Grief ….. shame ….. and anger
(June 24, 2013)Yesterday I went to “A Christian Service of Commemoration for Those Lost at Sea”. It was a surprisingly moving experience for me.
Tag: world
Two films about Australia's boat refugees
(June 20, 2013)Persecution and death threats in their home countries lead many Afghanis, Sri Lankans and others to seek to enter Australia as refugees. Many attempt the often perilous journey to Australia by crowded boat. Many die in the attempt, but most are found to be genuine refugees. We can assimilate these people without too much difficulty, […]
Miraculous healings: evidence of God's love?
(May 4, 2013)A few weeks back I posted on an investigation by Craig Keener of accounts of healing miracles around the world, which concluded that perhaps 300 to 400 million christians around the world believed they had experienced, or observed, a miraculous healing. Here is some more information, and an estimation of probability.
Begin to combat slavery
(April 16, 2013)Yesterday I outlined some terrible facts about modern-day slavery (People shouldn’t be bought and sold). But what can we practically do?
People shouldn't be bought and sold
(April 15, 2013)When I was at school, we were taught about how slavery was abolished in Britain and the USA. This was obviously a good thing. It came as a shock to find out, some years ago now, that there are more slaves in the world than ever before.
Half a billion healings?
(April 7, 2013)It is a circular argument, but it has been made often, from David Hume down to present day sceptics. There is no believable evidence for genuine miraculous healings, they say. But what about all the stories of people being healed? We know they can’t be true, they say, because no-one has ever shown scientifically that […]
The Bible: where the rubber hits the road
(March 26, 2013)This will probably be the last in this series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. When it’s all said and done about the Bible, sometimes more is said than done. But the purpose of the Bible is not to simply read, but to lead us to action. What does the Bible […]
One billion rising
(February 16, 2013)One billion women around the world dancing and making a point. What’s not to like? And what’s the point?
Tony's Chocolonely – serious chocolate!
(January 8, 2013)Regular readers will know that one of my ’causes’ is ethical chocolate – chocolate that is grown by free farmers who are paid a fair wage, and not by trafficked children working more or less as slaves. (For background, see Ethical chocolate update.) So it was with great delight that I received a weighty package […]
How many christian denominations worldwide?
(November 23, 2012)Many people read this post and then misquote it. They actually ignore the data. Many people quote the statistic that there are more than 30,000 christian denominations. It turns out this is mistaken. There are about 40,000 christian church organisations, three quarters of them independent churches, not denominations, in Africa. The number of denominations is […]