Three days after taking office Archbishop Chong has been speaking about the Catholic Church’s role in Fiji. He says the church should not get involved in party politics, but rather communicate through God’s values of love, peace and justice. Chong said the church could help society in a teaching role; helping to form the mind Read more
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Moana Carcasses Kalosil, has promised the Vanuatu Christian Council that his Government is going to start paying 10 percent of the national budget to the churches. Based on the present budget, 10 percent would amount to 21 million US dollars. Kalosil became Vanuatu’s and the region’s first Greens prime minister when he Read more
Fiji’s largest Christian denomination, the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma, has set up a special committee to work on the church’s submission for the draft constitution. This was confirmed by church general secretary Reverend Tevita Nawadra on Monday. Nawadra said the special committee was headed by church senior officials. “We will make sure the Read more
The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill called for a revitalized partnership between government and Churches when he addressed the Catholic Bishops of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands at their Annual General Meeting in Alexishafen, Madang last Thursday. He said common concerns between government and Churches include education, health, public security, fight against corruption, Read more
PNG MP Wera Mori wants parliament to pass a law banning non Christian religions so as to maintain the country’s stand as a Christian nation. “PNG is a Christian country’” he said. “Like other countries, we must be strict and put into our Constitution that we worship the God of Israel,” Opposition MP Tobias Kulang Read more
The new President of the Methodist Church, Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, says the church supports the idea of Fiji being a Christian state. “Fiji was given to God,” Waqairatu told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat. “When we say that Fiji is a Christian state…we say it was decided by our chiefs who ceded Fiji to Great Britain that Read more
Fiji’s Constitution Commission chairman, Professor Yash Gha, has made it clear that the separation of Church and State will be enshrined in Fiji’s new constitution. “This doesn’t mean that the State is anti-religion but just a feeling that the function and responsibility of religion of beliefs within societies should be separated from the functions and policies Read more
Hostility towards religion has grown to unprecedented levels in the United States, according to a national survey that describes more than 600 examples in the last decade. Examples include local government zoning laws discriminating against churches and city officials telling senior citizens that praying over government-funded food violated the “separation of church and state” and Read more
Auckland Mayor Len Brown has told Auckland church leaders that the Church is right at the heart of the city. He said he really wanted everyone’s thoughts and feedback on the issues, and in some cases, for churches to come up with constructive ideas which could provide input to the Council, maybe even with joint Read more
It was only after the Protestant Reformation that marriage came to be considered as a civil institution. The early Christians understood marriage to be a union between one man a one woman. It was not a contract or a financial arrangement but a sacred union that reflected God’s love. “Christ turned the accepted cultural norms Read more