The charity have released a new report highlighting the development work of Syrian civil society organisations and are calling for worldwide support and funding to be maintained.

The Syrian Civil War has seen the country’s people in conflict since March 2011. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and 630,000 people have fled the violence and remain displaced.

Syrian NGOs have been working to provide human rights, community development, and humanitarian aid across Syria over the past eight years, but are under increasing threat of being shut down by the government.

 
Christian Aid are calling for peace-makers and activists, who are committed to the rebuilding of their country, to be prioritised.

Máiréad Collins is Christian Aid’s Senior Advocacy Adviser for Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and the report’s author.

Speaking to Premier, she urged the international community “not to walk away” from the civil society movement that has developed in Syria and to “continue to fund them.”

She said: “In terms of the future of Syria, we really feel that the hope lies with Syrian Civil Society to ensure a sustained peace and a democratic future.”

“In order to fight to have a free and open civil society” she said, “is not something that can be done in one year or two years, it’s a long term goal and a long term struggle.”

She went on to say that a crisis can unfortunately become…

According to Christian anti-persecution charity CSW, as Leo Johnson and his wife Jenifa were making their way back home in the residential area of Bombay Castle, Nilgiris, they were stopped and questioned by a man believed to be affiliated with the far-right Hindu nationalist group, Hindu Munani.

The man allegedly called two other friends and they started harassing the couple, accusing them of forcing people in the neighbourhood to convert.

Johnson told CSW: “We did not speak to people about Jesus. All my wife and I did was to distribute the tracts to homes. No one was forced to take the literature.”

Johnson said that despite explaining what they were doing, the three men threatened him and his wife by raising their fists and using abusive language. They warned the couple never to share tracts in the area, and that if they were seen again they would be attacked violently.

The men then demanded the couple apply holy ash on their foreheads, which they collected from a local Hindu temple.

Mr Johnson was forced to put some on his wife’s forehead.

He said: “Jenifa was terrified by the incident and started crying. I did not know what to do and to avert further harassment, I submitted to their demands. This should not have happened to us as India is supposed to be a free country where we can practice our faith. Even though it was a humiliating moment for us as it all…

The Harry Potter series came top, with 50 Shades of Grey third on the list.

The survey of 1000 people, by Stena Line, asked people what their favourite book to read on holiday was.

The Bible was top of the list among men and remained second among women. 

The Top 10 were:

1. The Harry Potter series

2. The Bible

3. 50 Shades of Grey

4. The Lord of the Rings

5. Stephen King’s It

6. Catch 22

7. The Hobbit

8. A Song of Ice and Fire series

9. The Godfather

10. War and Peace.

Olivia Warburton, the head of content creation from the Bible Reading Fellowship told Premier: “They’re all pretty substantial…people are clearly up for serious holiday reading rather than your light holiday read, which might be what you’d assume.

“I suppose that’s sort of suggesting that people are really up for some serious time on holiday, when they have that time, to really engage with something that they think is important. So, from that point of view, it’s not surprising that the Bible’s in there.”

She said the distance from home might also amke people feel more comfortable around a big book, saying: “People have space – physical space, mental space, break from the routine and more attention to spare and holidays are a time when change can happen, new things can happen, maybe new starts when you when you get back home.”

Olivia suggested taking a Bible on a kindle on holiday and starting in one of the…

The Trussell Trust is urging the government to end the five week wait for Universal Credit and says the longer the new benefits system has been rolled out in an area, the more people are plunged into poverty.

The charity highlights that while the Department for Work and Pensions has attempted to find solutions to issues with Universal Credit, the wait for a first benefit payment, which is often longer than five weeks, is continuing to cause unnecessary hardship.

Gary Lemon, Director of policy, external affairs and research for the Trussel Trust, told Premier: “We found some really clear correlations between increased demand and when universal credit actually hits the area which the food banks are in.

“We found that on average, the year after food banks have been rolled out, they see a 30% increase in demand and after 18 months that jumps up to 40% and just keeps on going up and up. So, two years after Universal Credit is rolled out, the average increases 48%.”

He explained what Christians can do: “The church has got an important role, lots of people across the UK listen when people from within the church speak, I think it’s important that people are aware of the issues that are going on and understand that these are systemic things that are really important.

“The first step is for all of these groups of people within the church to say ‘this isn’t right, this…

On Tuesday a display of plants were set up in the seminary’s chapel and students in the “Extractivism: A Ritual/Liturgical Response” class said sorry to them.

Today in chapel, we confessed to plants. Together, we held our grief, joy, regret, hope, guilt and sorrow in prayer; offering them to the beings who sustain us but whose gift we too often fail to honor.

What do you confess to the plants in your life? pic.twitter.com/tEs3Vm8oU4

— Union Seminary (@UnionSeminary) September 17, 2019

The ceremony has prompted some criticism and mocking on social media, with some calling it nonsense or crazy.

The New York school has defended itself saying it was a “beautiful ritual” for students to confess the harm we’ve done to plants.

It added that the world is in a climate emergency caused by our disregard for creation and part of addressing the issue should be building new bridges to the natural world spiritually.

“Far too often, we see the natural world only as resources to be extracted for our use, not divinely created in their own right-worthy of honour, thanks and care,” the statement read.

“We need to unlearn habits of sin and death. And part of that work must be building new bridges to the natural world.”

So, if you’re poking fun, we’d ask…