There are about 150 religious orders based in Ireland. Many of them are very small. All are declining very fast.

Of the 150 or so orders, 18 ran the country’s system of industrial schools and reformatories from the late 19th century until the 1970s, when the last of these institutions was closed.

The system was established during the years of British rule in Ireland. Britain itself had imported [...]

Turning 18 is a momentous occasion.

Most people mark the event partying, at a pub or with their mates. I, on the other hand, celebrated my eighteenth sitting in Homeland Security at Charlotte Douglas Airport in North Carolina.

I had been held with two other young Muslims on the way to a national leadership retreat being paid for by the Foreign Office - clearly documented on our travel [...]

Israeli protocol has it that all visiting dignitaries to the Jewish state should take some time to visit Yad Vashem, the famous Holocaust Museum.

It’s a profoundly moving experience, and offers a valuable insight into the predominant Israeli (and Jewish) mindset: "We will never again allow the Jewish people to be at the mercy of others, without a homeland and without a refuge."

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has [...]

Whether you’re a technophobe or a technophile, it’s hard to argue against the merits of technological advances; although our heads may well be spinning at their pace.

Designer and architect R Buckminster Fuller’s remark that “humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons” may motivate some to want to slow down the ride. But humankind’s drive for knowledge is ultimately inspiration-driven, from a loving Creator [...]

Church on the Net, a ‘Fresh Expression’ registered by the Church of England, opened its virtual doors in July 2007. Anyone, anywhere in the world, is welcome to explore Christianity there: the language is simple, and there are no assumptions about existing knowledge or beliefs.

For the non-believer or seeker, there may be a threshold barrier at the entrance to church buildings. It can be daunting to walk into [...]

The progress of the recent update of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act through Parliament has, perhaps inevitably, generated much controversy, largely due to some of the areas covered by the Act, such as research on human embryos and “saviour siblings”.

One of the major areas of contention centres around stem cell technology. These special cells, characterised by their ability to self-regenerate and to be programmed to develop into [...]

As the years pass and I see my children become increasingly independent, I often marvel at how different their world is compared to when I was a child; from the tsunami to twitter, iPhones to IVF and GM foods to global warming. It is comforting though that some things remain the same. My children attend Cheder – Sunday school for young Jews. There they learn of Jewish history, culture and [...]

Charity is so often a hallmark of faith, just as justice is so often the very spirit of religion. Islam is a complete way of life and within this there is a duty to serve those who are less privileged than ourselves.

As a Muslim, I have a sense of responsibility to share my wealth with others. This is not hard to do since Muslims know that their wealth does [...]

What is charity? A guilty handful of coins rattled into a box on a street corner? The nudge of conscience at Christmas?

A common understanding of charity is what many people of faith would call ‘almsgiving’ - a strong tradition in both Christianity and Islam - as well as Buddhism and other faiths. During Lent, for example, Christians are urged to pray, to fast and to give alms (money [...]

I have been asked to write about how feminism informs my understanding of faith and if and how faith influences my feminist views. I’ve discussed the intersection between Islam and feminism many times before and every time I have clarified that I do not like to call myself a feminist; yet, the label continues to stick!

The truth is that long before I learned about feminism, I had begun to [...]