JourneyOnline
The Journey team selects stories that got us talking this week.
New faith for true Beliebers?
NME has some good news for Christian Justin Bieber fans who feel the current denominations just aren’t serving them enough Bieber-ness in their faith: rumours are the Canadian pop star may start up his own church.
The exact source of the rumour is unknown but Richard Wilkins seems to think Bieber cancelled his tour because he’s keen to reconnect with his faith and that might include starting up a church.
Media Watch-ing ABC’s “war against Christianity”
After the ABC’s spotlight on domestic violence in Christianity and subsequent controversy over the veracity of the reporting and cited sources, Media Watch has examined the hubbub: while they can’t find evidence of the taxpayer-funded broadcaster’s “war” against Christianity, they do think a better job could have been done of reporting the facts.
Media Watch said the headlines used to promote the story were a misrepresentation of the actual research into domestic violence and the church, and that conservative commentator Andrew Bolt was correct when stating that evangelical families are not the worst sufferers of domestic violence, per the original reporting, but rather Aboriginal families.
Jesus gets suspension from Queensland schools?
Daily Mail Australia reports on the potential move by the Queensland government to ban Christian references from school events and playgrounds. According to the article, Education department officials are mulling a move to ensure schools take “appropriate action if aware that students participating in Religious Instruction are evangelising to students who do not.”
What do they mean by “evangelising”? Sharing Christmas cards themed with Jesus’ birth and life, making religious bracelets and sharing religious ornaments to others.
Ken Ham park: Rainbow ark to provide light in the dark
The Sacramento Bee reports on Ken Ham’s (previously interviewed in Journey) plans to light up his mega Noah’s Ark replica with rainbows to “remind the world that God owns the rainbow”.
“Taking back” the rainbow from its symbolism as an LGBT icon isn’t a new crusade for Ken but the Ark replica’s current night-time bathing in the colours is, per Ken, “a reminder God will never again judge the wickedness of man with a global Flood—next time the world will be judged by fire”.
Some Twitter users have been supportive of the move but perhaps not exactly to Ken’s intent: one user wrote “I didn’t realise Noah was so progressive” while another called the Ark an “awesome pride float”.
