SIGHT-SEEING: WHY I MADE THE “BIBLE BELT” MY MISSION FIELD
In an article first published on Religion News Service, US pastor DEAN INSERRA – in an adapted excerpt from his book The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel – explains why he felt called to minister in the US “Bible Belt”…
Updated: Foreign aid advocates express disappointment over Australian Government decision to keep foreign aid at “least generous level” in Tuesday’s budget
Updated 10:45am Christian coalition Micah Australia has expressed disappointment the Federal Government has decided to keep foreign aid at its “least generous level” following the release of the budget on Tuesday. The decision not to restore the foreign aid budget, which will drop to 0.21 per cent of gross national income in 2019-20 and which […]
Church should admit history of abuse of women, male domination, says Pope
Reuters Pope Francis said on Tuesday the Catholic Church had to acknowledge a history of male domination and sexual abuse of women and children and repair its reputation among young people or risk becoming “a museum”. But, in a major document in which he mentioned an array of scandals and again admitted significant failings by […]
In the US, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins on why Christians must reconcile with science
RNS On top of his duties as the director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins takes time to answer letters from Christians trying to reconcile their faith with science. At a conference last week of BioLogos, the nonprofit he founded more than 10 years ago to bridge science and faith, Collins told an audience […]
Controversial US abortion film, ‘Unplanned’, takes in $US6.1 million on opening weekend
Controversial abortion film, Unplanned, outperformed projected box office takings in its opening weekend in the US, garnering an estimated $US6.11 million, the fifth highest total of any film for the last weekend of March. Released by Pure Flix, the film tells the story of Abby Johnson, a former clinic director for Planned Parenthood who was […]
New Australian reality show grapples with “what makes a good Christian”
There’s a “strict Coptic Catholic who is saving himself for marriage”, a gay man who “underwent years of conversion therapy at the hands of the church”, a female Anglican priest from a progressive church in Brisbane, the founder of movement reaching out to young Asians in Australia and New Zealand and a Mormon. The “cast” from Christians […]
Cambodia urged to boost funding for “bride trafficking” pacts
Phnom Penh, CambodiaThomson Reuters Foundation New agreements reached between Phnom Penh and Beijing to combat the trafficking of Cambodian ‘brides’ to China will be useless without fresh funding and stricter enforcement, anti-trafficking groups warned on Monday. Cambodia’s Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Sunday announced a series of deals to fight transnational crimes, including human trafficking, […]
NONSENSE?
No doubt you will hear an atheist this season telling you Easter is a bunch of nonsense – “An ancient myth only stupid people believe”. The Resurrection Chapel in the crypt of the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. PICTURE: Tim Evanson (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0) This is the exact reaction the disciples had when they first […]
US FLOODS: HOW CHURCHES AND OTHER FAITH-BASED GROUPS ARE LENDING A HAND AFTER NEBRASKA DISASTER
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports…
In the US, civil rights experts question Supreme Court execution rulings
RNS Last week, the Supreme Court ruled to block Texas’ planned execution of Patrick Murphy, a Buddhist inmate, because he was not allowed to have his Buddhist chaplain in the execution chamber. While religious freedom advocates applauded the move, some say the decision also left them perplexed. Just a month earlier, the Supreme Court allowed […]