Secretary of Communications of the Methodist church in Fiji, Reverend James Bhagwan, says a thanksgiving service the leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA ), Sitiveni Rabuka, was not organised by the Methodist Church. Earlier the Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, has accused Rabuka of involving the Methodist church in politics. He Read more
Keeping the sabbath holy, keeps Tonga ahead of the rest of the Pacific and the world in the political game says Senituli Penitani in a letter in the Tonga newspaper Matangi Tonga. In May the government of Tonga banned the sale of bread on Sundays. In this most recent round of the ongoing Sunday Bread War the Read more
The Bible in schools debate goes on. Jeff McClintock, a secular school campaigner will still have his day in court. The High Court had earlier this year struck the so called Bible in Schools case out but Court of Appeal Judges Rhys Harrison, Forrest Miller and Helen Winkelmann have reinstated the case. The Court of Appeal judgment Read more
About 250 Methodist Church ministers and lay people voted at its national conference in Blenheim on Tuesday to ask the Ministry of Education to have all major religions taught in schools Methodist Church director of mission Trevor Hoggard said the church wanted details about objective religious teaching in schools. “With all the troubles we’re seeing Read more
The Archbishop of Suva Peter Loy Chong said that in some places parishes rather than schools will have to teach religion to the young. He said the inclusion of religious education in schools continues to raise debates in certain quarters within the education system. Chong was speaking during his recent visit to a Napuka Secondary Read more
Catholic leaders in Indonesia have welcomed an announcement that the government will review religion laws that critics say restricts constitutional protections to religious freedoms. “The most important thing is that freedom of religion and of worship guaranteed in the constitution must not be narrowed with regulations that can create problems,” Father Guido Suprapto, the Indonesian Read more
The Prime Minister of Fiji says the people of Ra and Nadroga have the common sense to see through those spreading division and encouraging so-called breakaway Christian states. Voreqe Bainimarama say they know they are being manipulated by people misusing the word of God. He says some people are “falsely claiming that Christianity in Fiji Read more
The Pacific Games Council Annual General Meeting has been told that there will be no games on Sunday at the 2019 Pacific Games in Tonga. The chief executive officer for the 2019 Tonga Pacific Games Organising committee, and former Prime Minister Lord Savele said, “we have decided we’d go back to the traditional way we’ve Read more
Greater scrutiny of the Charities Register has resulted in over 1000 charities being deregistered says Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Jo Goodhew. A recent inspection of Annual Returns held by the Charities Register found more than 2,000 registered charities had not filed their Annual Returns and financial information for two years or more. “This clean-up Read more
A religious studies professor says lessons provided by the country’s largest Bible in Schools organisation are not suitable for state schools. Victoria University professor of religious studies Paul Morris said the syllabuses used by the Churches Education Commission, which runs religious classes in about 600 state schools, taught religion, rather than taught about religion. Morris Read more