Columns

The loss of heaven and the fear of hell

Jul 04, 2019

Growing up as a Roman Catholic, like the rest of my generation, I was taught a prayer called, The Act of Contrition. Every Catholic back then had to memorise it and say it during or after going to confession.
What has gone wrong in our world?

Jun 28, 2019

Genesis shows that God created a world that was fertile and teeming with life. Water flowed from the very ground, which was fertile along river plains.
What makes for Christian communion?

Jun 28, 2019

The question of intercommunion within our churches today is a big one, an important one, and a painful one. I’m old enough to remember another time, a
Rachel Held Evans, 1981-2019

Jun 21, 2019

No community should botch its deaths. Mircea Eliade wrote those words and they’re a warning: If we do not properly celebrate the life of someone who has left us, we do an injustice to that person and cheat ourselves of some of the gifts that he or she left behind.
Are we sensitive enough to hear the cry of the poor?

Jun 21, 2019

The Orang Asli in Kuala Koh are suffering from some mysterious disease that has already taken 14 lives. Orang Asli in other parts of the country have been facing encroachment into their native customary land and conversion of forests to plantations for some time now. They are also worried about the impact of nearby economic activity such as logging and mining.
Equality and justice in the kingdom of God

Jun 14, 2019

Every year, the international charity confederation Oxfam provides its annual update on the state of the world and each time it makes for dismal reading. Wealth and income disparities seem to be growing ever-wider.
Faith, fear and death

Jun 13, 2019

A common soldier dies without fear; Jesus died afraid. Iris Murdoch wrote those words which, I believe, help expose an oversimplistic notion we have o
Young people give us hope for change

May 30, 2019

On 24 May, some 1.8 million people in 2,350 cities from 125 countries across the world joined in a global climate strike to highlight the urgency of doing more to resolve the climate crisis.
The problem of poverty in the kingdom of God

May 25, 2019

Many others were living off these peasants and fisher-folk who toiled from dawn to dusk. Farmers’ land may have been seized when harvests were poor. I
Language, symbols and self-understanding

May 25, 2019

A reporter once asked two men at the construction site where a church was being built what each did for a living. The first man replied: “I’m a brickl