at the Louvre Museum.

      Christians, however, will be concerned at the book's more explosive claims: that the historic Jesus was not divine, that the New Testament Gospels were fabricated and, most bizarrely, that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and their children became kings of France.

      But is there any basis to what Brown is saying?

      Not according to church history lecturer at Melbourne University's Ridley College, Rhys Bezzant.

     GAVIN BOX speaks with academic Rhys Bezzant about some of the key claims made in Dan Brown's best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code... | more...|

For previous stories on The Da Vinci Code:

DAVID ADAMS speaks to Dr Keith Suter, of Sydney's Wesley Mission... | more...|

Chrissy Conway, one of the trio of vocalists that makes up US Christian band ZOEgirl, sat with a young girl in Nicaragua in 2004 and as the child took Conway's hands into her own dirty hands she marveled at the carefully sculptured nails. Conway’s life was about to be changed forever.

      ZOEgirl was participating on a mission trip and little girl’s hands were dirty because the village she lived in lacked the basic necessities of life such as clean water. The village people also lacked sufficient food and medical supplies.

     “After seeing the poverty with my own eyes and holding these children that need so much and have so little I can no longer sit back and just wait for someone else to go help. God has given me a responsibility to do anything and everything I can to help these people,” says Conway.

    Most of us know US band ZOEgirl for their music. But as JOE MONTAGUE discovers, they also have a passionate heart for mission, both overseas and in the US...  | more...|

"(W)e began to run into places where we were opposed and abused for preaching the Gospel, and I never expected that to happen. Some of us were taken to hospital for beatings, our Bibles were burned, and when we went in to a restaurant to eat our food, we were driven out when the owner recognized we were Christians. And then I remember going back to the New Testament, reading and seeing that this has happened before! I read the Bible before, but it never registered that persecution and beating and suffering for Jesus would be today a reality. Until then, all my Bible reading was a history that happened in the book of Acts, but now it was again being repeated. It was an interesting experience I remember very well."

     The founder and president of Christian mission group Gospel for Asia, K. P. Yohannan, speaks about his walk with Christ with Assist News' DAN and PETER WOODING...  | more...|

Opponents of intelligent design theories fear the evolution debate has been hijacked by the fundamentalists. I fear they are right, but it's scientistic (blind faith in science) fundamentalists, not religious.

      Intelligent design theorists say evolution is largely demonstrable but is not the result of mere chance. The traditional account of a steady but gradual development, they say, is at odds with the incredible complexity of even the simplest cell, whose structures are interdependent and could not develop without each other.

      Intelligent design theorists also point to the "anthropic principle", the recognition in the past 30 years that all the seemingly arbitrary constants in physics have one strange thing in common — they are precisely the values needed for the universe to produce life.

    In an article which first appeared in The Age newspaper in Melbourne, BARNEY ZWARTZ says it's time to take the heat out of the debate over the theory of intelligent design... | more...|

Intelligent Design: Asking the tough questions about the origins of life... | more...|

It stars the early Christian disciples Timothy and Titus and follows their story as they travel across the ancient lands of Crete, Ephesus and Rome, spreading the word as they go, in a quest to find some stolen letters.

      Sounds like the latest swords and sandals epic from Hollywood? Think again. Timothy and Titus is in fact a 3D computer game for children, the first in a series Australian games company White Knight Games (known as WKG) hope to produce as a Christian alternative to the violence and negative messages that permeate so many of games on the market today.

     “I love computer games and I’m really passionate about why there aren’t any Christian computer games,” says the company’s managing director, Laurence Escalante.

     “In all my years of gaming, I’ve never come across a single one.”

