As Sudanese protesters demand democracy, Catholic bishop pushes for freedom of worship
Nairobi, KenyaRNS A Roman Catholic bishop in Sudan has charged that the largely Arab and Islamic country’s ongoing popular revolution will be hollow if it does not also deliver freedom of worship for non-Muslim faiths. “A civil society movement has for the first time brought all Sudanese people together, and the church is part of […]
More detentions as death toll in Sri Lanka attacks rises to 359
Colombo, Sri LankaReuters Sri Lankan police said on Wednesday they had detained 18 more people for questioning over the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels, claimed by the Islamic State group, as the death toll climbed again to 359. The extremist Islamic State group made its claim after Sri Lankan officials said the suicide […]
ORIGINS: BEFORE THE ANZAC BISCUIT, SOLDIERS ATE A TILE SO HARD YOU COULD WRITE ON IT
In an article first published on The Conversation, LINDSAY KELLEY, a lecturer in art and design at UNSW, looks at the origins of Australia’s famous Anzac biscuits…
Thai death penalty threat over floating home sparks ‘seasteading’ debate
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation The threat of death sentences against a couple who set up an offshore home near a Thai island, has sparked a debate on the growing “seasteading” movement and the right to create floating settlements to cope with the effects of climate change. Thailand’s navy on Monday towed to shore a floating […]
Kanye West at Coachella was a substitute Easter for sinner-saints
RNS Troyer Goldman has a “complicated” relationship with religion. While he recognises that much of his moral framework is built on Christian principles, he identifies as neither Christian nor religious. But on Easter Sunday, Goldman, 21, was singing along loudly and “feeling the rhythm of the music” of Kanye West’s Sunday Service, an unmistakably Christian performance […]
BOOKS: FINDING THE SACRED IN THE EVERYDAY
DAVID ADAMS reads Tish Harrison Warren’s ‘Liturgy of the Ordinary’…
In the US, supporters of hospitalised Christian author pool funds to cover medical costs
RNS Friends, family and supporters of prominent Christian author Rachel Held Evans are pooling funds to help cover her medical expenses after she was hospitalised over the weekend and placed into a medically induced coma. Sarah Bessey and Jeff Chu, authors and faith leaders who co-curate the Evolving Faith Conference with Evans, called on her […]
BUTTERFLY
One part of the Easter story you might not have considered before is what happened to Jesus’ shroud. PICTURE: Suzanne D Williams/Unsplash. In antiquity the dead would be wrapped in linen cloth, not as elaborate as Egyptian mummies, but the same idea. They would also be rubbed with spices, all in an effort to preserve the […]
STOP THE MUSIC!: INDIANS SHUN TRAFFICKED DANCE TROUPES AT WEDDINGS
ANURADHA NAGARAJ, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from India…
More than 50 believed killed in collapse at Myanmar jade mine
Reuters More than 50 people were feared to have been killed in Myanmar when jade miners and machinery were buried under a mound of tailings late on Monday, a member of parliament and a rescue worker said. Three bodies had been pulled from the debris, Tin Soe, a lawmaker representing the jade-rich Hpakant area of […]