Australia’s postal survey on same-sex marriage closed; results published next week
The result of Australia’s postal survey on same-sex marriage will be published at 10am next Wednesday after the Australian Bureau of Statistics officially closed the survey on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the ABS estimated that it had received 12.6 million surveys – representing 78.5 per cent of eligible voters – but noted that figure did not […]
POSTCARDS: NINEVEH CHRISTIANS STILL TALKING OF EMIGRATION, DESPITE IRAQI-KURD PEACE AGREEMENT
World Watch Monitor reports from Iraq on uncertainly facing Christians on the Nineveh Plains…
GOING GREEN: FROM BETTER BULBS TO MORE TREES, ITALY’S ASSISI TAKES ON CLIMATE CHANGE
As the world meets to discuss action on climate change in Bonn, ALEX WHITING, of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how this talian pilgrimage town, home to St Francis, is looking to cleaner energy and greener living…
Two Sudanese church leaders fined; trial of five others arrested for disturbing the peace await trial
Two Sudanese church leaders have been found guilty of criminal misappropriation and trespass, following a long-running dispute over church land and property. Rafat Samir, chairman of the Lands and Buildings Committee of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC), and Rev Daniel William, the deputy chairman, were each fined 5,000 Sudanese pounds (approximately $US750) by a court […]
Kazakhstan Baptist convicted for refusing to pay state ‘expert’ to analyse his Christian books
World Watch Monitor A court in northern Kazakhstan has given a Baptist man a one-year suspended prison sentence for refusing to pay fines for the state to give its “expert analysis” of Christian books he had with him at the time of his arrest. Yuri Bekker had also failed to pay outstanding fines for distributing […]
BOOKS: COMING FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE REALITY OF ADDICTION
NILS VON KALM reads Russell Brand’s book about addiction…
GOD INTERRUPTING
Most of us don’t want God to intervene in our life. ‘Leave us alone!’ we say, until we are in trouble. Then we suddenly cry out to God, or blame God for not being the interventionist we didn’t want Him to be. Is God no more than a first aid kit to you? PICTURE: NeONBrand/licenced under CC […]
Focused on ending hunger, Africa neglects rising obesity
Thomson Reuters Foundation Focused for decades on ending hunger, African countries have largely failed to address a rising obesity epidemic that could soon become the greater public health crisis, experts said as new data was released. A quarter of the world’s 41 million overweight children under five live in Africa, a figure that has nearly […]
TEXAS SHOOTING: US CHURCHES LOOK TO TIGHTEN SECURITY, EVEN ARM CONGREGANTS, IN MASSACRE AFTERMATH
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER reports for Religion News Service…
SIGHT-SEEING: WHY WE REALLY “NEED” IPHONE X
MAL FLETCHER, writing from London, looks at what drives our need for the latest gadget…