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Insights from a radical Muslim who converted to Judaism

Posted on June 18, 2024June 18, 2024by Catholic Radar JM

(Michael Brown. The Christian Post).

On June 12, the Jerusalem Post ran an article by Ohad Merlin titled, “Gaza mosques to Jerusalem synagogues: A radical Islamist’s journey to Judaism.” It tells the story of Yaron Avraham, raised as a radical Muslim in Gaza but now a religious Jew who runs a restaurant in Israel.

The “12th child in a household of 18,” Avraham would wake up at 5:30 AM to begin his Islamic devotions, memorizing the Quran by the age of 12. Still, he was horrified at the treatment of his sister Sarah, who was savagely beaten to death by her brothers for daring to take a walk through a mall. In the eyes of her brothers, she had dishonored the family and disobeyed their orders. To murder her was the right thing to do.

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More than half of Christians in UK experience ‘hostility and ridicule’ for faith: study

Posted on June 17, 2024June 17, 2024by Catholic Radar JM

(Jon Brown. Christian Post).

More than half of Christians in the United Kingdom claim to have experienced hostility and ridicule for their faith, according to a study released Thursday.

The report, titled “The Costs of Keeping the Faith,” was compiled by the nonprofit Voice for Justice UK (VfJUK) and found that of the more than 1,500 respondents from different Christian denominations and age groups, 56% reported negative pushback for sharing their beliefs in some capacity.

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Christian mother, children ordered by court to convert to Islam

Posted on June 11, 2024June 12, 2024by Catholic Radar JM

(Anugrah Kumar. CP).

In a controversial ruling, an Iraqi court has decreed that a Christian mother, Elvin Joseph, along with her three children, convert to Islam. The decision was based on the interpretation of Iraq’s Personal Status Law which mandates that children must adopt Islam if one of their parents converts.

Joseph, a resident of Duhok in the Kurdistan Region, found herself entangled in this legal predicament following the revelation of her mother’s conversion to Islam after her divorce and subsequent remarriage to a Muslim man

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Protestant Christians in Turkey facing violence, attacks at worship services

Posted on June 11, 2024June 11, 2024by Catholic Radar JM

(Christian Daily International).

Protestant Christians in Turkey continued to face opposition for practicing their faith in 2023, according to a rights report.

Both written and oral hate speech incidents, along with some violence, were reported, according to the Human Rights Violation Report 2023 issued on June 4 by the Protestan Kiliseler Derneği (Association of Protestant Churches).

Some of the 205 Protestant churches, all independent or in fellowship clusters, saw opposition to their church buildings. The report also cited the denial of legal rights in training ministry leaders.

“No progress was made in 2023 with regard to the rights of Christians to train their own religious workers,” the association reported. “Many foreign church leaders were deported, were denied entry into Turkey or faced problems with getting their residence permits renewed.”

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Most Protestant pastors oppose gay marriage, mainline support stalling: survey

Posted on June 7, 2024June 7, 2024by Catholic Radar JM

(Michael Gryboski. Christian Post).

Most Protestant pastors in the United States continue to oppose same-sex marriage, and the previously growing trend of support among mainline clergy is stalling, according to a recent report by Lifeway Research.

In a report released Tuesday, Lifeway found that, in 2023, 21% of surveyed Protestant pastors said they saw “nothing wrong” with same-sex marriage, which was a slight decrease compared to the 24% of pastors who said the same in 2019.

Even among pastors belonging to theologically progressive mainline denominations, Lifeway found that less than half (46%) support same-sex marriage, which was virtually the same (47%) in 2019, though still well above the 32% reported in 2010.

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Nearly 40% of Christians prefer not to tell people about their faith: survey

Posted on May 30, 2024by Catholic Radar JM

(By Anugrah Kumar. Christian Post)

A new survey has revealed that nearly 40% of British Christians prefer not to disclose their religious beliefs. The findings reflect a broader trend of religious reticence in the U.K., which experts attribute to various factors, including a rise in antisemitism and a “self-confidence crisis” among British Christians.

A similar reluctance among Jewish respondents can be seen, with 38% agreeing with the statement, “I prefer not to tell people about my faith or religious belief,” according to the survey, commissioned by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL) and conducted by Whitestone Insight.

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Churches serving as shelters as over 500K displaced, at least 136 dead; Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Blessing send aid

Posted on May 14, 2024May 13, 2024by Catholic Radar JM

(Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post).

Local churches across southern Brazil have opened their doors to provide shelter and aid to residents in areas of the country that have been devastated by catastrophic floods that have claimed the lives of at least 136 people and left around 537,000 displaced.

Working with their partners on the ground, U.S.-based Evangelical humanitarian groups Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Blessing’s International Disaster Relief Team have also initiated relief operations.

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UMC drops decades-old ban on ordaining LGBT clergy without debate

Posted on May 3, 2024May 13, 2024by Catholic Radar JI

(The Christian Post. Michael Gryboski).

The United Methodist General Conference has voted to remove a decades-old ban on ordaining pastors in romantic same-sex relationships after thousands of conservative congregations left the denomination in recent years.

At the UMC General Conference Wednesday, delegates approved without debate a measure removing the language from the Book of Discipline as part of a broader consent calendar, passing it by a final tally of 692 to 51.

Since 1984, the UMC Book of Discipline has prohibited the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals,” with many progressives in the mainline Protestant denomination openly refusing to enforce or follow the restriction.