Ukrainian Christians are resilient in the lingering war with Russia and yet optimistic of “a just peace,” Southern Baptist leader Dan Darling said on the heels of a weeklong tour of Ukraine and Poland.
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(ANALYSIS) When Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk formed a coalition government in 2023 committed to making “historic changes,” he promised to improve the country’s track record on women’s rights. Noticeably absent in the coalition’s agreement, however, was any specific wording on access to abortion, one of the most controversial issues under the previous government.
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Despite opposition from Catholic bishops across the continent, the European Union voted on Thursday to enshrine access to abortion as a “fundamental right” in its charter. The proposal — approved 336 votes for to 163 against — was passed in Brussels with support coming primarily from left-wing and centrist members.
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In Poland, a country in which 84% percent of the population identifies as Catholic, according to the country’s National Statistical Office, “offending religious feelings” by “publicly outraging an object of religious worship or a place dedicated to the public celebration of religious rites” is a criminal offense under Article 196 of the Polish Penal Code.
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(ANALYSIS) The International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA) earlier this month released a significant statement on the current worldwide persecution of Christians. It’s essence: Religious freedom is still comparatively neglected as a human right, and the ongoing persecution of Christians is relatively unknown.
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Ukrainian refugees have revitalized a Warsaw, Poland, congregation, which had dwindled to a handful of worshippers in recent years. Mission efforts here have struggled, and supporting churches have pulled out. But in recent weeks, church attendance has topped 60.
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Huddled in a hallway as bombs reduced their Ukrainian city to rubble, members of the Mariupol Church of Christ urged Alexander Chekalenko to call on the Lord for protection. When he stopped, they could hear the gunfire, the explosions. For 51 days, the church members lived in the darkest of valleys — Mariupol, the Ukrainian port city obliterated by the forces of Russia and the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic.
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Monday marks the centennial birth of Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II and was canonized a saint following his death. John Paul II was one of the longest-serving pontiffs in church history, the first non-Italian elected pope in 455 years and spent much of the 1980s ending communism in Eastern Europe.
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A Torah scroll that survived the destruction of the Jewish community in Ozorkow, Poland was recently refurbished and will be rededicated at Ahavath Achim Synagogue on Jan. 5.
Read MoreThe Catholic church - as much a symbol of nationalism as religious struggle and freedom - is a mix of history and modernity, with LED-lit pillars and tombs for saints and fallen government officials. A museum dedicated to Poland’s most famous Catholics, Pope John Paul II and Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, is set to open next month.
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(COMMENTARY) This is an issue journalists — whether they’re writing opinion/analysis pieces or constructing hard news stories — should stay tuned into to avoid crossing the wrong side of a shifting line.
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