Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets and the hunt is on for life beyond Earth. Once biological neighbors are identified, our planet’s philosophies and religions will need to adapt.
An Iraqi man prays at the Al-Noori Al-Kabeer mosque – now draped with the Islamic State flag – in Mosul, northern Iraq.
EPA/STR
Islam has a history of violence. Muslims can be violent. Denying this is not at all different to denying that Islam is peaceful and that all Muslims are pacifists. The dichotomy is simply false. The Qur’an…
Known as White Rocks, this quartz outcrop was the site of a three-hour gun battle in 1915 between police and two Afghans, who had shot and killed picnickers leaving Broken Hill.
Amanda Slater/Flickr
It’s another hot Australian New Year’s Day, and 1200 people are aboard a train bound for a picnic when a burst of gunfire shatters the festive atmosphere. Police return fire, killing the attackers – but…
Australian women of different faiths gathered at Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque last month in a show of community solidarity.
AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy
From anarchists in the 1920s and radical leftists in the 1960s, to fringe, extreme-right Christian bombers or gunmen in the United States in recent decades, or radical Islamists such as Islamic State today…
All bets are off over what the former Archbishop thinks about religion in public life.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive/Press Association Images
A high-level commission has been convened to consider the place of religion in British public life. But the way this commission has been put together makes it part of the problem rather than promising…
Islamic State militants have destroyed sites of great cultural and historical significance in Iraq, such as the tomb of the prophet Jonah in Mosul.
EPA/Stringer
Iraq previously had one of the most multicultural societies in the Middle East. A broad diversity of religions, races and cultures flourished in Iraq, united by common heritage, culture and traditions…
One of Mosul’s 22 churches, facing destruction.
EPA/STR
ISIS conquests across northern Iraq have been comprehensive in recent weeks. Taking control of large parts of the region, they declared a Caliphate last month. And one group who have especially suffered…
In 1979, the year Mrs Thatcher came to power, the Now! Religion Survey found that 85% of Anglicans thought women should be able to be clergy. It took the Church of England a further 15 years of wrangling…
You wanted a gay rights cake? Why didn’t you come to me?
Anthony Upton/PA
The recent furore over a Northern Ireland bakery’s refusal to make a cake bearing the iced message “support gay marriage” is just the latest in a series of incidents in which conservative Christians have…
Part of the skyline… but part of the school day too?
Mikepaws
When prime minister David Cameron said recently that Britain was a “Christian country” and we shouldn’t be afraid to say so, his words sparked a furore. While the idea of “Christian Britain” is largely…
Let us pray.
Open book by Sergey and Ekaterina/Shutterstock
Challenges from parents and teachers to the law requiring an act of collective worship in schools are not new. Now the National Governors’ Association has called for Christian assemblies in non-religious…
Bible literacy’s up in this electric chapel.
Teemu Rytky
Easter is here, and while some might reflect on the resurrection of Christ, I’m wondering at another miracle of sorts that we’re witnessing – the renaissance of the Bible in popular culture. The run up…
When it comes to the topic of conservative Christian home schooling, the term “politically tolerant” usually doesn’t spring to mind. Even while the home schooling phenomenon continues to grow and diversify…
Jane Austen as she will appear on the £10 note from 2017.
Laura Lean/PA Wire
Jane Austen never ceases to surprise and fascinate us. From Dr Paula Byrne’s claim to have discovered a new portrait in 2011 to Kelly Clarkson’s unsuccessful bid for Austen’s turquoise and gold ring last…
Christopher Pyne says students need to be taught ‘the significance of Judeo-Christian values’ to Australia, but where in the discourse did ‘Judeo-Christian’ come from?
AAP/Dave Hunt
Education minister Christopher Pyne has copped it from the Left with both barrels for demanding that the Australian education curriculum teach students “the significance of Judeo-Christian values to our…
Can President Museveni be persuaded to veto the bill?
UK department of International Development
The passing of the anti-homosexuality bill (AHB) has been dubbed a surprise Christmas present to Uganda’s large and powerful Pentecostal-charismatic community, but last week’s law banning homosexuality…
George Carey outside the parish Church in Dagenham where he was baptised.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Archive
Like an Old Testament prophet telling the Israelites that they were doomed, Lord Carey has been warning Anglicans for years of their possible annihilation. The Church is “one generation away from extinction…
It is possible to be a Christian and to reject the idea humans are at the centre of creation.
Justin Brown
Despite the views of some church leaders - such as George Pell - who deny global warming, most Christians understand the need to care for the natural world and have embraced the scientific consensus on…
Some people are ignorant. There are no cases, however, of ignorance being listed as the cause of death on someone’s death certificate. On the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday night, Archbishop Jensen agreed…
Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity