OPEN BOOK – PAUL’S FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY: ELDERS AND WIDOWS
BRUCE C WEARNE in his series on I Timothy looks at what Paul writes about honouring and looking after elders and widows in the community…
Study: New Congress showcases religious diversity but is still mostly Christian
Washington DCRNS When the 116th Congress was sworn in on Thursday, it became one of the most religiously diverse delegations in American history, with more than a few lawmakers expected to take the oath of office while placing their hands on books other than the Christian Bible. Still, according to a new survey from Pew […]
Breakthrough in plant engineering could boost productivity, feed millions more
Thomson Reuters Foundation The yield of many staple crops could be boosted by 40 per cent by a new process that adjusts the way they turn sunlight into energy, potentially feeding hundreds of millions of more people, American researchers said on Thursday. Crops such as rice, wheat and soybeans, as well as fruits and vegetables […]
LATIN AMERICA: COUNTRIES GRAPPLE WITH MIGRANT CRISIS THAT LOOKS SET TO WORSEN IN 2019
Some 3.3 million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 and the United Nations estimates another two million could follow in 2019. ANASTASIA MOLONEY, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on Latin America’s migration crisis…
Christians and Muslims join in opposing church demolition in Baghdad
Christians and Muslims have joined together in opposing the threatened demolition of a church in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The Chaldean Catholic Church of Divine Wisdowm, built in 1929 by British architect James Mollison Wilson in the district of Adhamiya, has reportedly been marked for demolition by authorities as part of a redevelopment program […]
TRENDSPOTTER: DEAD MUSICIANS GIVEN NEW LIFE IN ‘HOLOGRAM’ SHOWS
DAVID ADAMS takes a look at a trend bringing new life to dead musicians…
Seven Lao Christians released after international concern
BosNewsLife Seven Christian men who were detained by security forces in southern Laos for holding an “illegal” church service are free, a day after BosNewsLife news agency published about their plight. A government official in the Phin district of the southern province of Savannakhet confirmed to Radio Free Asia that they were all released Wednesday, […]
Bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christians killed by IS to be repatriated after being discovered in Libya
The bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christians executed by the so-called Islamic State in Libya are being repatriated to Ethiopia following their discovery in a mass grave in December. The Ethiopians were killed after IS terrorists seized the coastal city of Sirte in 2015. IS released a video in April that year purporting to show the […]
ORTHODOX CHURCH: OFFICIAL RECOGNITION FOR UKRAINIAN CHURCH CREATES GROWING DIVIDE
NIKOLIA APOSTOLOU reports for Religion News Service…
Authorities order closure of another church building in Algeria
Morning Star News The official notice that a village pastor in Algeria received on Sunday confirmed what he had heard – his church had been ordered to close. Pastor Rabah Messaoudi had won a legal battle in 2017 after local officials in the Muslim country tried to close his church in Ait-Jimaa village, 45 kilometres […]