In a study published by The Global Slavery Index, in 2018, North Korea stands to have the most modern-day slaves, a total estimate of 2.6 million in the country. Types of slavery included in the study are “human trafficking, forced marriage, and the exploitation of children, along with slavery,” The Blaze reports. Not included is organ trafficking and child soldier recruitment:

“Unfortunately, due to the limits of existing data, it was not possible for the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery to measure and include the scale of trafficking for organ removal or the recruitment child soldiers,” The Global Slavery Index concludes.

The Global Slavery Index defines modern slavery this way: “Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power. For example, their passport might be taken away if they are in a foreign country, they might experience or be threatened with violence, or their family might be threatened.”

In North Korea, modern-day slavery is so common that citizens believe it’s their duty. The Blaze reports, “One panellist for the Global Slavery Index, Dr Jang Jin-sung, used to be a member of the North Korean elite class, but that did not exempt him from forced labor. Dr. Jang said that many North Koreans don’t even realize that they were being…

Christianity is a faith with a long and detailed history, with numerous events of lasting significance occurring throughout the ages.

Each week brings the anniversaries of great milestones, horrid tragedies, amazing triumphs, telling tribulations, inspirational progress, and everything in between.

Here are just a few things that happened this week, July 22-28, in Church history. They include the birth of a monk who was a pioneer of modern science, the death of a prominent social gospel theologian, and a major defeat for the Second Crusade.

Gregor Mendel Born – July 22, 1822

Expand | Collapse

This week marks the anniversary of when Gregor Mendel, the Augustinian monk who is widely known as “the Father of Genetics,” was born.

A native of what is now the Czech Republic, Mendel was admitted to the Augustinian Order, a religious order known for placing value on research and education, on Sept. 7, 1843.

“Mendel did not set out to conduct the first well-controlled and brilliantly-designed experiments in genetics. His goal was to…

A 24-year-old Utah man born without limbs is thanking God for his talent and gifts and especially for his fiancée – a woman who has had a crush on him since childhood.

“[N]one of this is possible without God’s hand in it. By His grace am I able to do any of these things,” Gideon DiMeglio told KSL-TV.

DiMeglio was born in 1994 without hands or arms and with feet attached to short legs. An ultrasound had prepared his parents – born-again Christians – for his disability. He was their fourth child.

Soon, though, they discovered his many gifts. He had a big smile. He had an outgoing personality and was a leader among classmates at school. Most of all, he loved to draw – which he does today with his feet. His favorite drawing is of his fiancée, Brittani Salazar, who is able-bodied and has arms and legs.

“I had a little crush on Gideon when I was little, like ongoing, off and on. I was just always the annoying little sister,” she told KSL.

As a young girl, she didn’t see Gideon as disabled, even though he is in a motorized chair.

“In 9th grade, I think it was … we had to write a paper about someone who we know who had a disability, and I was like, ‘I can’t think of anyone,’” Salazar said. “And my brother said, ‘What about Gideon?’ And I said, ‘He doesn’t have a disability.’ It just came out because it was just normal to me.”

Said…

The Uniting Church in Australia’s Assembly voted Saturday to change the denomination’s definition of marriage and allow ministers to officiate weddings for same-sex couples. 

In a statement posted on the Church’s website, Uniting Church in Australia President Deidre Palmer announced the changes that were made by the 265-member assembly that gathered in Melbourne, saying: “To honor the diversity of Christian belief among our members, we will hold two equal and distinct statements of belief on marriage.”

The first statement of belief regarding marriage is one that the Uniting Church has been following for a long time.

“The existing statement of belief that ‘marriage for Christians is the freely given consent and commitment in public and before God of a man and a woman to live together for life’ has been retained,” Palmer said before added that “a new additional statement of belief has also been adopted.”

“That statement reads ‘marriage for Christians is the freely given consent and commitment in public and before God of two people to live together for life,’ Palmer said. 

Uniting Church in Australia is the third-largest Christian denomination in the…