Opinion

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  The side of the India-Pakistan conflict the world is ignoring

  With the general election less than two months away, politicians will be tempted to ramp up polarizing language to divide electorates along religious lines. But they must ask themselves what is more important: power or peace?

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  Why cheerfulness is so important for our Christian walk

  Cheerfulness may be a virtue but there is a widespread suspicion about it because modern culture automatically assumes cheerfulness to be shallow. Unfortunately it's not hard to find a parallel perspective within Christianity

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  As knife crime soars, who's got young people's backs?

  Our communities too often feature those wayside shrines to those who have had their lives ended early in what feels like an unstoppable cycle of violence.

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  As a new poll claims to show widespread support, what's wrong with assisted dying?

  Where's the drama in someone saying, 'Actually, I think I'll just let nature take its course'?

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  Why banning controversial voices from universities is bad practice

  Two years ago the University of Cape Town (UCT) "disinvited" Flemming Rose from giving its annual T.B. Davie Academic Freedom Lecture. Rose is the cultural editor of the Danish publication, Jyllands-Posten that depicted the Prophet Muhammad in cartoons.

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  The 'cult of relentless negativity' really hacks me off

  It's putting the worst possible spin, the bleakest interpretation, on the motives and actions of others – while presenting ourselves as the enlightened ones, the saints and heroes, who alone can see things clearly.

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  Are Christian leaders more likely to commit sexual sin?

  Why do so many fall? And, if we're honest with ourselves, what kind of weaknesses lurk within our own souls?

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  Just how guilty is Islamic State bride Shamima Begum?

  There is, indeed, a case for saying that young people of a certain age are not really responsible for their actions.

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  Mangrove theology: Get stuck in and put down deep roots

  God calls his people to put down deep ecological, social, economic and spiritual roots wherever he's placed them.

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  Christians and the pursuit of perfection: How can we talk about real things better in church?

  How do people in seemingly perfect churches admit that their lives are messy and difficult and very imperfect?

• A special place in hell….and the road to heaven

  Hell is not, as far as I would see it, other people. Hell is the absence of others, the absence of friends and companions, and of God.

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  Is assisted suicide now homicide in the Netherlands?

  Officially, the Netherlands is a safer country to live in than the United States. Its gun homicide rate is about 4 percent that of the United States, and its official murder rate is less than one-fourth that of the United States.