    Christian computer games? DAVID ADAMS reports on a Perth company's quest to create a game for kids that delivers the positive message of Christianity... | more...|

Gillian Meyer, 23, of Liverpool in Sydney:

"World Youth Day has been instrumental in my spiritual development and an amazing opportunity for meet other young Catholics. When I first arrived in Australia, I went to mass by myself and did not know any young practising Catholics. In joining my parish youth group I found great strength in practising my faith with other young people. When the youth leaders at my parish church encouraged me to take part in World Youth Day, I was excited at the prospect of learning more about my faith and celebrating the church with hundreds of thousands of fellow Catholics. The pre-World Youth Day formation program run by the Maroubra parish inspired me to learn more about the church, and since arriving at WYD Cologne, I have found an immeasurable source of strength and inspiration."

    An estimated 400,000 people, including several thousand Australians, have gathered in the German city of Cologne for the Catholic Church's World Youth Day. SIGHT asked several Australians why they have gone to take part... | more...|

His was the most public of downfalls. A prominent conservative British MP, cabinet minister and even once touted as a possible future Prime Minister, Jonathan Aitken lost everything - his career, his marriage, his money and his reputation - when he was imprisoned for seven months in 1999 on a charge of perjury.

    After what he describes as a “spiritual as well as a physical journey”, following his release from prison Aitken studied theology at Oxford University. He now travels the world as an ambassador of prison ministries, bringing the message of Christ’s grace to those who have been jailed and spreading awareness of the plight of prisoners among those outside.

    DAVID ADAMS reports... | more...|

It’s the idea that the certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained as the work of a designer rather than a series of random processes.

    Known as the theory of “intelligent design” (or ID to the initiated), for more than a decade it’s made headlines in the United States and even last week had the president, George W. Bush, giving his support to teaching it in US schools alongside evolution "so people can understand what the debate is about." .

    Now it seems ID has hit the national agenda in Australia, making front-page newspaper headlines earlier this month and attracting public comments from a senior government minister.

    DAVID ADAMS reports on how the theory of intelligent design has come to be on Australia's national agenda... | more...|

“The same God that used Barnabas to encourage Paul used John the Baptist to scare the snot out of people,” says Mark Hall, the frontman for Casting Crowns. OK Mark, but did you really have to say it that way? If you are a member of Casting Crowns - a band that writes razor sharp lyrics about controversial subjects that many Christians shy away from - the answer is yes.

      Writing songs like What If His People Prayed and If We Are the Body, Mark Hall and Casting Crowns are to rock worship what Superchic[k] is to the pop scene and ZOEgirl represents to teenage girls; a voice demanding a return to justice, compassion and integrity in our relations with others. The band has become the sonic conscience of a Christian culture too often indifferent, compromised and silent.

    JOE MONTAGUE finds a band with a passion for engaging youth about the issues that matter most... | more...|

"While most anniversaries lose importance over time, the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki only becomes more important with every passing year. The reason is that the unfinished business of banning nuclear weapons has been derailed and urgently needs to be put back on track.

      The bombings in 1945 were judged at the time as the ultimate indictment of the abuse of force. Yet 60 years later weapons a thousand times more fearsome are still with us and now nine states - not one - possess nuclear arms. Also today, proven remedies against the use of nuclear weapons are being eroded. Arms control treaties remain stillborn or are in neglect. The leadership required to sponsor and enforce them is absent."

    On the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, CLEMENT JOHN, of the World Council of Churches, tackles the "unfinished business" of banning nuclear weapons... | more...|

It’s a commonly held misconception that the average homeless person in Australia is a middle-aged or elderly alcoholic male who beds down on park bench or in a vacant doorway at night.

      Not so, says national Christian community service organisation Mission Australia.

      Cary Pedicini, Victorian state manager, says the organisation is trying to change public perceptions about homelessness and homeless people.

     “The traditional stereotype we may have held in the past of the middle-aged male alcoholic sleeping rough is no longer valid as the majority circumstance,” he says.

     “We’re now finding that of the 100,000 odd homeless people on any given night in Australia, 50 per cent of those are aged under 25 and 25 per cent of them are between 12 and 18.”

