Begin to combat slavery

Yesterday I outlined some terrible facts about modern-day slavery (People shouldn’t be bought and sold). But what can we practically do?

People shouldn’t be bought and sold

When I was at school, we were taught about how slavery was abolished in Britain and the USA. This was obviously a good thing.

It came as a shock to find out, some years ago now, that there are more slaves in the world than ever before.

Half a billion healings?

It is a circular argument, but it has been made often, from David Hume down to present day sceptics. There is no believable evidence for genuine miraculous healings, they say. But what about all the stories of people being healed? We know they can’t be true, they say, because no-one has ever shown scientifically that healing can occur.

So New Testament scholar Craig Keener decided to break the circle.

The Bible: where the rubber hits the road

This will probably be the last in this series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century.

When it’s all said and done about the Bible, sometimes more is said than done. But the purpose of the Bible is not to simply read, but to lead us to action. What does the Bible call us to do if we choose to follow Jesus?

One billion rising

One billion women around the world dancing and making a point. What’s not to like? And what’s the point?

Tony’s Chocolonely – serious chocolate!

Regular readers will know that one of my ’causes’ is ethical chocolate – chocolate that is grown by free farmers who are paid a fair wage, and not by trafficked children working more or less as slaves. (For background, see Ethical chocolate update.)

So it was with great delight that I received a weighty package in the mail recently and discovered a story of dark criminality and desperate legal actions.

How many christian denominations worldwide?

I was asked recently how many christian denominations there are worldwide. It’s hardly an important question, but some critics of christianity use the number of 30,000 to 40,000 to argue that a true God couldn’t be behind christianity because god would communicate better.

So I thought I’d check it out.

After Christendom

I am looking at some of the core convictions of the Anabaptists, not because I am an Anabaptist, but because I think we learn from them. Today: the relationship of the church and the world.

A climate change conspiracy?

So, if the facts (as outlined in previous posts) show that the world is indeed warming faster than ever before, the weather patterns are changing, the burning of fossil fuels is a major cause, and the outcomes will be disastrous, why do so many people still oppose the idea?

Is there a conspiracy to present global warming as a fact when it is a lie?

Or is there a conspiracy to fight against a scientific truth for some devious reason?

Climate change: causes and remedies

We’ve seen that the scientific data shows that the world’s climate and weather patterns are changing, and that this spells disaster for many people in the world, and will impact all of us.

To do something about it, we need to know the causes.

Why christians should care about climate change

We have seen that the scientific data quite definitely shows that the world is warming up, and the last decade has been the warmest on record. And we have seen that this has four clear effects:

1. A change in weather patterns.
2. A rise in ocean water levels.
3. Increasing melting of ice.
4. More extreme weather events – fiercer storms, larger floods, longer droughts.

So why should christians be concerned about these effects?

Olympic glory?

With the London Olympic Games about to begin, now is a good time to remember one of my ‘heroes’.

He was probably Australia’s greatest male sprint athlete, a silver medallist at the 1968 Games in Mexico City. This is the best an Australian male sprinter has ever finished, and in a time that, amazingly, is still the Australian record. He is almost forgotten in his own country, yet famous in the US for something more important than running fast.

This is the story of Peter Norman – a story that deserves to be remembered.

Weather: going to extremes

The hotter temperatures that the world is now experiencing (see The heat is on!) have a significant impact on weather generally.

A small victory in the fight against child slavery

There has been a long campaign for chocolate companies to only source their cocoa from farms that don’t use trafficked child labour, and who pay the workers a fair wage. And progress has been slow.

I have previously reported how I have joined many others in writing to chocolate companies here in Australia asking them to adopt Fairtrade or other certification that guarantees ethical practices.

So it is always good to celebrate encouraging news.

The heat is on!

The most basic prediction of climate change science is global warming. But is it really happening?

Who’s afraid of climate change?

I have blogged on climate change before – see Climate change and christians and Christians and climate change.

Almost another year has passed and new information is now available. It’s time to review.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll look at the evidence, the causes and the effects.

Most importantly, I’ll be looking at why it is important for christians to respond rightly to this issue, and what is making it difficult for us to do so.

Photo: Camgreen (Wikispaces).

Easter eggs and slavery

Easter’s coming soon, and if you live in the west as I do, you’ll probably be eating your share of easter eggs. But what if the eggs came from cocoa grown using child labour, that is effectively slave labour?

How does reading the Bible change you?

Some people read the Bible nearly every day. Some people feel guilty that they don’t read it every day. Some people read it only to criticise it, while others never read it.

What effect does Bible reading have on the reader? Some recent surveys have some interesting findings.

Fair Trade chocolate – report 1

A couple of weeks ago, I outlined some facts about exploitation in the growing of cocoa for chocolate (see My pleasure, their misery?) and at the same time wrote to two prominent chocolate manufacturers expressing my concerns and asking them to make more concerted moves to only source cocoa from growers who were paid a fair wage and were not exploiting children.

I have had one answer back.

My pleasure, their misery

A short time ago, I posted on poverty and the growing world population (Christians and world poverty), and about the challenge of deciding how to respond (How much to save the world’s poor?).

Let’s start with something small which most of us can do this week, or this year.