The Chinese Communist Party has affirmed its determination to control religion by issuing new translations and interpretations of “classic” religious works. The aim is to provide a state-ordained basis for spiritual life. The move signals a profound shift in the Communist Party’s approach to religion, where it is moving from political management to uncompromising constraint. Read more
Whenever world-changing episodes in history unfold, new technologies are often in the background. Jesus arrived in history “when the fullness of time had come” (Gal. 4:4), and it was exactly the right time for his good news to catch fire. The new “technology” of Roman roadways made possible the rapid spread of Christianity in the Read more
University of Oxford developmental psychologist Dr. Olivera Petrovich has spent years researching a single question: Are children predisposed to belief in a transcendent being? This research, much deserving of greater exposure, intrigued me, since I have engaged atheism’s most prominent modern proponents. I chaired three of atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins’s debates with his Read more
So much emphasis was placed on presumed sexual morality and ideal families at these parishes that anyone who didn’t fit a rigid traditional mold was ostracized. Unwed, separated and divorced parents and their children were shunned. Families like mine — my parents were divorced — formed an outgroup that was systematically excluded. I experienced bullying. Read more
Whether or not you’re a religious sort, chances are you’ll have come across the seven deadly sins. According to Christian theology, these are the seven vices which are supposedly the path to further immorality: pride, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth and greed. Of course, one man’s sin is another man’s natural human inclination. Look at Read more
A 2017 Unicef Report showed New Zealand has the highest rate of adolescent suicide of any country. What a record to have! If we are living in the real world, we are going to want to know why. Much commentary on suicide rates and suicide prevention recites statistics and demographics, trying to identify the risk Read more
The youngest adult generation in the country is the most accommodating to religious minorities in the workplace, according to a new nationwide survey on religion. “Millennials (born 1981-1996), Gen Z (born after 1996) and younger generations are far more supportive than older ones of the freedom to practice religion in the workplace,” the report states, which is Read more
In a motel’s car park in the balmy air of two-seasons tropical Port Moresby, I had an invigorating conversation with a man who asked me about snow. ‘Does it snow in Melbourne? I have not seen snow in six years. Where I am from there are seasons, and a foot of snow in the winter.’ Read more
No matter who we are or where we come from, we all desire respectful and respecting relationships. We want our children, our coworkers, our friends, who are women, to find enjoyment and kindness in their relationships – whether its a short term hook up or a long term partnership. In the wake of the trial Read more
If you have to ask a Jesuit to straighten out your finances, you are in big trouble. Yet that is what Pope Francis has done. True, some of us can balance our chequebooks, but that is not our charism. In the late 1980s, I was handed the books by the director of a Jesuit think Read more