Category Archives: Religion

Churches tally up their value to society – at £12.4bn

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From food banks to youth clubs, the C of E hosts 35,000 projects. Now a price has been put on its contribution

Sixteen years ago, St Stephen’s church in Bradford was on the verge of closure. Its congregation had dwindled to half a dozen, and the building – a “big old barn of a place”, in a predominantly Muslim area – was in poor repair. “People thought it had had its day,” said the Rev Jimmy Hinton.

Now, St Stephen’s is a vital hub, providing support and activities in an area of acute deprivation. The nave has been cleared of its pews, and heating has been installed. On a typical day, you might find an exercise class, a support group for asylum seekers and refugees, community meals being cooked and served, singing and stories for infants, mosaic-making, and people hunting for jobs or claiming benefits online.

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Chinese detention ‘leaving thousands of Uighur children without parents’

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Researcher says Xinjiang files reveal government strategy of long-term social control

Thousands of Uighur children appear to have been left without parents as their mothers or fathers were forced into Chinese internment camps, prison and other detention facilities, according to evidence from government documents in Xinjiang.

Records compiled by officials in southern Xinjiang and analysed by the researcher Adrian Zenz indicate that in 2018 more than 9,500 mostly Uighur children in Yarkand county were classified either as experiencing “single hardship” or “double hardship” depending on if one or both parents were detained.

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Amy Coney Barrett faith group would expel members over gay sex, leader said

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People of Praise head Craig Lent made comment in 2018 as Barrett says she would never discriminate over sexual orientation

The Christian community where Amy Coney Barrett has previously served as a female leader – or handmaid – expels members who engage in gay sex, according to a 2018 interview with Craig Lent, the group’s current head.

Related: Amy Coney Barrett hearing: top Republican praises judge for being 'unashamedly pro-life' – live

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Beatified millennial: Pope sets late tech whiz on path to sainthood

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Carlo Acutis helped spread Catholic teaching online before his death aged 15 in 2006

Pope Francis said the beatification of an Italian computer whiz-kid was a sign to young people that “true happiness comes from putting God first”.

Carlo Acutis, who is on a path to sainthood after being beatified in the Umbrian town of Assisi, helped spread Roman Catholic teaching online before his death from leukaemia aged 15 in 2006. He is the youngest contemporary person to be beatified.

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Revealed: Amy Coney Barrett lived in home of secretive Christian group’s co-founder

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Details of link to Kevin Ranaghan raise fresh questions about supreme court nominee’s involvement with People of Praise

Amy Coney Barrett lived in the home of one of the founders of the People of Praise while she was a law student, raising new questions about the supreme court nominee’s involvement with the secretive Christian faith group that has been criticized for dominating the lives of its members and subjugating women.

Related: Amy Coney Barrett: quick confirmation under threat as three senators infected

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Ex-BBC presenter and pastor jailed for 10 years for prolific sexual abuse

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Benjamin Thomas pleaded guilty to 40 offences over 30 years, mainly against teenage boys

A former pastor and BBC television presenter has been jailed for 10 years and four months after he admitted abusing boys and men over almost three decades.

Ben Thomas, 44, carried out many of his attacks while his victims were sleeping at Christian camps and conferences, Mold crown court in north Wales heard.

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Macron outlines new law to prevent Islamic ‘separatism’ in France

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Local officials will get extra powers to fight radicalism and social problems will be tackled

Emmanuel Macron has announced a law against religious “separatism” aimed at freeing Islam in France from “foreign influences”.

In a long-awaited declaration, the French president outlined new measures to “defend the republic and its values and ensure it respects its promises of equality and emancipation”.

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China confirms death of Uighur man whose family says was held in Xinjiang camps

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Beijing formally confirmed death to UN but man’s daughter disputes suggestion he died of ‘pneumonia and tuberculosis’ in 2018

The Chinese government has taken the rare step of formally confirming to the UN the death of a Uighur man whose family believe had been held in a Xinjiang internment camp since 2017.

More than one million people from the Uighur and Turkic Muslim communities in the far western region of Xinjiang are believed to have been detained in camps since 2017, under a crackdown on ethnic minorities which experts say amounts to cultural genocide. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has repeatedly refused requests by international bodies to independently visit and investigate the region, despite growing international backlash.

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Vatican official accuses Trump administration of exploiting pope

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Pope Francis reportedly declined to meet Mike Pompeo during his visit this week, citing closeness of US presidential election

A top Vatican official has accused Donald Trump’s administration of exploiting Pope Francis in the final stages of the US presidential election campaign.

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, spoke at a conference on religious freedom on Wednesday organised by the US embassy to the Holy See during his visit to Italy.

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Israeli politicians argue over Covid curbs on protests and prayers

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Sombre Yom Kippur provides only a temporary pause to debate about tighter lockdown

Israeli politicians are considering whether to tighten an already paralysing second coronavirus lockdown by bringing in controversial measures to limit people’s ability to protest and pray together.

Life in the country of 9 million ground to a halt on Sunday night and into Monday for Yom Kippur, the annual Jewish Day of Atonement when much of the country shuts down, with people fasting for 25 hours, TV and radio stations going silent, and large sections of secular society forgoing driving and turning off their phones.

