Southwark Cathedral defends hosting fashion show with scantily clad models

The London church was used as a venue for a fashion show by designer Julien McDonald on Monday and featured models both male and female, some with little clothes on.

 

The aisle of the cathedral was used as the catwalk with hundreds watching on.

Former chaplain to the Queen Rev Dr Gavin Ashenden said the show went against the message of the faith.

Speaking to the Telegraph he said: “The cathedral should ask itself to see if the complaints about the fashion industry – as promoting a narcissistic self-referential display for the very rich – is indeed conducive with the values of the Christian gospel.

“I think the fashion industry is the antithesis of the Christian gospel. It’s about the exposure of the poverty of our souls and that’s about hiding the state of the soul in an excess of glamour.

“A cathedral ought to think twice before it provides a platform to a cultural venture like this.”

PA

 

Simon Ward is a Christian who ran London Fashion Week for 35 years.

He says the hosting of a show isn’t the problem.

“In principle, I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “It’s a question of what’s shown in the cathedral and how it’s shown.

“If I was the person booking a show into my cathedral I’d have been quite clear in the terms and conditions, there are lines beyond which you will not be allowed to go and if that doesn’t work for what you…

… Read More



Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

The Israeli election: A day can change the world

Torn campaign poster for Benjamin Netanyahu, Sept. 17, 2019.

Yesterday, Israel held what is being called “one of the strangest and potentially most significant elections in the country’s modern history.” This morning, with over 90 percent of the vote tallied, both main parties are locked in a dead heat. The official results are expected later today.

Twenty-nine parties participated in the election. As expected, none won a majority in the Knesset, the country’s 120-seat parliament. According to the Jerusalem Post, the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking an unprecedented fifth term, presently has thirty-three seats, as does the main opposition party

Next Sunday, all party leaders who achieved representation in the parliament will begin consultations with Israel’s president, who will ask one of them to begin talks with other parties aimed at forming a coalition government. 

Duke University bars Young Life 

A day can seem to change the world. 

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that Christian calligraphers and painters Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski do not have to create “custom artwork to celebrate and promote messages they disagree with” such as same-sex wedding invitations. 

Juxtaposed with this good news is the bad news: Duke University’s student government has denied Young Life official status as a student group on campus because of the ministry’s commitment to biblical sexual morality for its staff and volunteers. Duke was begun by Methodist and Quaker families and was called Trinity College for many years; I wonder what its founders would think of this announcement. 

The news sometimes changes over the same news story. 

Opponents of Justice Brett Kavanaugh were encouraged over the weekend by a New York Times article detailing a previously unreported allegation of sexual misconduct against him. Supporters of Justice Kavanaugh were encouraged by the subsequent disclosure that…

… Read More



Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.

قالب وردپرس

Brad Pitt says he’s given up on atheism and ‘clings to religion’

In an interview about his new feature film role in the space drama ‘Ad Astra’, he said that he clings to religion. However, it’s unclear if he practices a faith.

 

The 55-year-old actor said: “I grew up with Christianity. Always questioned it, but it worked at times. And then when I got on my own, I completely left it and I called myself agnostic.

“Tried a few spiritual things but didn’t feel right. Then I called myself an atheist for a while, just kind of being rebellious. I wasn’t really. But I kinda labelled myself that for a while. It felt punk rock enough.

“And then I found myself coming back around to just belief in- I hate to use the word spirituality, but just a belief in that we’re all connected.”

In 2017, Pitt revealed details about his Christian upbringing to GQ.

He explained that he grew up in a family that attended a Baptist church and described it as the “cleaner, stricter, by-the-book Christianity”.

He then said when he was in high school his parents joined a “more charismatic movement which got into speaking in tongues and raising your hands”.

While he gave a negative approach to his parent’s faith, Pitt gave some sort validation to speaking in tongues saying: “I know they believe it. I know they’re releasing something. God, we’re complicated.”

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily…

… Read More



Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

Inquiry urged amid rumours paedophile priest was police informer

KRW Law is making a formal submission to the Government to probe Malachy Finegan’s relationship with the police.

