Australian Christian Lobby thanks senators after bill which would have allowed assisted suicide legislation fails
The Australian Christian Lobby has thanked senators who voted to narrowly defeat a bill which would have opened the way for Australia’s two territories – the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory – to pass their own assisted suicide legislation. The private members’ bill, which was put forward by Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, aimed to […]
Child marriage persists in Guatemala despite ban, experts say
Bogota, GuatemalaThomson Reuters Foundation A year after Guatemala banned child marriage, girls are getting married in rural indigenous communities that are unaware of the ban and see the practice as acceptable, experts said on Monday. Guatemala outlawed child marriage in August 2017, making it illegal for anyone under age 18 to wed under any circumstances. […]
Church bells seized by US soldiers from Philippines to be returned, says Pentagon
A set of church bells seized by US soldiers in The Philippines more than 100 years ago are being returned to the country. The Pentagon has reportedly confirmed that the famed ‘Bells of Balangiga’ – taken in 1901 during the Philippine-American War – will be returned but hasn’t yet announced a time-frame. The bells, two […]
STRANGESIGHTS: GOD HELPS KEEP ROADS SAFE IN UKRAINE; US CHURCH SETS HOPSCOTCH RECORD; AND, ICECREAM AND…MAYONNAISE?
DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
US Labor Department bolsters religious exemptions from nondiscrimination laws
RNS The government has a duty to allow contractors to be excused from federal anti-discrimination laws if they cite a religious reason for doing so, according to a new directive from the US Department of Labor. The order, issued Friday (10th August), is another sign of the Trump administration’s determination to accommodate religious conservatives, who have made […]
Non-state actors behind most religious freedom violations in Indonesia – report
World Watch Monitor The number of religious freedom violations in Indonesia grew again in 2017 and for the first time non-state actors were the worst offenders, reports the Jakarta Globe. Last year 213 incidents were reported, four per cent more than the year before, according to the annual report of the human rights group Wahid Foundation, […]
BILLY GRAHAM: NEW EXHIBIT SHOWS HE DREW LESS FROM OLD TESTAMENT AS YEARS WENT BY
MENACHEM WECKER, of Religion News Service, reports on the findings from a new exhibition at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC…
Dozens of child trafficking victims found in European crackdown
Thomson Reuters Foundation Children trapped in modern slavery are being failed, campaigners said on Tuesday after European authorities found dozens of suspected trafficking victims in a region-wide crackdown, one aged just two. European policing agency Europol announced 51 children were among 123 suspected victims identified in a drive against trafficking in the first week of […]
POSTCARDS: IN CENTRAL AFRICA, A CATHEDRAL SHELTERS MUSLIMS AMID SECTARIAN VIOLENCE
DOREEN AJIAMBO, writing for Religion News Service, reports from the Central African Republic…
Ethiopian PM sends condolences to Orthodox Church after 15 priests killed
World Watch Monitor Ethiopia’s prime minister visited the leader of the country’s Orthodox Church on Saturday to express his condolences after 15 priests were killed and 10 Orthodox churches damaged in the eastern Somali region last week. Among the priests killed were Rev Kidane Mariam Nibretu, Rev Yared Hibu, Father Gebiremariam Asfaw, and Abreham Tigabu, […]