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In the News

  • Romania Insider: Initiative changing family definition in Romanian Constitution, voted by the deputies
    May 9th, 2017

    The Chamber of Deputies adopted on Tuesday, May 9, the citizens' initiative that aims to change the definition of family in Romania's Constitution.

    The project passed with 232 votes in favor, 22 against, and 13 abstentions, reports local Agerpres. However, the Senate also has to vote on this initiative before a national referendum will be called to have Romanians decide if they agree or not to making this change in the Constitution.

    At present, the Romanian Constitution defines the family as the free-willed marriage "between spouses". However, the initiative’s promoters want to amend it so that it mentions that a family is the union between a man and a woman. The measure thus aims to make same-sex marriages impossible in Romania.

    Read more. 

  • BBC: Irish police drop Stephen Fry blasphemy probe
    May 9th, 2017

    Police in the Republic of Ireland are no longer investigating a claim that British comedian Stephen Fry uttered blasphemous remarks on a TV show.

    Irish media say the Garda dropped the case as there was no injured party.

    A viewer had complained about comments made by Fry on a TV show in 2015.

    Read more. 

  • LifeWay: Americans worry about moral decline, can't agree on right and wrong
    May 9th, 2017

    Most older Americans say right and wrong never change. Younger Americans—not so much.

    A new study from Nashville-based LifeWay Research found a significant generation gap in how Americans view morality.

    More than 6 in 10 of those older than 45 say right and wrong do not change. For those 35 and younger, fewer than 4 in 10 make that claim.

    That’s a huge shift between generations, said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. Older Americans grew up at time when ideas about morality were more stable, he says. That’s no longer true for younger Americans.

    Read more.

  • DW: German churches see rise in baptisms for refugees
    May 9th, 2017

    Thousands of refugees in Germany are converting from Islam to Christianity, although it could carry a huge personal risk for them. Independent churches are especially seeing many new converts.

    Gottfried Martens, a pastor at the Protestant Trinity independent church in Berlin, has already baptized 1200 refugees. He started in 2008 with two refugees from Iran who sought out his congregation. They brought an acquaintance with them, who Pastor Martens baptized. Over the years, more and more refugees came with the desire to change their religion. Now Marten's congregation is well known in Berlin, as hundreds attend sermons there that are given in both German and Persian.

    Read more. 

  • Anglican Mainstream: Unofficial Bishops, non-C of E Anglicans: fragmentation and schism, or new reformation?
    May 9th, 2017

    "We are on the cusp of a new reformation", says Gavin Ashenden in an article about conflicts and new initiatives in Anglicanism in Britain.

    The original Reformation, which we remember particularly this year, 500 years after Martin Luther's famous public protest against the Church of Rome, was characterized by often bitter conflict but also led to amazingly fruitful initiatives in mission throughout the world. It involved not just schism between Catholic and Protestant, but the fragmentation of Protestantism into thousands of denominations. We're often told that this 'disunity' is a terrible stain on the body of Christ, and yet there is often far more warm fellowship and productive cooperation between believers in different denominations sharing the same commitment to basic Christian truths, than there is between people of the same denomination together on paper, but internally divided by adherence to different teachings and even opposing fundamental worldviews.

    Read more.

  • The Atlantic: Jakarta's Christian Governor Imprisoned for Blasphemy
    May 9th, 2017

    Jakarta's outgoing governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was found guilty of blasphemy on Tuesday and sentenced to two years in jail following comments he made regarding the Koran, the central religious text of Islam. The maximum sentence for blasphemy in Indonesia is five years in prison. While staunch Islamist groups pushed for Purnama to receive the full sentence, prosecutors asked for a conditional sentence of two years probation. Purnama's lawyer says the governor plans to appeal the court's ruling.

    While on a work trip late last year, Purnama claimed that Jakarta's Islamic leaders were misrepresenting a principle in the Koran for political gains. The verse in question, which comes from the fifth chapter of the Koran, suggests that Muslims should not have non-Muslim leaders. Purnama implied that his opponents were using the verse to discriminate against Christian candidates like himself. He later apologized for the comments, but did not admit to any wrongdoing.

    Read more.

  • East Lothian Courier: LGBT have higher levels of anxiety, survey finds
    May 9th, 2017

    People who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual report lower wellbeing than the UK average, with much higher levels of anxiety than those who are straight, analysis has found.

    Data from the Office for National Statistics found life satisfaction was highest for those who identified as straight (7.6 out of 10), compared with 7.2 for bisexual respondents and 7.4 for gay or lesbian people.

    Read more.

  • NY Times: Christian Governor in Indonesia Found Guilty of Blasphemy Against Islam
    May 9th, 2017

    An Indonesian court found the Christian governor of Jakarta guilty of blasphemy against Islam on Tuesday, sentencing him to two years in prison in a case widely seen as a test of religious tolerance and free speech.

    The governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was defeated last month in an election in which the blasphemy case, and religion, became a major issue.

    Blasphemy is a crime in Indonesia, a secular democracy with the world's largest Muslim population.

    Read more.

  • Independent: Stephen Fry's blasphemy probe dropped after Irish police fail to find 'enough outraged people'
    May 9th, 2017

    An Irish police investigation into allegedly blasphemous comments made by Stephen Fry has been dropped after detectives decided there were not enough people who had been outraged by the remarks.

    Police launched an investigation into the presenter, author and comedian after he described God as "capricious", "mean-minded", "stupid" and an "utter maniac" during an appearance on Irish television show "The Meaning of Life" in February 2015.

    The comments were widely reported but did not become a legal matter until a man complained last year, prompting a police enquiry.

    Read more.

  • Times (£): Police need help to tackle paedophiles, charity warns
    May 9th, 2017

    A child abuse charity has called for police to be given more resources to tackle indecent web images, after The Times exposed an online paedophile network with up to 10,000 British members.

    Peter Saunders, founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said that the Freedom Hosting II network was likely to be "the tip of the iceberg".

    The network operated on a clandestine part of the internet designed to frustrate attempts by the authorities to identify website users and operators. It hosted at least a dozen forums where users exchanged images of abuse and was free to operate for almost two years before being shut down by hackers.

    Read more.