Pakistani boy is burned to death for being a Christian
A 15-year-old Pakistani boy was killed by two men who poured paraffin on him and set him on fire when he told them he was a Christian. Nauman Masih was attacked outside the tailor's shop where he was working in Lahore last Friday and died on Wednesday in hospital. This is a deep personal tragedy, but it also once again illustrates the extreme perils faced by the Christian community in Pakistan. It also calls into question the attitudes both of Muslim religious leaders, many of whom deliberately feed the fanaticism of their followers, and the country's judiciary and law enforcement officials, who seem unable or unwilling to clamp down on the violence against minorities. How long, O Lord?
Conservative Anglicans meet to consider setting up rival to CofE
Conservative evangelical archbishops, bishops and other church leaders from around the world have met to discuss whether to back a parallel Anglican church in Britain. The Global Anglican Futures Conference, or Gafcon, might set up a parallel structure to support Anglican clergy and congregations opposed to women's ordination. The alternative Anglican church would also take a conservative stance on the gay issue and oppose gay marriage. It's hard to see any canonical justification for this; churches that are geographically ordered, like the Church of England, would regard such a move as sheep-stealing on a grand scale. Better to try to live with your differences, surely?
John Howard Yoder was a sexual predator, but was he therefore a bad theologian?
A fresh furore over an old story, though not many people actually knew that the revered Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder was a serial sexual predator. He was quoted approvingly in Steve Chalke's latest book; Chalke was unaware of his history and the issue was picked up by blogger Thomas Creedy. So does a moral failure of such magnitude detract from someone's theological achievements? Discuss. The Mennonite Church is, however, deeply embarrassed by its failure to deal with him and now reprints Yoder books with a health warning.
The Christian faith of US presidential hopefuls is unpacked
America is a much more self-consciously Christian nation than the UK, and you aren't going to get to be president if you can't persuade the electorate that you're a Christian. A flurry of recent declarations – by Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton – provoked a look at the candidates' Christian credentials. The three Republicans are popular with evangelicals, though Rand Paul admits that faith has "never been easy" for him, while Mrs Clinton is more of a mainstream Methodist. What's fascinating from this side of the pond is to see how their faith is part of their election story. British politicians don't do God in public.
Campaign to ban Mark Driscoll from Hillsong's Europe conference is launched
A campaign aiming to persuade Hillsong to rescind its decision to have the disgraced former pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle at its Europe conference has been launched with an online petition. Mark Driscoll's leadership style was said to be bullying and coercive and the church imploded. The petition says that allowing the invitation to stand is "both disappointing and of great concern to many across the UK and internationally". Of course it is: Driscoll did immense harm not just to individuals but to evangelicalism generally. We shouldn't hear anything at all from him for a couple of years at least, and then only if he's put himself under a proper accountability structure.
A good week for:
40-stone Pastor William II McCoy II, who won a competition for free weight-loss surgery courtesy of America's National Obesity Foundation.
A bad week for:
The three losers. There's something wrong with a healthcare system where you have to be good at Facebook before your life is saved.
The story you might not have read but ought to know about:
Archaeologists claim to have found the tomb of Jesus and his family. They probably haven't.
And one for pure enjoyment:
Rob Bell – so he's a bit theologically off nowadays, just chill.
