letter from Australia
From fires to floods
David Robertson
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
Australia is experiencing a new government and a new Prime Minister.
As predicted before the recent election, the Labor party won and its leader, Anthony Albanese, was duly elected PM. It is noticeable and a reason for thanksgiving that there was no dispute about the result and the former PM, Scott Morrison, handed over the reins of power before all the votes were counted!
news in brief
Iraq: early inscriptions found in Mosul
Archaeologists restoring the historic Syriac Orthodox Mar Thomas Church in Mosul, Iraq, which was badly damaged by Islamic State fighters, have discovered about a dozen ancient relics and parchments.
The relics include six stone containers with Aramaic inscriptions, some relating to important figures in the early church. One refers to Simon ‘The Zealot’, one of Christ’s disciples; another mentions Saint Theodore, a Roman soldier born in Corum, Turkey, in the third century, who was beheaded for having converted to Christianity.
Hunger emergency: Christians respond
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
Even before the invasion of Ukraine, many of the poorest nations of the world were suffering the catastrophic impact of climate change.
Earlier this year the island of Madagascar, for example, experienced its ‘worst drought’ in 40 years. UNICEF says half a million under-fives will be ‘acutely malnourished’ this year; in the south, where 80% of the people depend on agriculture to survive, the UN World Food Programme estimates that half of the population now faces hunger. The drought has decimated crops and dried up water sources, resulting in little sustenance for communities and cattle. The pandemic, deforestation and Madagascar’s cyclone season have further exacerbated their woes. According to UNWFP, this could become ‘the first famine to be caused by climate change’.
Indonesia: Primate brings gospel to interfaith summit
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Dec 2022
The Archbishop of Nigeria, Henry Ndukuba, has told a new international platform of religious leaders how many in the Global South are ‘finding in Jesus Christ hope for living and eternity’.
But the Primate also told the R20 (a gathering of leaders from major world religions in the countries of the G20,): ‘Nigeria is now one of the most dangerous countries to be a Christian.’
Christian mountaineer speaks out
en staff
Date posted: 1 Oct 2022
An evangelical mountaineer is encouraging individual believers to take small, seemingly ‘insignificant’ actions to help combat climate change.
Raphael Moser, a mountain guide and sports coach specialising in Alpine routes, was speaking after it emerged glaciers are melting faster and faster.