Now is not a good time to be a Christian – especially, if you are a Catholic. Read The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, listen to the ABC or read Irfan Yusuf’s recent piece and it’s obvious that the critics are on a roll. Wendy Squire’s op-ed in The Age provides a good illustration of Read more
It seems as though Sudan’s persecution of Meriam Ibrahim will not end. After finally being released two days ago from a death sentence for converting to Christianity, she and her family have been arrested by Sudanese security agents after trying to flee for US shores. But as well as hoping that she is finally liberated, her 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
Nearly twice as many Christians were killed for their faith in 2013 as in 2012 reports The World Watch List. The study ranks the 50 countries that are home to the worst treatment of Christians and is issued by Open Doors USA. The top 10 countries “where Christians faced the most pressure and violence,” according Read more
We’ve all heard the allegations: Halloween is a pagan rite dating back to some pre-Christian festival among the Celtic Druids that escaped church suppression. Even today modern pagans and witches continue to celebrate this ancient festival. If you let your kids go trick-or-treating, they will be worshiping the devil and pagan gods. Nothing could be Read more
In The Unquiet Grave Cyril Connelly, the 20th century Anglo-Irish critic, writer, and editor, having acknowledged the existence of the thousands of people like him (“…Liberals without a belief in progress, Democrats who despise their fellow-men, Pagans who still live by Christian morals, Intellectuals who cannot find the intellect sufficient—unsatisfied Materialists…”), concludes nonetheless that “there can be no Read more
On a pilgrimage to Assisi, Pope Francis has called on all Christians and the whole Church to imitate St Francis by embracing poverty and stripping away worldly attitudes. “A Christian cannot coexist with the spirit of the world,” he said, speaking in a room of the Assisi archbishop’s residence where St Francis shed himself of Read more
On 15 October 1970, Anwar El Sadat succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser as President of Egypt. Viewed as a mediocre man, Sadat’s true qualities were not realized by Nasser’s old guard until it was too late. Having crushed his internal opponents in May 1971, Sadat faced the overwhelming challenge of trying to find a way out Read more
I never thought I would want to thank the person who burgled my apartment building. This summer, I wish I had. It was a Saturday morning, and I awoke to a neighbour’s cry before the sun had fully risen. From the exchange outside my apartment, I could tell someone had broken into our building. I Read more
She sat beside the bed, tears brimming. ‘Mum’s dying.’ ‘Yes.’ We sat in silence for a bit. ‘I’ve lost my faith.’ ‘Uh huh.’ ‘When my friend died.’ ‘Mm.’ We held hands and Mum’s too, wondering in our own ways, about God and faith and people dying and what the universe meant, if anything. As we Read more