The priest is alleged to have committed a litany of abuse against children over decades, both as his time as a teacher and president of St Colman’s College in Newry and later as parish priest at nearby Clonduff.

Kevin Winters of KRW Law told the PA news agency that his call for an inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act comes after the Crown Solicitors’ Office, responding on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said it could neither “confirm or deny” that Finegan had been an informant.

 

Mr Winters said rumour and speculation that Finegan, who died in 2002, may have avoided prosecution by giving information.

“Malachy Finegan was involved in the abuse of boys on an industrial scale,” he said.

“Many, many complaints were filed with the police over a 25-year period, there were investigations and they all came back to nought.

“So for many years people were asking why that was allowed to happen, why were there no directions to prosecute.”

He added: “Anecdotally there was word that Malachy Finegan may have been an informant and we wrote to the PSNI asking them to confirm or deny that and they came back and said they would reply the policy of NCND (neither confirm or deny), so it is against that background that we wrote the secretary of state demanding an…

… Read More



Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

Church sets up safe houses for gang members wanting to leave life of crime

Pastors from Spac Nation Church have spearheaded the new project.

There have been 63 fatal stabbings in the capital this year.

 

Senior pastor Tobi Adegboyega told Sky News many of the youngsters he sees are missing out on a real childhood.

“In our community now, teenage years are drugs and knives.  Most times it’s [the project] their first chance. These guys haven’t seen the other part of life. Then they can make a decision if they want to live right or not.”

So far more than 100 young people have taken part in the scheme. They are also helped with education and employment while they’re there.

Those under 18 require permission from their local authority in order to be allowed to live in a safe house.

 

Shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott has backed the initiative.

The representative for Hackney North and Stoke Newington said the safe houses seem to be working and would be part of a solution.

The church has been known for focusing on tackling violent crime.

It has encouraged people to turn in drugs and knives at the altar.

According to Sky…

… Read More



Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

Social Media Backlash Reflects New Era of Hostility in Nepal

Social Media Backlash Reflects New Era of Hostility in Nepal



HYDERABADIndia, September 16, 2019 (Morning Star News) – Hindu extremist threats have driven a pastor in Nepal into hiding following a leak onto social media of a restricted audience-interview he gave on his journey to Christ, sources said.


Pastor Sukdev Giri of Trinity Fellowship church in Chitwan District has received death threats, he said. He has changed his phone number, but his family and friends are also receiving threatening calls, he told Morning Star News.


In a sign of how the Himalayan country has become increasingly radicalized, Pastor Giri, 59, has been unable to return home from ministry travels since a video of his comments hit YouTube in mid-August.


“It is the first time a Christian [in Nepal] has been targeted for sharing [on social and other media] about his past religion and introduction into Christianity,” legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom’s allied attorney in Nepal, Ganesh Sreshta, told Morning Star News. “It is turning out to be a high-profile issue, with Hindu fundamentalist groups linked to prominent political leaders taking interest in this video.”


The video shot in March at the International Christian Media Workers Summit in Kathmandu, where Pastor Giri was one of the speakers on a panel, was available only to Christian audiences until a Nepalese Christian woman abroad posted it on YouTube. During the panel presentation on…

… Read More

Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

قالب وردپرس

‘God Won’: Georgia School OKs Prayer at Football Games, Despite Atheist Complaints

‘God Won’: Georgia School OKs Prayer at Football Games, Despite Atheist Complaints



A Georgia county’s board of education says it has found a legal way to allow prayer before high school football games following complaints from an atheist organization.


Under the old policy, football games at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Ga., began with student-led prayer. That changed last week, when the high school omitted the prayer due to a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which wrote in a letter that the district “must take immediate action to end the practice of scheduling prayer at school-sponsored events and end the use of district equipment to project prayers to the public.” 


Under the new policy, football games will begin with a student presenting whatever he or she desires, from a song to a poem to a prayer, WCTV-TV reported.


The Lowndes County Schools Board of Education adopted the policy on its first reading Monday night in a crowded meeting. Parents and boosters cheered as the new policy was passed, WCTV reported. 


