SAINTS OF PAST AGES: BEFORE MARTIN LUTHER, THERE WAS ERASMUS – A DUTCH THEOLOGIAN WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION
KATHERINE LITTLE, scholar of medieval Christianity at the University of Colorado Boulder, looks – in an article first published on The Conversation, at the life and legacy of Erasmus…
In northern California, churches step up to shelter fire evacuees
RNS Around 4:45am on Sunday, staffers at CrossWalk Community Church in Napa got a call, alerting them the church would need to serve as an evacuation centre as the Kincade fire continued to spread in Northern California. By 6am, the church doors were open. A firefighter from San Matteo helps fight the Kincade fire in Sonoma […]
British PM Johnson gambles on a snap election to break Brexit deadlock
London, UKReuters Britain will hold its first December election in almost a century after Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally won parliamentary approval for a gamble on a snap ballot that he hopes will break the deadlock over Brexit. Just two days before the third Brexit deadline of 31st October will be missed despite Johnson’s “do […]
Facebook a ‘megaphone for hate’ against Indian minorities
Mumbai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Facebook is failing to rein in a “tsunami” of hate posts inflaming ethnic tensions in India’s Assam state, campaign group Avaaz said on Wednesday, with content about “criminals”, “rapists”, “terrorists” and “dogs” shared almost 100,000 times. Avaaz said the dehumanising language – often targeting India’s Bengali Muslims – was similar to […]
Australia says it will hold China accountable on human rights
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Canberra will hold China to account on issues such as human rights, insisting that staying quiet on sensitive issues is not in Australia’s national interests. Relations between Canberra and its most important trading partner have deteriorated in recent years amid accusations that China is meddling in Australian […]
STRANGESIGHTS: FRENCH WOMAN’S PAINTING SELLS FOR $US27 MILLION; “WORLD’S LARGEST” TREEHOUSE BURNS DOWN; AND, A LITERAL ‘RATRACE’…
DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Protected status not enough to guard threatened nature reserves, scientists find
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Expanding the planet’s protected natural areas to safeguard vanishing forests and other ecosystems, and the species they protect, is unlikely to be effective on its own as human encroachment into reserves grows, scientists warned Tuesday. A study by Cambridge University researchers, which looked at thousands of conservation areas in more than […]
Trick or treat: Is your doorstep fair game for zombies at Halloween?
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Small children dressed as fairies on your doorstep may be cute while teenagers in zombie masks can be less appealing, but what rights do you have to say who knocks on your door at Halloween? A growing number of Britons who dread the spooky holiday – when packs of youngsters dressed […]
Christian man released from prison in Iran but now faces “internal exile” – advocacy groups
Iranian Christian man Ebrahim Firouzi has been released from prison where he was serving a five-year sentence on charges related to national security. Advocacy groups have welcomed the news of the release of Firouzi – who is now expected to serve a two year sentence of internal exile in a remote part of Iran – […]
DEBT RELIEF: CHICAGO CHURCHES JOIN GROWING MOVEMENT OF CONGREGATIONS PAYING OFF MEDICAL DEBT
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports on how churches in Chicago are helping people pay off medical debts…