Roundup: Asylum seekers, women’s day, same-sex unions, better religion, texting in church

The truth about airborne asylum seekers

The Coalition’s one-liners and slogans don’t make for a credible refugee policy. Neither does recycling failed policies of the past, like Nauru, which was a failure at the time and cannot be repeated.

Ecumenical organisations celebrate International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day, 8 March, staff based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva organised special prayers and programmes to acknowledge achievements of the ecumenical organisations in the area of gender justice and to celebrate their struggles together as a community of women and men.

Marriage rites

The Uniting Church in Australia has been wrestling with the issue of sexuality for many years. It has caused great heartache – among the more “traditional” members, the more “progressive” members and among gay members.

Is religion dying – or reinventing?

What the world needs is better religion, new forms of old faiths, religion reborn on the basis of deep spiritual connection – these things need to be explored instead of ditching religion completely.

Pastor welcomes cellphones in worship

Any way we can try to engage this highly interactive culture through an interactive media is a way of helping people understand that this is the word of God for the people, not just the word of God from the pastor.