The Archbishop of Canterbury has reportedly said he would rather the Church of England lost its privileged status than risk a global split over same-sex marriage. The Most Rev Justin Welby made the comments privately to MPs, the Guardian reported. (Swerling, The Telegraph)
Read MoreNew York City-based artist and writer Maryam Monalisa Gharavi shares a similar weariness, given the difficulty she's faced in talking openly about abortion in her community, and in light of one simple fact: Sharia — the body of religious law in Islam — can, in fact, be very permissive of abortion. (Mohammad & Brown, NPR)
Read More“Substance use is a public health issue, not a criminal one. By decriminalising people who use drugs, we will break down the stigma that stops people from accessing life-saving support and services.” The new role of the police in this part of Western Canada is “to redirect people who possess small amounts of certain illegal drugs away from the criminal justice system and towards health and social services,” said Staff Sergeant Kris Clark. (Johnson, The Telegraph)
Read MorePope Francis began his second day in Congo, part of a six-day trip that will also take him to South Sudan, by focusing on that often-overlooked violence, seeking to bring a measure of peace to an overwhelmingly Christian country that has known little of it. (Horowitz & Dahir, The New York Times)
Read MoreSince December, Hindu vigilantes in Chhattisgarh state in eastern India, enraged by the spread of Christianity and rallied by local political leaders, have assaulted and displaced hundreds of Christian converts in dozens of villages and left a trail of damaged churches, according to interviews with local Christians and activists and as seen during a recent trip to the area. (Shih & Irfan, The Washington Post)
Read MoreFrom the famous Christian community he developed in Trosly-Breuil, France, the Catholic theologian and leader perpetuated a hidden “mystical-sexual” sect. Over a nearly 70-year period, Vanier violated at least 25 women—all of them adults without disabilities—during prayer and spiritual devotion. The results of the two-year investigation, commissioned by L’Arche in 2020, were released in an 868-page report on Monday. A half dozen of Vanier’s victims spoke up for the first time following his death in 2019 at age 90. (Shellnutt, Christianity Today)
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