In an unmistakable contrast to the emptying churches that surround him in Europe, Pope Francis encountered fields and churches filled with scores of Catholics as he arrived Monday (Sept. 9) in the Pacific nation of East Timor, giving him a firsthand impression of Asia’s growing Catholic community. (Giangravé, Religion News Service)
Read MoreIn the past two weeks, South Koreans have been shocked to find that a rising number of young men and teenage boys had taken hundreds of social media images of classmates, teachers and military colleagues — almost all young women and girls, including minors — and used them to create sexually exploitative images and video clips with deepfake apps. (Sang-Hun, The New York Times
Read MoreAbout 23% of these adults, ranging from 18- to 43-years-old, said their financial motivation to remain childless boils down to two issues: valuing the financial freedom that comes from not having kids, as well as concerns about their ability to foot the bill for raising children, according to a new survey from MassMutual. (Picchi, CBS News)
Read MoreThe statement titled, “Our Confession of Evangelical Conviction,” affirms seven core beliefs framed to reject “evangelical” as a political, rather than theological, label. According to a press release, the statement “marks the largest and most unified evangelical effort in decades, bridging denominational and theological differences.” (Shepherd, The Roys Report)
Read More“I never got to meet you.” It is the sound of generational change at ground zero, where relatives read out victims’ names on every anniversary of the attacks. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when al-Qaida hijackers crashed four jetliners into the twin towers, the Pentagon and a field in southwest Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. (Peltz, AP News)
Read MoreLike prostitution, contract marriages are illegal under Indonesian law. But the law has rarely been enforced. Instead nikah mut’ah has grown into an industry, with an extensive network of brokers, officiants and recruiters that thrives in the gray zone between church and state. (Yang & Sijabal, Los Angeles Times)
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