Youth agencies say the recent spate of youth-led ram-raids are fuelled by a mix of excitement, stress and social media notoriety. Oranga Tamariki says although overall youth crime has fallen 60 percent in the past 10 years, the recent spike in ram-raids is a problem. The agency’s Youth Justice Services director Ben Hannifin says they’re Read more
“Deconstruction” may not be the flashiest clickbait search term, but the hashtag is a portal to a diverse and dynamic community on the video app TikTok. The TikTokers — known as creators — within this community come from different religious backgrounds and have different beliefs. But together, they are dissecting and rethinking the Christian theology Read more
I’ve been thinking about religion, my own relationship to it, and how it shows up when I observe influencers. These dense subjects arose for me after this New York Times op-ed about how influencers have kind of become secular morality preachers was published last week, just as religion came up in a discussion group I’m Read more
On Instagram, I follow 700 people, mostly women. One hundred of those women follow Glennon Doyle, whose memoir “Untamed” has been on the Times best-seller list for 51 weeks. Fans of Ms Doyle’s gospel, an accessible combination of self-care, activism and tongue-in-cheek Christianity (“Jesus loves me, this I know, for he gave me Lexapro”), can Read more
When Amber-Rose Schneider first joined TikTok — the snappy, short-form social media app with more than 1 billion users worldwide — she wanted to see more young teenage creators like herself, who reflected her Catholic beliefs. A self-described “cradle Catholic” and graphic design student at Liberty University, Schneider, now 21, began using her TikTok as Read more
The principal of a West Auckland school with a student hit by coronavirus said her priority was to make sure that the affected student and her family “feel completely supported by us.” Anna Swann, the principal of St Dominic’s Catholic College, is strongly urging people not to lay blame on those who are sick after Read more
A proposal that could make hate speech a criminal offence has been stalled and is unlikely to pass before the election. The Government fast-tracked a review of hate speech legislation in the wake of the March 15 Christchurch terror attack last year. Justice Minister Andrew Little declared existing legislation on the issue “woefully inadequate.” Following Read more
The Vatican’s online Holy Week and Easter events reached millions of people around the world. New viewers, followers and fans inspired by Pope Francis’ words and gestures were among those taking part. “We have been struck by the many emails we have received, comments and posts on our social media from people, even agnostics and Read more