![[Book review] Divided: why we’re living in an age of walls](/media/cache/thumbnail/0/02/252sp_625w_410h_1x_1y.jpg)
Believing in a Creator who made all people equal and in a Saviour who is building a church of every tribe and nation, then Christians should surely be taking the lead in addressing the divisions of our deeply polarised world.
Conservatives and liberals in the United States (and increasingly elsewhere in the world) are accusing each other of creating an environment that contributes to political violence. We need to be very careful about making cause-effect connections. However, if we legitimize violence as a way to solve problems, we should not be surprised if others turn to violence also. If we sow the wind, we should not be surprised about reaping the whirlwind.
With increasing volatility in some parts of the world, displaced people are risking much to find safe haven in other nations. This is putting stress on host nation social services and straining social contracts. Migration as a divisive issue is becoming more intense. How should Christians in host nations navigate this?
Compassion is unquestionably a Christian virtue. But sometimes, good words like compassion get hijacked by not-so-good ideas—euthanasia is a case in point. "Medical assistance in dying" is becoming increasingly accepted in the Western world under the guise of compassion (and other euphemisms) informed by radical ideologies of individual autonomy. Followers of Jesus have a very different perspective.
FOMO (The Fear of Missing Out) erodes our joy. It edits God out of our moments. J.John tells of an experience at a Greek vacation venue where he learned that choosing the "half-board" accommodation rate came at a cost, and it was one that provided him with a valuable spiritual lesson—one we can all learn from.
A group of drug traffickers, armed with rifles and grenades, interrupted a live broadcast on a TV station in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The incident occurred amid the kidnapping of at least seven police officers and a series of explosions, a day after President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in the south American country.
The Taliban said it has been arresting women in Afghan cities for purportedly wearing a “bad hijab,” a violation of the terrorist group’s strict dress code, which is one of many restrictions imposed on women in that country since it returned to power in 2021.
A Christian woman was brutally attacked and murdered at the St. Mary's Cathedral Church compound situated in the Cantonment area in Varanasi on January 1. This, according to local media, marks the second murder of the year already, causing heightened concerns within the locals.
What do the former interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, and the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, have in common? All of them have received the support of evangelical sectors to reach or remain in power. In recent years, mentions of God and biblical passages seem to have multiplied in political speeches, and evangelical support was instrumental in the rise and fall of leaders as diverse as Evo Morales (Bolivia), Andrés Man
Statistics compiled by Worldometer, a database that tracks quantitative data on health, the global population and other metrics in real-time, show that more than 44.6 million abortions were performed worldwide in 2023. The last available snapshot of Worldometer from 2023, captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine by Dec. 31, shows that the number of abortions performed last year exceeds the combined number of casualties caused by the other leading causes of death listed.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) released a report this month forecasting a sharp global increase in the humanitarian crisis in 2024. In its 2024 Emergency Watch list, IRC President David Miliband’s wrote, “it’s the worst of times.” The report lists armed conflicts, rising debt crisis, climate change and donor apathy as contributing factors to what it described as “heightened” humanitarian crisis in 2024.
The All India Congress on Church in Mission (AICOCIM) opened Monday in Nagpur with a strong call for unity, courage, and renewed obedience as the Indian Church navigates a time of cultural, legal, and spiritual challenge.
