Bosses all over the Western world have been warned. Unless they make allowances for the religious faiths of their ever more diverse workforces, they will suffer lawsuits, official rebukes and protests from staff. Employees increasingly expect to be able, for example, to dress in accordance with their faith while at work, and be given appropriate Read more
We live in a violent society. You can see it in popular movies, our favourite sports, the occasional spectacular act of violence that captures our collective imaginations. Wondering if David Bain did it is still a national hobby; I’ve even chatted about it over a flat white and scone at morning tea. Somehow, it’s an easy conversation. Read more
Back in 1990, about 8 percent of the U.S. population had no religious preference. By 2010, this percentage had more than doubled to 18 percent. That’s a difference of about 25 million people, all of whom have somehow lost their religion. That raises an obvious question: how come? Why are Americans losing their faith? Today, Read more
Grumble, grumble, grumble, went Tim Wilson, author, journalist, TV guy, brainy guy and wit. Have I left anything out? Oh, yes, there is the little matter of his conversion to Catholicism. He said: “Were you surprised when you heard I’d become a Catholic?” Of course I was surprised! Wasn’t everyone? But why was I? he Read more
Noah did its job. It brought an ancient biblical story about a cataclysmic flood to life for audiences today. Was it biblical? Was it the least biblical Bible movie ever made? These questions flare up in what is frankly a flat and over-rehearsed debate about the Bible in [Western] life. Honestly, does it matter whether Read more
Abstaining from animal products during a period of fasting is a practice that dates back to early Christian monastic tradition. This tradition persists in the Orthodox Churches where even today fasting is characterised by abstinence from all animal products. But while abstaining from meat in the Roman tradition is mainly associated with the sacrifice of Read more
How much would you pay to save a life? Not necessarily your life, nor the life of someone you know or love. Just a life: Joe Bloggs, Jane Doe, the guy from the bus, the high school friend you don’t speak to any more. Think of a figure, round it to the nearest hundred thousand, Read more
Where once an event like the Olympics or the World Cup may have been seen as a triumph of corporate and athletic enterprise, today’s world counts the cost of games much more carefully. Previous events have left countries with decaying venues and huge bills that take years to pay off. Local communities are increasingly unhappy Read more
New Testament scholars have spent an impressive amount of energy on the study of the historical Jesus and much of it in the last few decades has revolved around his Jewishness. Christian reawakening to the Jewishness of Jesus began in the late nineteenth century but received greater attention as Christians devoted increased attention to Jews Read more
The first of my ancestors to arrive in New Zealand was Anders Haeckel, a young Finn who sailed to New Zealand with the British Merchant Navy. In 1892, he went gum digging in Northland, then tried his hand at gold mining on the West Coast. He settled in Hokitika, where he married and raised a Read more