In the midst of the country’s escalating cost-of-living crisis, the Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2024 report spotlights the growing socio-economic challenges confronting New Zealanders. The report, Ngā Tukunga Iho – The Things We Inherit, offers an annual assessment of the country’s social progress – this year especially – children and youth housing crime Read more
The mayor of Sorrento, a town on Italy’s Amalfi coast, says new measures to ban erotic goods stores and cannabis shops in the city centre are to ensure the safety of everyone, including the elderly. “Think about ladies of a certain age who go to Mass,” said Coppola, who was elected in 2020 as part Read more
The once-obscure practise of smoking toad venom, a potent psychedelic drug that can cause users to encounter themselves as God, is steadily creeping into the mainstream as celebrities endorse its “healing” powers. Mike Tyson claimed he “died” during his first trip and said using the drug has provided him with an entirely different perspective on Read more
If the cannabis legislation outlined in parliament this week is approved in next year’s referendum, a heritage church in Christchurch will become a cannabis café. The proposed legislation would legalise the sale and consumption of cannabis at licensed premises. Cookie Time founder Michael Mayell has partnered with Abe Gray, the founder of New Zealand’s first Read more
Sidewalk prayers near shoot-up spots. Sunday sermons in the back of a bar. Pleas to struggling souls to surrender to God. Funerals for members of their flock who didn’t make it. Clergy members have become spiritual first responders in the opioid crisis, often leaving the pulpit to minister on the streets. They can be reverends, Read more
Former Beatle Paul McCartney believes he once saw God during a drug trip. In an interview with the UK, Sunday Times 76-year-old star said he was “humbled” by the experience. Read more
Destiny Church through its Man Up programme aims to raise better fathers, brothers and sons. The programme has had some success helping hard men to turn their lives around. Here are two examples that have recently received publicity. Paris Winiata was a drug dealer but, after joining Destiny, he stopped taking drugs and has been Read more
Global action in the war on drugs is needed, says Monsignor Janusz S. Urbańczyk head of the Holy See delegation to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna. Read more
LISBON — On a broken-down set of steps, a 37-year-old fisherman named Mario mixed heroin and cocaine and carefully prepared a hypodermic needle. “It’s hard to find a vein,” he said, but he finally found one in his forearm and injected himself with the brown liquid. Blood trickled from his arm and pooled on the Read more
When psychologist William Richards looks at religion, he sees mystical experiences everywhere. The same sort of experiences, he reasons, that come from mind-altering drugs. That’s why he’s giving magic mushrooms to religious leaders, for a research project based at Johns Hopkins University and New York University. Continue reading