Gleanings aims to equip the Australian Christian with the knowledge and tools necessary to live as a light and salt in the Australian social and political spheres.
The Barnabas Fund reports that the church in Kenya and Tanzania is under mounting threat from radical Islamist groups that are carrying out attacks with growing frequency and ferocity in a bid to wipe out Christianity from Africa’s east coast. For full story click here.
New research from the US-based Gallup group suggests marital status has a strong influence on wellbeing.
The survey of more than 350,000 Americans found that wellbeing scores differed according to whether people were married, single, cohabiting, divorced or separated. Source: April 21, 2012 Christianity Today
On April 21, the founder of Prison Fellowship, Chuck Colson, passed away at the age of 80. He became a Christian after reading a copy of Mere Christianity written by C S Lewis. To read more about Colson and his work see: http://www.qideas.org/video/cultural-commission.aspx
For news article from Christianity Today click here.
Click here for info on Prison Fellowship Australia.
Panelists and viewers on last weeks Q and A were making a mockery of Christianity following the discussion between atheist Richard Dawkins and the most senior Catholic Church man in Australia, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell the previous week. Pell made many confusing comments not based on Scripture and denying scripture passages such as the story of Adam and Eve.
To read the transcript or watch the debate click here.
Some parents, supported by the organisation Fairness in Religions, have launched a landmark legal bid to stop Christian teachings in government schools.
Fairness in Religions in School believes “Sunday school lessons” by church volunteers should be replaced by “culturally diverse and unbiased” classes. For story click here.
The Perth Bible College is holding a series of seminars on Christianity and World religions – spotlight on Buddhism, Islam and Western Ideologies.
Thursday March 8, 6.15-9pm, Buddhism with Jim Dawson.
Saturday March 17, 9am-4pm, Islam with Tillman Klein.
Thur March 29, 6.15-9pm, Western Ideologies with Stephen McAlpine.
Thur April 5,6.15-9pm, Western Ideologies with Stephen McAlpine.
For info contact the Principal David Smith on david@pbc.wa.edu.au
Christians make up about the same portion of the world’s population today (32%) as they did a century ago (35%), according to a report by Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center says: “This apparent stability, however, masks a momentous shift. Although Europe and the Americas still are home to a majority of the world’s Christians (63%), that share is much lower than it was in 1910 (93%). And the proportion of Europeans and Americans who are Christian has dropped from 95% in 1910 to 76% in 2010 in Europe as a whole, and from 96% to 86% in the Americas as a whole. At the same time, Christianity has grown enormously in subSaharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century.”
The report says about 50% of the christians are Catholic while 37% are Protesant.
For full report: Global Christianity
A new Channel 10 programme, called Good News World and hosted by Paul McDermott featured on 28 November 2011 a \”Christ\” puppet. According to Bishop Peter Ingham the programme left him cold as the \”Jesus launched into a tirade tearing apart tenets of the Christian faith. \”The Jesus\” had lost interest in Christianity and converted to Scientology etc. The Bishop said he called Channel 10 to complain. For the Bishops article on the programme: http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=29373
Programme info: http://ten.com.au/goodnewsworld.htm
For Channel 10 contact details and complaint procedure: http://ten.com.au/contact-us.htm
A new 30 minute film from www.livingwaters.com shows how people’s views on abortion and also the need for a saviour can change 180 degrees with a few compelling questions. To watch documentary (warning: contains graphic images of the holocaust): http://heartchanger.com/index.php
“The Christian church is sleeping through its own execution. It seems most Christians have no clue that war has been declared against the Christian faith,” writes Bill Muehlenberg from CultureWatch.
For story: http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/09/27/more-appalling-christophobia/
