Migrants in Libya face rising threat from “stronger” gangs and traffickers
Thomson Reuters Foundation Migrants in Libya face the greatest danger in years of being trafficked, exploited or enslaved by armed groups and criminal gangs – which are becoming stronger – as Europe clamps down on migration, the United Nations and analysts said on Tuesday. Rising numbers of migrants trapped in Libya are prey to smugglers […]
Malaysia’s new chief justice is a Catholic
World Watch Monitor A Catholic has been appointed as the new chief justice in majority-Muslim Malaysia, reports the Catholic news agency UCAN. The appointment of Richard Malanjum, 65, from Sabah state on the predominantly Christian island of Borneo, follows elections in May in which the Barisan Nasional coalition government was ousted. It “signifies that Malaysia’s new rulers…are on […]
US homeless shelter founder and Christian writer Jeremy Reynalds dies at age 60
Jeremy Reynalds, founder and CEO of the largest homeless shelter in the US state of New Mexico, has died at the age of 60. Dr Jeremy Reynalds. Dr Reynalds, a contributor to ASSIST News Service (some of his stories have also been republished on Sight), founded Joy Junction in Albuquerque in 1986 to aid homeless […]
BOOKS: FAITH IN A SECULAR AGE
DARREN CRONSHAW reads James KA Smith’s “guidebook” to Charles Taylor’s earlier work, ‘A Secular Age’…
Algerian government allows three churches to re-open in June, but now closes another
World Watch Monitor In Algeria, the relief of the Protestant minority at the recent re-opening of three churches a month ago has been cut short, after another church was closed last week. On 11th July, the building used by a Protestant church in the small town of Riki (eight kilometres from Akbou), in the north-east […]
Finnish church and NGO send a message of peace to Trump and Putin
Finn Church Aid and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland joined in sending US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin a message during their meeting in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on Monday – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God”. PICTURE: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The […]
IRAQ: REBUILDING WITH AMERICAN FUNDS, MINORITY RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES STILL AWAIT SECURITY
JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, reports…
Ahok refuses parole in Indonesia, as he hopes for early release
World Watch Monitor Jakarta’s former governor ‘Ahok’ might be released from prison in August. PICTURE: Open Doors International. The Christian former governor of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, known as “Ahok”, has refused parole in the light of a possibly early release for good behaviour in August, AsiaNews reports. Ahok’s sister, Fifi Lety Indra, wrote on social […]
ESSAY: PRIESTS, CELIBACY AND SEX
US Jesuit priest THOMAS REESE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, reflects on the issue of celibacy among Catholic priests and how the church should respond when violations occur…
GENESIS – CHAOS/ORDER
The early chapters of Genesis are some of the most profound and overlooked in Western literature – let’s rediscover them. Bringing order out of chaos. PICTURE: NASA/Unsplash One of the primary claims of Genesis is that life was made possible when order came from chaos. The world was chaotic, but God spoke days, times, rules, […]