JourneyOnline
The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.
Islam on the rise as Christians downsize
Daily Mail Australia reports on a latest Pew Research Center report which finds Islam could overtake Christianity as the world’s largest religion by the end of the century. The Muslim population rose to 1.8 billion by 2015 with a rise of 150 million over the preceding five years; as of 2015 there were approximately 2.3 billion Christians.
Data shows that while Christians accounted for 33 per cent of global births recently they were also 37 per cent of global deaths which led one Pew researcher to comment, “Christianity is literally dying in Europe.”
Justice scam for converting to Islam?
My Christian Daily covers news of the alleged offer by a Pakistani prosecutor to acquit suspects in a lynching case if they converted to Islam. The Deputy District Public Prosecutor has denied the allegation but has been removed from office until an inquiry is conducted.
Forcible conversion to Islam is viewed as a serious issue in Pakistan leading one province to adopt a bill to curb forcible conversions. Islam religious parties applied serious pressure and it was later withdrawn.
Ditching “Easter” from kids’ fun: eggs-cessive political correctness?
My Christian Daily reports on the unfolding drama surrounding Cadbury’s decision to switch the name of their annual British Easter egg hunt, previously called “Easter Egg Trail”, to the Christian-free moniker, “Great British Egg Hunt”.
The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu has accused Cadbury of “spitting on the grave” of its Christian founder and Prime Minister Theresa May labelled the decision “absolutely ridiculous”.
“I don’t know what they are thinking about frankly. Easter’s very important. It’s important to me. It’s a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world,” said Prime Minister May.
Cadbury insists it has not removed “Easter” from its marketing and communications materials but has simply decided to label its seasonal campaign “Cadbury’s Great British Egg Hunt”.
Mark of the beast turns up the heat in PNG
ABC News reports on Papua New Guinea’s electoral commissioner and his reassurance to the nation’s church leaders that he is not asking PNG’s Governor-General to evoke an apocalyptic biblical prophecy. Church leaders have been worried after the release of a newspaper report that claimed the Governor-General would sign 666 writes for the impending national elections.
