Church of Scotland minister Rev Brian Casey launched a petition to help keep Giorgi Kakava in Scotland on Thursday, with more than 50,000 people having signed it in the last three days.

The youngster was just three when he fled Georgia with his mother Sopio Baikhadze, after she discovered his father – who later died – owed money to gangsters there.

The minister, who met the boy at primary school, became more involved with helping him when his mother – who was known as Sophie – died in February after suffering a “long and painful illness”.

Rev Casey, of Springburn Parish Church, said: “I conducted her funeral and have been supporting Giorgi ever since.

“Sophie was in the middle of an asylum application when she died and this has left Giorgi at threat of deportation to a country he doesn’t know and a language he cannot speak.”

The minister said: “Giorgi came here after his mother discovered that his father owed money to gangsters. They threatened Georgi’s life and his mum Sophie fled Georgia and came to Glasgow.

“I have known Giorgi since he went to the primary school I am the chaplain for and he is a gentle, thoughtful, intelligent and funny boy. A typical 10-year-old Scottish boy.”

He added: “Giorgi is, to all intents and purposes, Scottish and is doing well at his primary school. If he was returned to Georgia against his will, he would be under threat.”

Giorgi’s…

Religious think tank Theos released a new report entitled After Grenfell: the Faith Groups’ Response.

It states that faith organisations were vital to the response efforts and had a major impact.

“In the chaos, the role of the diverse faith groups in the community stood out. Churches, mosques, synagogues, and gurdwaras all stepped up to the plate, responding practically, emotionally and spiritually to a moment of pain and confusion. At least fifteen separate centres run by faith communities responded,” it said.

Amy Plender, research assistant with Theos, told Premier News Hour the immediacy of the response should be commended.

“Due to living in the community and being really rooted in the community they [faith groups] were able to open their doors within the hour of the first 999 calls,” she said.

“It was practical. They received and distributed food, water and clothing to people who had fled with literally just the clothes they were standing in.”

However, she noted that while the response was great, it wasn’t perfect and there is room to improve.

She said faith groups should have a financial and material donation system in place for when donations start flooding in.

Plender also stressed the importance of faith groups being noticeable in the community.

“If you’re a church that ever uses a dog collar… making sure you’re visible,” she said.

“Wearing your dog collar in…

US based Jack Phillips from Masterpiece Cakeshop said it went against his faith to provide the cake back in 2012.

Judges at the court ruled 7 to 2 in his favour.

They said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, who took the case against Phillips, showed hostility to religion.

The judges added that the rights of Jack Phillips had been violated under the first amendment.

Phillips was supported in the legal action by religious freedom group Alliance Defending Freedom.

Speaking after the verdict was announced on Monday, ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner said: “Jack serves all customers; he simply declines to express messages or celebrate events that violate his deeply held beliefs.

“Creative professionals who serve all people should be free to create art consistent with their convictions without the threat of government punishment. Government hostility toward people of faith has no place in our society, yet the state of Colorado was openly antagonistic toward Jack’s religious beliefs about marriage.

“The court was right to condemn that. Tolerance and respect for good-faith differences of opinion are essential in a society like ours. This decision makes clear that the government must respect Jack’s beliefs about marriage.

In a similar case in the UK, Ashers Bakery is currently awaiting a verdict in its appeal against a court…

The Catholic leader also appealed for peace in the Latin American nation, amid unrest first prompted in April by new legislation which cut social security and pensions.

The news agency of the Holy See, Vatican News, said: “Uniting himself to the concerns of the country’s bishops, the Pope called for an end to all violence and prayed for the victims and their families.”

Despite, swiftly revoking the unpopular law he introduced, President Daniel Ortega has seen himself become the focus of disquiet in Nicaragua – which is home to 5.9 million people.

Francis said that the Catholic Church is always supportive of dialogue but “it requires active engagement in respect for freedom and, above all, life.”

Human rights campaigners have accused police of using excessive force against demonstrators.

President Ortega says he has no intention of quitting.

On Saturday, two people died when police laid siege to a church where approximately 30 opposition supporters sought refuge – 20km south of the capital Managua. They were later freed after Catholic authorities intervened.

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The Gideons donated 344 New Testament Bibles for the new Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.

The hospital said the Bibles were placed in the sanctuary within the hospital, but “repeated requests from patients for Bibles saw medical staff take responsibility for storing supplies on wards – with a small number placed in individual rooms”.

However, according to The Express, the hospital decided to remove Bibles from rooms after someone complained that having them available would be giving Christianity “preferential treatment”.

Rev David Robertson of the Free Church of Scotland told Premier that Christianity was actually treated poorly in the situation.

“[It’s been treated as] very much a minority… as a hobby and with a great deal of disrespect,” he said.

“There is a privilege here, but it’s not for Christianity. It’s privilege for militant secularism which wants to exclude all religion form the public sphere.

“Having a Bible in a country where the majority of people still profess to be Christian, in an area where there are many Christian churches, is not rocket science.

“It can’t do any harm and it could actually do some people a great deal of good. So why would you prevent it just for ideological reasons?”

Rev Robertson said, in his experience of being in a long-term hospital patient, having a Bible readily available provides comfort for many people.

He believed the…

The kidnapping of Raymond Koh was caught on CCTV and Open Doors says it was conducted with military precision, implying it was a coordinated attack by trained individuals.

He’s not been seen since although there is hope that new evidence will lead to his release.

Three others were abducted around the time of Raymond Koh. Christian husband and wife, Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu, were last seen in November 2016, while Shia Muslim activist, Amri Che Mat, was abducted in a highly professional operation very similar to that of Raymond Koh.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has resumed an inquiry into the four disappearances after it was halted by police.

Last month, a police whistle-blower came forward to suggest a special branch of the police was involved in the abduction. The whistle-blower then retracted some of his claims. Open Doors suggested that was out of fear of a backlash from the perpetrators.

Calling for action from Malaysia’s new government, Zoe Smith, Head of Advocacy at Open Doors, said: “The facts of this case are utterly outrageous.

“We urge the new Malaysian government to urgently address these abductions as a matter of priority; to expose the truth of the sophisticated abductions of Raymond Koh and Amri Che Mat, and the disappearance of Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu; to secure the release of all four abductees; and to root out the corruption which allegedly led to approval from the highest…