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Suspect in new Charlie Hebdo attack angered by republished cartoons, say Paris police

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Detained man, believed to be 18 and from Pakistan, arrived in France as unaccompanied minor three years ago

The man arrested after a knife attack on two people outside the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo told detectives he had been angered by its publication of cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad, French media reported yesterday.

The suspect, believed to be an 18-year-old born in Pakistan, is thought to have arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor.

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Thousands of Xinjiang mosques destroyed or damaged, report finds

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Chinese region has fewer mosques and shrines than at any time since Cultural Revolution, says thinktank

Thousands of mosques in Xinjiang have been damaged or destroyed in just three years, leaving fewer in the region than at any time since the Cultural Revolution, according to a report on Chinese oppression of Muslim minorities.

The revelations are contained in an expansive data project by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), which used satellite imagery and on-the-ground reporting to map the extensive and continuing construction of detention camps and destruction of cultural and religious sites in the north-western region.

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Russian authorities arrest cult leader who claims to be Jesus – video

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The leader of a cult who claims to be a reincarnation of Jesus was arrested in Russia in a special operation.

Armed officers stormed communities in the depths of Siberia that have been run by Sergei Torop, known to his followers as Vissarion, for the past three decades, with masked troops leading the 59-year-old to a helicopter.

Russia’s investigative committee said it would charge him with organising an illegal religious organisation, alleging that the cult extorted money from followers and subjected them to emotional abuse

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Cult leader who claims to be reincarnation of Jesus arrested in Russia

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Former traffic officer Sergei Torop, AKA Vissarion, arrested in special operation in Siberia

Russian authorities have mounted a special operation to arrest a former traffic police officer who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus and has run a cult based in the depths of Siberia for the past three decades.

Helicopters and armed officers stormed communities run by Sergei Torop, known to his followers as Vissarion, and arrested the leader and two of his aides. Russia’s investigative committee said it would charge him with organising an illegal religious organisation, alleging that the cult extorted money from followers and subjected them to emotional abuse.

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Justice and the Rohingya people are the losers in Asia’s new cold war

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Attacks against the Muslim minority in Myanmar have gone unchecked as regional players focus on their own interests

The persecution, ethnic cleansing, and attempted genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state is an affront to the rule of law, a well-documented atrocity and, according to a top international lawyer, a moral stain on “our collective conscience and humanity”. So why are the killings and other horrors continuing while known perpetrators go unpunished?

It’s a question with several possible answers. Maybe poor, isolated Myanmar, formerly Burma, is not important enough a state to warrant sustained international attention. Perhaps, in the western subconscious, the lives of a largely unseen, unknown, brown-skinned Muslim minority do not matter so much at a time of multiple racial, ethnic and refugee crises.

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Black churches say Donald Trump election ad incites ‘white terrorism’

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  • Leaders call for removal of ad depicting worshippers as ‘thugs’
  • Video pairs Biden at prayer with scenes of street violence

Black American church leaders have accused Donald Trump of inciting “white terrorism” against people of colour and depicting churchgoers as “thugs” in a presidential election campaign ad.

They are calling for the advertisement’s removal from display and federal protection from any bias or threats it could provoke.

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Outdoor worship, short services: ways to mark Yom Kippur during Covid

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Coronavirus bans have forced Jewish communities to adapt and innovate as the year’s high holy days draw near

Rochelle Shorrick’s freezer would normally be filled well in advance with meals for extended family and friends over the Jewish high holy days of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.

Usually she bakes a honey cake to signify a sweet new year, and pops some extra dishes in the freezer in case of last-minute guests. She looks forward to several visits to her local synagogue in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, with her husband and three children – especially the service which precedes 25 hours of fasting and prayer on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

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Pope Francis: gossip is ‘plague worse than Covid’ – video

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Pope Francis strays from his prepared text to repeat his frequent complaint about gossiping within church communities and even within the Vatican bureaucracy. Francis did not give specifics during his weekly blessing, but went on at some length to say the devil is the 'biggest gossiper' who is seeking to divide the church with his lies

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The Christchurch testimonies: survivors and the bereaved give their accounts of New Zealand’s worst terror attack

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More than 90 people – the wounded, the mourning, the defiant – spoke at the sentencing hearing for the gunman responsible for New Zealand’s most deadly terrorist attack, explaining how the massacre changed their lives forever. Here we document their evidence

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Covid turns tide on India’s Ganesh festival traditions

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Thousands of ritual statues are dunked into the sea off Mumbai each year – but coronavirus and pollution concerns are forcing change

In the quiet housing estate of Angrewadi in the heart of Girgaon in south Mumbai, people are celebrating the 100th consecutive year of the Ganesh Chaturthi, the Hindu festival of the elephant-headed god of new beginnings. Statues of Lord Ganesh are brought into homes and put on display for offerings and prayers.

On the 11th and final day of the festival, the ritual of Ganesh Visarjan takes place – falling this year on 1 September. The statues, normally made of soluble plaster of paris, are traditionally carried in a public procession with music and chanting, and are then immersed in either a river or the sea. Here, they slowly dissolve in a ceremony that dramatises the Hindu view of the ephemeral nature of life – but also causes widespread pollution.

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