China’s President Xi Jinping says he wants to make the country’s many religions more Chinese-oriented by instilling socialist core values. Speaking at the country’s five-yearly Communist Party conference, Xi said religion poses threats to national security. He told the conference that separatism promoted under the guise of religion would not be tolerated. Although China officially Read more
Religious freedom is now possible in European politics, says the Vatican Secretary for Relations with the States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. He says religion is no longer a forbidden subject in European politics. Gallagher’s comments came as top ecclesial and political leaders gather in Rome to discuss Europe’s future and identity. “The days when you could Read more
Destiny Church leaders say they will ‘react like Christ’ after the Department of Internal Affairs threatened to remove its charities from the Charities Register. Continue reading
Annual Scottish Household Survey data suggest in seven years Catholics could become the largest faith group in Scotland. Over 10,000 people take part in the annual Scottish Government study, which is designed to give a general view of the country’s demographics. While 51 per cent of Scots don’t belong to any religion, just under 14 Read more
A recent poll shows British people are more likely to say they have no religion than ever before. A random sample of adults were involved in the latest survey. They were asked if they regarded themselves as belonging to a particular religion. The results show that for people who were born into a religious household, Read more
In April, Russia’s Supreme Court labeled Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist religious group. “It effectively means that holding their beliefs and manifesting them is tantamount to a criminal act in Russia. They risk new levels of persecution by the Russian authorities,” said international legal counsel, Lorcan Price. In America, most of us think of Jehovah’s Witnesses Read more
It’s ironic that Bill O’Reilly — perhaps the most prominent Catholic conservative on American television — was fired the same day he met Pope Francis. The two occupy different intellectual parts of the Catholic Church, and the television personality has made his disdain for some of the pope’s positions known. After Francis derided then-candidate Donald Trump’s Read more
A meeting to organise religious leaders — for people who don’t believe in organised religion? The humanist clergy — spiritual leaders for people who don’t like to talk about God but do like to gather for a moral purpose — are trying to get a lot more organized Read more
Every few years, it seems, conservative religious groups, quiescent or unnoticed, come blazing back onto the national scene, and the secular press reacts like the bad guy in the 1971 western Big Jake who says to John Wayne, “I thought you were dead.” Wayne drily answers, “Not hardly.” Now, in The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Read more
Who’s afraid of dying? An Oxford University-led international research study on dying and who fears it most has found atheists are among those least afraid of leaving this life. Very religious people don’t fear dying much either. However, the researchers found that people who are religious for its social or emotional benefits suffered the most Read more