It still must be approved in a second reading next month, although the board said it could go into effect immediately.


“We knew coming in after our meeting last week that we had to put some work on it because our constituents were not going to let us say no way,” said Dave Clark, board chairman.


One of those constituents, Joe Copeland, applauded the board for not backing down.


“God…

… Read More

Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

قالب وردپرس

California Senate Passes Resolution Calling All Californians to Embrace LGBTQ Lifestyles

California Senate Passes Resolution Calling All Californians to Embrace LGBTQ Lifestyles



Earlier this week, the California Senate passed a resolution calling upon all Californians—despite religious beliefs—to embrace LGBTQ lifestyles.


Assembly Concurrent Resolution 99 (ACR99), introduced by Evan Low (D-San Jose), first made its rounds in the Assembly, where it also passed. According to the Blade, the resolution does not require the state’s Governor’s signature but does not have the force of a law.


The resolution calls upon “all Californians to embrace the individual and social benefits of family and community acceptance, upon religious leaders to counsel on LGBTQ matters from a place of love, compassion, and knowledge of the psychological and other harms of conversion therapy…”


The bill also called out “therapists and religious groups” for creating “disproportionately high rates of suicide, attempted suicide, depression, rejection, and isolation amongst LGBTQ and questioning individuals.”


Though the bill intended to target “conversion therapy,” many religious leaders fear that the language in the resolution could infringe on their freedom of religion.


As previously reported by Christian Headlines, Russell Willingham, executive director of New Creation Ministries, said, “I believe ACR99 sets the stage for future laws that will criminalize pastor caregivers like me who provide such a resource—resources…

… Read More

Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

قالب وردپرس

Court: Phoenix Can’t Force Christian Artists to Design Same-Sex Wedding Invitations

Court: Phoenix Can’t Force Christian Artists to Design Same-Sex Wedding Invitations



Arizona’s Supreme Court handed religious freedom advocates a major victory Monday, ruling that the city of Phoenix cannot force two Christian artists to create custom wedding invitations for same-sex ceremonies.


At issue was a Phoenix ordinance that forbids businesses from denying services to customers based on sexual orientation. Violators could be jailed up to six months and/or fined $2,500 each day they are in violation. 


Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, two Christians who own Brush & Nib Studio, filed suit against the city, saying their religious beliefs prevent them from designing any artwork or wedding invitations for same-sex weddings. Their business creates and designs custom artwork with hand painting, hand lettering and calligraphy. 


The Arizona Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, sided with the women and ruled the city’s ordinance – as applied to Duka and Koski – violates their free speech and religious liberty rights under the Arizona Constitution and their rights protected by the state’s Free Exercise of Religion Act.


“The rights of free speech and free exercise, so precious to this nation since its founding, are not limited to soft murmurings behind the doors of a person’s home or church, or private conversations with like-minded friends and family,” Justice Andrew Gould wrote in the majority decision. “These guarantees…

… Read More

Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

قالب وردپرس

Half of the Tigers Rescued 3 Years Ago From Thai Buddhist Temple Reported Dead – Urban Christian News

A tiger stands in a cage at a property in Saiyok district in Kanchanaburi province, west of Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Police investigating Thailand’s now infamous Tiger Temple found what they believe was a slaughter house and tiger holding facility used as part of the temple’s suspected trafficking network. (AP Photo)

More than half the tigers rescued three years ago from a Buddhist temple in Thailand where they served as a popular tourist attraction have died of disease, wildlife officials said Monday.

The tigers were vulnerable to illness because of inbreeding, leading to laryngeal paralysis causing respiratory failure, said national parks official Patarapol Maneeorn. Eighty-six of 147 rescued tigers kept at government-run wildlife sanctuaries have died.

The DNA of all 147 confiscated tigers could be traced to six tigers who were the original breeding stock, said Patarapol, head of the department’s Wildlife Health Management Division.

Such inbreeding “affects their well-being, resulting in disabilities and weakened health condition,” he said at a news conference. “And when they have weakened genetic traits, they also have problems with their immune system as well.”

… Read More

—-

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Urban Christian News

قالب وردپرس