Is your local community, like mine, preparing for that enjoyable Christmas Carols event? Will there be a reference to the place where it all began and, if so, what will be said? Will there be any reference to the current plight of its citizens? Most of us attend our Christmas Carols event as an opportunity Continue reading »
Religion and Faith
In the Name of Christ, Our Peace – The time has come for people of faith to hear the cries of the people of Palestine, Gaza and Lebanon and to do everything in our power towards the ending of the death and destruction they are suffering. A petition by Pax Christi We condemn the brutal Continue reading »
From the Committee to Protect Journalists: “The Israel-Gaza war has taken an unprecedented toll on Gazan journalists since Israel declared war on Hamas following its attack against Israel on October 7, 2023. As of November 26, 2024, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 137 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Continue reading »
When recently sacked by Netanyahu, Gallant, in an emotional speech said: “Israel has fallen into moral darkness”. This is what Zionism has internally inflicted on Judaism – moral decay. The security threat suffered by good Jewish people globally is what Zionism has inflicted externally. Despite Gallant prosecuting Israel’s war in a savage manner as minister Continue reading »
This week I read an article in Al Jazeera describing the killing in one day of hundreds of Palestinian civilians. The same day I read a piece in CNN, “Israeli soldiers returning from war struggle with trauma and suicide”. The article tried to elicit sympathy for soldiers who were traumatised from bulldozing Palestinians. According to Continue reading »
Nihon Hidankyo, Japan’s nationwide organisation of atomic bomb survivors, was awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. The award announcement said one reason the organisation received the award was that the personal testimony of its members has advanced “stigmatising the use of nuclear weapons.” When Nihon Hidankyo’s award was announced on Oct. 11, I recalled the visit Continue reading »
Pope Francis has called upon Church authorities to cooperate with civil authorities in relation to child sexual abuse by Church personnel. When it comes to the Vatican cooperating, it is a different story. Continue reading »
“Haredim, not Arabs or Iran, are the biggest threat to Israel’, Dan Perry, 2021 Introduction: demography is destiny The Haredim community represents the deeply religious, ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel. They currently (2023) represent 13.5 percent of the total population of Israel. In about 40 years, their relative size will rise to 31.3 percent (see Figure Continue reading »
Eighty-seven-year-old Pope Francis’ trip to Indonesia, Papua-New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore shows he’s not slowing up. One thing you can say about Pope Francis is that he walks the walk, even if it’s in a wheelchair. The recent visit to Indonesia illustrates this. Eighty-seven percent of Indonesia’s population of 283 million is Muslim; 3.1% are Continue reading »
The Second Session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality is now just weeks away. Opinions differ markedly among reformers about its trajectory so far. Some are deeply disillusioned and fearful. Others see evidence of real progress even if change is slow and incremental. The views of the former were represented in a recent editorial Continue reading »