The former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams suggested this week that the reason the Church of England neglected to take action in a specific sexual misconduct scandal was because the offending bishop, jailed in 2015 for several crimes, was gay.

Williams, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012, told an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse that his colleagues who felt “awkward about the traditional closeted attitude” of the Church of England were likely willing to extend “second chances” when it came to Peter Ball, the Telegraph reported Wednesday.

Ball is a former Anglican bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester, who was sent to prison in October 2015 for misconduct in public office and indecent assault against 18 teenagers and young men over the course of a few decades. He was released last year.

Williams noted that church figures did not desire to be viewed as “judgmental about people’s sexual activities” when asked by the lead counsel to the Anglican investigation if attitudes about homosexuality influenced the way Ball was treated.

“[W]e may formally in a disciplinary way disapprove, we may treat them according to…

An Indian Christian pastor who miraculously recovered after a Hindu extremist attacked him with a machete said the persecution he’s endured for his faith has only increased his passion for the Lord.

Persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA reports that 46-year-old Vipur, a house-church pastor from Madhya Pradesh, was severely injured in the machete attack carried out by a Hindu extremist who struck the pastor five times before fleeing.

Vipur managed to get away and limp home, where his wife and friends rushed him to a local hospital. Due to the large amount of blood he lost, death seemed imminent. However, after three months in the hospital, Vipur slowly regained his strength.

“Now, I can walk and move, but I’m still very weak,” he told Open Doors. “I always need someone to go with me. I’ve lost sensation in my face and am deaf in one ear. My eyes are dehydrated and are ultra-sensitive to light, which is why I have to wear very dark sunglasses.”

He identified his attacker to the police, and the man was arrested, then released — and Vipur still sees the man in the local market square.

“People tell me that if he drew my blood, I should draw his,” Vipur said….

Turkish prosecutors demanded life imprisonment for jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson in an official indictment presented to Izmir’s 2nd Criminal Court yesterday, 13 March.

Arrested without bail since October 2016, Brunson is accused of being “a member and executive” of the Islamic movement led by self-exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, accused of orchestrating the failed July 2016 coup attempt to overthrow the Turkish government.

According to the semi-official Anadolu Ajansi, the formal indictment also charges the pastor with establishing links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and obtaining espionage information for political and military purposes.

If the indictment is accepted by the court, formal trial proceedings are expected to be set in motion against Brunson. To date, neither the pastor nor his lawyer have been allowed any access to the legal file of investigations conducted by Turkish authorities into his case.

Commenting on the indictment, the two Vice Chairs of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Sandra Jolley and Kristina Arriaga, said: “USCIRF urges President Trump and others in the administration to redouble their ongoing efforts to secure Pastor Brunson’s release. No stone should be left unturned in our efforts on behalf of this unjustly imprisoned American. We call again for his immediate release and, if this is…