The church is running out of justifications for the various anomalies it clings onto, and it is just a matter of time before they go completely, says Jonathan Bartley. We cannot proclaim the message of God's liberating future by clinging to the past.

In a reflection on faith and human rights for Easter, Savi Hensman argues that issues of life and death and the question about whether Christians are on the side of the powerful or the powerless go to the heart of the Gospel story.

Church leaders and journalists have little idea of the pressures that each other face, according to German Lutheran Bishop Margot Kässmann, who has called for a new understanding.

Despite huge state-sponsored protests in Serbia, the rulers of the newly independent Kosovo say that their aim is social harmony, democracy and a plural secular settlement in the region.

The Economist magazine, a highly influential English-language international weekly, has come out in favour of the disestablishment of the Church of England and a clearer distinction between religion and governance.

A group of leading scientifically and theologically qualified scholars has issued a clear rebuttal of the 'intelligent design' ideology that has gained ground among conservative religious believers, especially in the USA, in recent years.