ACTIVISM: ‘CONNECTING THE DOTS’ BETWEEN FAITH AND CLIMATE CHANGE
HEATHER ADAMS, of Religion News Service, reports on how Christians are joining with people of other faiths in an effort to raise their voices in support of greater action on climate change at this week’s Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco…
African countries urged to toughen laws on female genital mutilation
Thomson Reuters Foundation Millions of girls in Africa are at risk of female genital mutilation because their governments are failing to enforce laws banning the internationally condemned practice, campaigners said on Thursday. Six countries which are home to 16 million girls – Chad, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan – still do not even […]
Fight climate change by granting indigenous rights to forests – report
Thomson Reuters Foundation Granting forest dwellers legal rights to their traditional lands helps fight deforestation and climate change, but the vast majority of the world’s forests remain under government control with limited access for communities, researchers said. Only about 14 per cent of forests, or about 527 million hectares, were legally owned or designated for […]
In The Philippines, Mindanao Christians present ‘policy agenda’ for new Muslim region
World Watch Monitor Christian leaders have submitted a “Christian policy agenda” to the transitory body that will facilitate the formation of a new autonomous Muslim region in the southern Philippines, reports the Catholic news website UCAN. The agenda, put together after consultations last month in several areas set to become part of the new region, was […]
In the US, faith-based disaster relief teams on standby as Florence nears
RNS On top of all the state and federal disaster relief groups readying for Hurricane Florence as it barrels toward North and South Carolina are a group of expert helpers: the faith teams. The biggest of these, North Carolina Baptists on Mission and the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, have made a name for themselves […]
TACKLING PLASTIC POLLUTION: TURNING WASTE INTO BIOPLASTICS, MEXICO STRIKES GREEN GOLD
SOPHIE HARES, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how scientists in Mexico are developing alternative, greener plastics…
People of faith urge Trump to admit more refugees
RNS With a decision looming on how many refugees to admit into the country, and rumors swirling that the number could drop dramatically from this year’s historic low, people of faith are coming together to ask the US Trump administration to instead allow tens of thousands more to enter the United States. Representatives of some […]
ESSAY: BATTLE LINES FORM OVER SOCIAL JUSTICE – IS IT GOSPEL OR HERESY?
In an article first published by Religion News Service, JEMAR TISBY, president of the black Christian collective The Witness, takes issue with The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel, recently published by a group of US Christians…
World sinks to 10 year happiness low
Thomson Reuters Foundation World happiness levels are at their lowest level in over a decade, with the number of people who say they feel stressed and worried rising, according to a survey published on Wednesday. Conflict-hit Central African Republic was the world’s unhappiest place last year, with Iraq in second place, according to the ranking […]