Catholic bishops in Australian state of Victoria reiterate opposition as assisted dying laws take effect
Catholic bishops in the Australian state of Victoria have reiterated their opposition to the introduction of an assisted dying scheme in the state as new laws legalising it come into force this week. In a pastoral letter released on Sunday, Peter Comensoli, the Archbishop of Melbourne, along with the bishops of Sandhurst, Ballarat and Sale, […]
Mexico announces end to funding for human trafficking NGOs
Mexico City, MexicoThomson Reuters Foundation Mexico will stop giving financial aid to anti-human trafficking organisations and instead run shelters and victim care directly, the President said this week, drawing criticism from activists who said the plan lacked detail. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blamed past corruption for the move and said it would mean more […]
STRANGESIGHTS: THE SEARCH FOR A HAPPY HOME; CAPTAIN KIRK VISITED MARS?; AND, THE DANGERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA FILTERS…
DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
Ethiopian evangelical church told to vacate after 10 years
World Watch Monitor An evangelical church in central Ethiopia has been ordered to vacate its building, 10 years after it started meeting there, and churches elsewhere in the region say pressure is increasing on them, too. The Mekane Yesus Evangelical Church in the town of Robe in Bale zone, about 400 kilometres south-east of the […]
UN surveillance expert urges global moratorium on sale of spyware
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The world should impose a moratorium on the sale and use of surveillance software until there are rules in place to stop governments using it to spy on opponents and critics, a UN expert recommended. David Kaye, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, submitted his recommendations in a report published on […]
Not just churches: In the US, camps are also prone to child sexual abuse
RNS Day and overnight camps are a staple of summer, a welcome relief for working parents. But they can also present opportunities for sexual predators. Last week, Noah Paradis, 19, a staffer at a LifeWay camp in Arizona, was arrested on five counts of inappropriate touching. PICTURE: Liam Macleod/Creative Commons The abuse allegedly took place during CentriKid Camp, which was held at […]
BRAZIL: MAJOR COMPANIES FOUND USING COURTS TO AVOID SLAVE LABOUR ‘DIRTY LIST’
FABIO TEIXEIRA reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation…
In the US, atheist watchdog drops fight to halt clergy housing allowance
RNS The Freedom From Religion Foundation has dropped its long-running fight against the clergy housing allowance permitted by the US Government. “We have full confidence in the legal merits of our challenge of the discriminatory pastoral housing allowance privileges,” the Wisconsin-based atheist watchdog announced last week. The clergy housing allowance remains intact for now. PICTURE: Mohamed Hassan/Creative […]
ESSAY: WOMEN RISE IN STRENGTH
AMANDA JACKSON, executive director of the World Evangelical Alliance’s Women’s Commission, reflects on some key ideas which emerged from a recent gathering of 60 Christian women in Amsterdam…
LIFESTORY: CANADA’S DREW MARSHALL, “RAW AND REAL” CHRISTIAN RADIO HOST, ENDS HIS 16 YEAR RUN
JOHN LONGHURST, writing for Religion News Service, speaks with Canadian radio host Drew Marshall…