If we want to be the change we want to see in the world, we know that Jesus says, we need to practice the Be-Attitudes. We need to be: poor – and/or identify with the poor in spirit empathic – and grieve over the injustice in the world meek –  and get angry about injustice, […]

In order to be to the change we want to see in the world, embodying ‘heaven on earth’, Jesus tells us we need live the attitudes he advocated in the beatitudes. If we read the text carefully we see that both the first and the last beatitude are about experiencing the ‘kingdom of heaven’ or […]

As Christians most of us feel confident about two things – one, we know the gospel; and two, we know we need to simply proclaim the gospel – as best we can – in word and in deed. But I’m not sure about either of those things any more. What is the ‘gospel’? Well, the […]

I love catching up with friends over a cup of tea. It’s a chance to take time out, swap stories, compare notes, and get some much-needed encouragement for the next stage of the journey. By the time we get round to the second or third cup of tea,  we often find ourselves talking about our […]

By Slavoj Žižek November 23, 2010 The recent expulsion oF illegal Roma (“Gypsies”) from France back to Romania sparked protests across Europe from both the liberal media and top politicians–and not only those on the Left. The expulsions, however, proceeded–and they are the tip of a much larger iceberg of European politics. Incidents like these […]

by Bradley Shingleton Compassion is an indispensible word in the vocabulary of religious experience and practice. Its emotional recognition, in situations of suffering and need, of a common thread binding life with life is both vital and potent. “He who feels no compassion,” says a Hasidic proverb, “will become insane.” But in common parlance, we […]

Mary MacKillop was born in Fitzroy in 1842 into a Scottish migrant family. Mary was the eldest of eight children, and their father – who had attended Scots College in Rome – educated the children at home. Having squandered most of the family fortune, the MacKillops were dirt poor. So at the age of fourteen, […]

Eight foreigners and two Afghans have been found shot dead next to abandoned vehicles in the north-eastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, officials say. The foreigners are believed to be six Americans, one Briton and a German, who worked for an international charity providing eye care and medical help. The vehicles were found a day after […]

June 14, 2010 Ross Gittins Should Christians support capitalism? According to a leading English layman, despite all its material benefits, capitalism as we know it contains moral flaws with serious social consequences. I’m in no position to preach to Christians, but I’m happy to pass on the views of Dr Michael Schluter, founder of Britain’s […]

Dave Andrews Probably the greatest Muslim proponent and practitioner of nonviolent jihad was Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Abdul Ghaffar Khan was born in Utmanzai in 1890. His father, Behram Khan, was a wealthy Pathan who ran a large guest house on the main road to Peshawar. Behram Khan had many servants, but he always took great […]

Dave Andrews In Reconstructing Jihad, my friend Halim Rane, a brilliant Muslim scholar, argues that the concept of jihad needs to be deconstructed – and reconstructed as a struggle for righteousness and for justice. Quoting Fatoohi, Halim says ‘jihad is most accurately defined as “exerting efforts, in the form of struggle against something in the […]

According to the famous evangelist, Stanley Jones, the scriptures are not ‘the Word of God’. He says, it is Jesus who is ‘the Word of God’. He says ‘we honour the Bible, for it leads us to his feet. But the Bible is not the revelation of God. It is the inspired record of the […]