     DAVID ADAMS spoke with Mission Australia's Cary Pedicini about just who are Australia's homeless... | more...|

Aborigines have been supplementing their diet with the seeds of the acacia tree in central and north-western Australia for generations. Now there are hopes that the same tree will prove a gift from God in the west African nation of Niger, one of the poorest nations on earth, and currently in the grip of a devastating famine.

      In a country where three in every 10,000 children are now dying each day from malnutrition and as many as 3.6 million people are facing food shortages, the planting of acacia trees is one of longer term solutions being implemented to help prevent future famines.

     World Vision's Tony Rinaudo worked as a missionary in Niger for 17 years. He spoke with DAVID ADAMS about how the acacia tree may help prevent the sort of famine that is now devastating the land... | more...|

Ever since J.K. Rowling came to fame with her cleverly written books about Harry Potter, some Christians have not let up on a relentless campaign against her and her books. Sometimes people ask me for an opinion on the books. Have I read them? Yes. Have I seen the movies? Yes. Shouldn’t Christians avoid them? Read on...
      What do we actually have in these books? A story about an orphaned boy being raised by unloving relatives. An evil magician killed his parents when he was a baby, and had tried to kill him too. Harry somehow, miraculously, survived. He carries a scar on his forehead from that encounter.
     At the age of 12 Harry discovers that he is a wizard and has innate magical powers. He is sent to a special private school - one for wizards - and there he begins seven years of study to develop his skills and knowledge about magic.
    J.K. Rowling's series of books have caused hysteria in bookshops around the world and broken sales records everywhere. But what's a Christian to do with Harry Potter? JIM REIHER gives his view... | more...|

It was 1985 and a wet day in the town of Kunming, in south-eastern China, when Australian John Jones arrived with a bag stuffed with up to 60 “illegal” Bibles. He had only seen a photograph of the local church contact he was supposed to meet in a nearby park and was unsure how he was going to find him without drawing too much attention to himself.

     While he would only face the loss of the Bibles if discovered by Chinese officials, Jones was very aware that his contact, if exposed, could face imprisonment and torture.

     Trying not to look too conspicuous - not only were Westerners rare at that time in Kunming, Jones recalls that he was the only person in the street not wearing the then ubiquitous grey “Mau suit” - he started to walk down the street wondering how he would find this “one Chinese in a billion”.

     Then came a series of events which convinced him God’s hand was at work. First the rain eased off and then, as he crossed a road, Jones spotted a man on the other side.

     “I just knew - and it was the Holy Spirit - I just knew this was my contact,” he recalls.

    For 50 years, Open Doors has been supporting the persecuted church, smuggling Bibles and giving support to Christians living in communities normally hidden from Western eyes. DAVID ADAMS reports on a ministry that continues to bring hope to those Christians living in some of world's most isolated nations... | more...|

INTERVIEW: Brother Andrew was recently interviewed by Open Doors staff to commemorate 50 years of ministry... | more...|

For many Christians, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead - a central tenet of Christianity - is simply a matter of faith.

    But according to a visiting Oxford University academic, Professor Richard Swinburne, it’s also a matter of logic.

    Using the tools of logic and mathematics, Professor Swinburne says there is a 97 per cent probability that Jesus Christ rose from the dead as described in the Bible.

     “What I argue is that it's very probable that Jesus was raised from the dead,” he says. “And if you give some artificial values that more or less capture what’s involved and certain other probabilities then you get the value of 97 per cent.”

    DAVID ADAMS spoke to Oxford academic Richard Swinburne... | more...|

Billions tuned in to Live8, thousands joined in rallies around the world and in Scotland, the leaders of the G8 spoke of “a moment of opportunity for Africa”. Then came the London bombings and the world’s eyes focused once more on the ugly spectre of terrorism.

      Yet progress was made.

      While British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons earlier this week that an agreement among G8 nations to double aid for Africa to $US50 billion by 2010 was a “mighty achievement”, in Australia there seems to be some level of consensus among aid agencies and related organisations that while the G8 meeting at Gleneagles was a welcome step forward, much more still remains to be done to truly address the issue of global poverty.

    It was an unprecedented push for global action on the issue of poverty. But what did it really achieve? DAVID ADAMS reports on the outcomes from the G8 meeting held in Scotland earlier this month... | more...|

YOUR SAY

We're inviting you to comment on this latest push to tackle global poverty. Let others know what you think here...

SPOTLIGHT SPECIAL

During July, Sight is asking a series of prominent Australian Christians the question - how can we end global poverty?

Rev Dr Doru Costache, St Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church in Sydney, a lecturer in Patristic theology (St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College) and Romanian Orthodox Church representative on the National Council of Churches in Australia:

"In the Orthodox tradition, things are simple. Our liturgy or public service represents the opportunity to become aware of others: rich and poor, educated and not, men and women, young and old. Our liturgy is the epiphany of, and an invitation in, sharing otherness around the Lord’s table. It is an invitation to mutual compassion. We have to daily experiment this wonderful paradigm. We have to prolong this spirit and to embody it into a way of living. It’s not that difficult after all. All we have to do is open our hearts, acknowledge the otherness and the needs of the others - just as our Lord opens his heart and arms in an absolute desire to embrace us all. As it's described in the liturgy, even a stone can learn the way towards human compassion. Think for a minute: what would be the world if everyone will try to live in the spirit of the liturgy?"

FOR MORE OF THE SPOTLIGHT SPECIAL, click here......

Previous respondants include Dr Keith Suter, of Sydney's Wesley Mission, Hugh Evans, founder of the Oaktree Foundation, Steve Bradbury, national director of TEAR Australia, Tim Costello, chief executive of World Vision Australia, and Paul Peters, chief executive of Opportunity International.

"My brain is so full of new thoughts, inspiring images, conversations that change your life and music that’ll keep you singing in the shower and everywhere else for a long time, that I don’t think I can take any more. It’s been a great conference once again. The ways in which these guys are doing church these days would get the hardest heart curious to check it out. The complete gamut of styles was here this year. From evangelist Reinhardt Bonnke doing the “ABC’s of the Gospel” to Hillsong's Pastor Brian Houston telling us it’s hard work but worth it to change your community, to Joyce Meyer getting us to ‘get over ourselves’ as only she can, to John Maxwell helping people to stretch themselves and those around them."

    Sight's music columnist JUSTIN MICHAEL was among the thousands who attended last week's Hillsong Conference in Sydney. He kept a diary of his many thoughts... | more...|

Quick facts: What is the Hillsong Conference?... | more...|

At times like these, it is healthy to reconsider the way we view the world and our purpose in it. Events like these remind us of just how short and how unpredictable our human existence can be.

      In situations like this, thousands will take comfort from the teachings of the great religious leaders of history, and perhaps more will turn to the words and example of Jesus Christ that any other.

      People the world over will tell you that Jesus was one of the greatest peacemakers ever to walk this earth. His life has inspired some of the greatest modern peacemakers, too, including Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

      Yet he lived during one of the most violent periods in human history. He faced oppression, fear, extremism and violence in a very personal way.

     MAL FLETCHER was on a train heading into London when news of the bombs came through. He reflects on how Jesus showed that violence and terrorism will never achieve anything... | more...|

“Look in mercy on your people, and hear our prayer for those whose lives and possessions are threatened by drought. In your mercy restore your creation and heal our land. So guide and bless your people, that we may enjoy the fruits of the earth and give you thanks with grateful hearts, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

      Part of an Anglican Church prayer for use in time of drought, the words carry a message that it is hoped Australian Christians from all denominations will take up and bring before God in prayer for 40 days starting later this month.

      In what is being seen as something of a first, the Australian Prayer Network has joined with the National Council of Churches and the Australian Evangelical Alliance in calling for Christians across the nation to set aside “40 days of prayer in the face of drought”.

     DAVID ADAMS reports... | more...|