POSTCARDS – PHOTO ESSAY: IN THE EARLY MORNING, ‘ECUMENICAL ACCOMPANIERS’ JOIN BEDOUIN SHEPHERDS IN JORDAN VALLEY
ALBIN HILLERT, in an article first published on the World Council of Churches website, reports on the work of ecumenical accompaniers…
Andrew Brunson’s legal appeal sent to Turkey’s highest court
World Watch Monitor Jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson’s lawyer has filed a formal appeal before the Turkish Constitutional Court to overturn two lower court refusals to release his client from house arrest. The 10 page petition studied by World Watch Monitor called for “urgent” and “corrective” action by Turkey’s highest court to set free the […]
Australian inquiry recommends strengthening legislation protecting religious freedom, says media report
Last updated 10:30am An Australian Government-ordered inquiry into religious freedom in the country has recommended that the Federal Government amend the Racial Discrimination Act or create a new Religious Discrimination Act to make it illegal to discriminate against a person on the basis of their religious belief of lack thereof, according to a report in […]
Nine years after war’s end, Sri Lankans wait for government to return property
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation Sri Lanka has failed to fulfil pledges to return properties to thousands of people forced from their homes during decades of war, many of whom now live in desperate poverty, researchers said on Tuesday. Thousands of acres of land taken over during the war are still held by government forces who […]
Fear and prestige pushing Kenyan girls into FGM – and out of school
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation It was during her first year of high school in rural western Kenya that Mary Kuket says she was “sacrificed to tradition” and her dreams of becoming a doctor shattered forever. With no explanation, the 15-year-old was given away to another family, who forced her to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) […]
BOOKS: ‘NAGALAND’ A “POIGNANT AND EVOCATIVE” PORTRAIT OF A MAN CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
DAVID ADAMS reads journalist Ben Doherty’s debut novel, Nagaland…
Almost one in three young teens have experienced bullying at school, report finds
Almost a third of young teenagers – some 130 million children – around the world have recently experienced bullying at school, according to a UN report. The report, released last week by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, found that 32 per cent of students say they have been bullied by peers at school on one or more […]
US wedding industry profits tapped to fight child marriage globally
Thomson Reuters Foundation Some profits from the multi-billion-dollar US wedding industry will be funneled into the global fight against child marriage, said organisers of a campaign that kicked off on Monday. The campaign, called VOW, will raise funds in the United States to be distributed to community-based efforts around the world, said Princess Mabel van […]
‘GOD IS BORING!’
I was exploring faith one time with some youth when one of them piped up – things had been stirring in him – and said that “God is boring”! (I would have once agreed with him.) What’s more boring – God or cricket? PICTURE: Alessandro Bogliari/Unsplash Before I could answer, one of the others said, “This […]
US: BIBLE WAX MUSEUM REWARDS SEEKERS OF KITSCH AND TRUE CONVICTION
Many are tickled by the novelty of a wax museum in 2018 – especially one that includes some celebrity wax figures born again as Biblical characters. But, as EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER of Religion News Service reports, BibleWalk is a heartfelt ministry for neighbouring Diamond Hill Cathedral…