RELIGION - The African Mirror

Sep

19

2020

Church, anti-abortion groups seen threatening women’s health bill in Kenya

RELIGION

NITA BHALLA ANTI-ABORTION and church groups in Kenya are spreading false information about a bill to tackle teenage pregnancy and maternal death, women's rights campaigners said on Friday, warning that lawmakers could be influenced and vote against it. The Reproductive Healthcare Bill, which is set to be sent to the Senate for debate in the coming days, includes provisions for sex education in schools, assisted reproduction such as surrogacy, and access to safe abortion services when necessary. "If this legislation is not approved, teenage pregnancies, school dropouts, maternal mortality will all get worse," said Stephanie Musho, a human rights lawyer,…

Sep

17

2020

By The African Mirror

Pope honours priest slain by immigrant; politician urges vendetta

RELIGION

PHILIP PULLELLA POPE Francis has paid tribute to an Italian priest killed by an immigrant suffering from mental illness, while far-right politician Matteo Salvini called for a "vendetta". Father Roberto Malgesini, 51, who cared for immigrants and other needy people in the northern city of Como, was found dead from a stab wound outside his residence on Tuesday morning. A Tunisian immigrant who police said was mentally ill later turned himself in to authorities. Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience, Francis said Malgesini was killed "by a needy person who he himself was helping, a person who…

Sep

12

2020

By The African Mirror

Places of worship are open, but mostly empty

RELIGION

NATION NYOKA PASTOR Tito Mhlongo*, 76, feels around his bedside table, picks up his tattered Bible and opens up a page in the book of Ezekiel. He counts five new R100 notes, before putting the Bible down and clutching the notes close to his chest. “I couldn’t sleep, but God heard my prayer. I was wondering how we were going to survive next month and dreading going to the pay point to collect my money,” he says, explaining that his granddaughter gave him the money when he least expected it. Adjusting the sunglasses he is wearing indoors, Mhlongo says he…

Nov

06

2020

By The African Mirror

Pope Francis is moving Catholics toward a more expansive understanding of family

RELIGION

JULIE HANLON RUBIO, Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University POPE Francis referred to gay people as “children of God” in a recently released documentary, “Francesco.” He further noted that “a civil union law” needs to be created so gays are “legally covered.” The Vatican later confirmed the pope’s comments, but clarified that the church doctrine remained unchanged. Public support for civil unions from Pope Francis is not entirely new. When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, and again in a 2014 interview, he spoke about civil unions for same-sex couples. While the Vatican…

Oct

13

2020

By The African Mirror

South African high court prohibits Muslim call to prayer. Why it got it wrong

RELIGION

HELENA VAN COLLER, Associate Professor in Public Law, Rhodes University THE High Court in Durban, the port city in KwaZulu-Natal on the east coast of South Africa, has granted an interdict against a mosque, stopping its call to prayer (the athaan or adhan) because it can be heard from a neighbour’s house across the street. The neighbour had complained that the noise deprived him of the enjoyment of his property and interrupted his peace and quiet. The court found that the constitutional right to freedom of religion did not guarantee the practice of the religion in the form of the…

Oct

13

2020

By The African Mirror

Pull investments from companies not committed to environment, pope says

RELIGION

PHILIP PULLELLA POPE Francis has urged people to pull investments from companies that are not committed to protecting the environment, adding his voice to calls for the economic model that emerges from the coronavirus pandemic to be a sustainable one. Francis spoke in a video message for an online event called "Countdown Global Launch, A Call to Action on Climate Change". "Science tells us, every day with more precision, that we need to act urgently ... if we are to have any hope of avoiding radical and catastrophic climate change," he said. The pope listed three action points: better education…

Oct

07

2020

By The African Mirror

How religion inspires the Nigerian diaspora to develop Africa

RELIGION

EDWARD ADEMOLU, LSE Fellow in Qualitative Research Methodology, London School of Economics and Political Science IN many ways, it’s challenging to define international development. What angle would you prioritise when you consider something so broad? Macroeconomics? Structural adjustment programmes? International trade policy? Or is it poverty reduction? All these are valid. But no definition would be complete without considering it from the viewpoint of so called ‘developed’ and ‘underdeveloped’ nations. Despite multiple interpretations, the broader understanding of faith and religion in development are barely understood. Especially for African diaspora communities engaged in development work. Religion has often been a key…

Nov

10

2020

By The African Mirror

Church of England leaders apologise for ‘damage and hurt’ to LGBT+ people

RELIGION

HUGO GREENHALGH THE church of England's two most senior figures have apologised for the "huge damage and hurt" caused to LGBT+ people, as the church published a package of teaching materials covering sexuality and gender identity. The archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell respectively, said in a joint foreword to the "Living in Love and Faith" resources that the church had caused, and continued to cause, "hurt and unnecessary suffering". Justin Welby. Archbishop of Canterbury "For such acts, each of us, and the Church collectively, should be deeply ashamed and repentant," wrote the leader of the…

Oct

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Pope Francis endorses same-sex unions

RELIGION

PHILLIP PULLELLA POPE Francis says that homosexuals should be protected by civil union laws, in some of the clearest language he has used on the rights of gay people. "Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it," he says in the documentary "Francesco" by Oscar-nominated director Evgeny Afineevsky. "What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that," he said. The pope appeared to…

Nov

25

2020

By The African Mirror

China says pope’s remarks about “persecuted” Uighurs are groundless

RELIGION

THE Chinese foreign ministry has dismissed Pope Francis's criticism of China's treatment of Muslim Uighurs as groundless. In a new book "Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future," Pope Francis said: "I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uighurs, the Yazidi." It was the first time he had called China's Uighurs a persecuted people, something human rights activists have been urging him to do for years. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian rejected his characterisation of the Uighurs. "The Chinese government has always protected the legal rights of ethnic minorities equally," he told a media briefing.…