god edition 2026latest news & developments
Lingering destruction: An Iranian man gestures as he stands near destroyed homes after a military strike on Tehran, Iran’s capital, on March 15, 2026. Photo: Unicef/Kenare/AFP

Letter to God of war

An unflinching letter to God that wrestles with the visibility of suffering and the uneasy distance between those who endure war and those who witness it

Renewal: Faith celebrated at Easter is meant to honour, restore the relationship between humanity and God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Photo: Ayanda Tyali

The Easter hope: A personal testimony

Good Friday is the moment when Christ, in his pain, identifies with the pains of the people and atones for our sins

Shared space of faith: The entrance to the Abrahamic Family House. Photo: Kibo Ngowi

The Abrahamic Family House and the fragility of coexistence

In Abu Dhabi, a space built for coexistence raises difficult questions about religion, power and the violence unfolding across the region

Son of Man: Jesus Christ was a maverick – an itinerant preacher, who attracted the ire of the Establishment for his unconventional ways, like healing the sick even when it was expressly forbidden on the Sabbath. Photo: Kikku33

Feast of the Resurrection for our times

One dares not remain silent in the face of the intolerable dehumanisation and genocide of the people of Palestine, which has led us to the brink of a world war. Nor should men and women of faith remain silent as truth is distorted to advance the purposes of the powerful

Dysfunctional: Infrastrccture failure and lack of repair and upgrade, seen on a road at a taxi rank in Emfuleni. The muicipality is in a complete state of failure. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Only God can save municipalities as collapse deepens

With only 16% of municipalities passing audits, South Africans face failing water systems, roads and governance. The coming elections test not only politics but morality, highlighting a growing call for divine restoration

Decades-old temple: Hindus will queue to offer their prayers and penitence peacefully to the revered goddess, Mother Mariammen, at the 160-year-old Shri Mariammen Temple in Mount Edgecombe. Photos: Shri Mariammen Temple Society

Hindus also mark Christian piety

As South Africa enters the solemn rhythm of the Easter long weekend, Hindus will prepare to join a deeply spiritual, multicultural nation in a shared period of prayer, reflection and renewal

Hit: Smoke rising from the Thai bulk carrier, Mayuree Naree, near the Strait of Hormuz after an attack in March 2026. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

Iran war and Greater Israel Project

The US-Israel war on Iran is disrupting oil trade, pushing up petrol prices and raising concerns over the growing use of religion to justify war

Time to reflect: Easter holy days call us back to the foundational values of tolerance, solidarity and shared humanity. Photo: AAC /MakanakaMedia

From holiday to holy day

Rediscovering the power of Easter in a wounded world: Easter reminds us that leadership is not confined to positions of authority. It is lived out in our daily choices, in how we treat one another, in how we respond to injustice, in how we carry ourselves in moments of difficulty

Easter long weekend — from braais to short trips and chocolate heists.

How to survive Easter

From braais to short trips and chocolate heists, here’s how to survive and savour Easter Week the South African way

Power of the crucifix: The spirit of Easter and Resurrection should inspire people of goodwill to continue calling for world peace, says the writer. Photo: SACC

“South Africans are the people of Easter”

Those who remain silent during this time risk undermining the meaning of the atonement. I call on all Christians and people of goodwill to draw courage from Christ’s sacrifice and challenge injustice, particularly the suffering of women and children displaced by war

In safe hands: A Muslim family was entrusted with the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem because Christian denominations couldn’t agree on who should take charge of them. Photo: Gerd Eichmann

The Christians who many Christians forgot

As Passover and Easter are observed, Zukiswa Wanner is reminded of the words attributed to Jesus in Matthew 22:37-39: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind … Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”  These words serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of loving God and extending that same compassion to our neighbours

Remembrance: Moses implored the children of Israel never to forget the day they left Egypt, freed from the house of slavery. Photo:  Vincent Malo

Passover, a profound theological truth

Its ultimate meaning is found in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. To understand Passover through Him is to grasp the fullness of redemption

Salvation: The significance of Easter is that, through the death and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ, God saved the world.  Photo: Garrison Gao

God’s gift of hope  for new life

Easter people cannot ask, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” because Jesus, on Good Friday, died for all, not just the chosen few. Our brothers’ situations in Sudan, Palestine and Iran are our concern and we must stand with them when they are unable to stand on their own

Trust issues: The CRL Rights Commission’s Section 22 process, intended to promote ethical governance in religious communities, the Chairperson of the Commission, Mrs Thoko Mkhwanazi- Xaluva delivered a keynote address under the Sacred (Traditional) Spaces. Photo: CRL

CRL and faith groups at odds

Faith groups can play a powerful role in shaping South African society, whether through disaster relief, welfare support, prayer to give hope or guiding communities to live according to ethical values and to support society in upholding the rule of law

Guliana Masini and Mme Maetsane Otilda Mamogale have both walked a path of service that quietly challenges the noise of our modern lives – alongside Sello Hatang, executive director of Re Hata Mmoho. Photo: Supplied

Love must be practised, not preached

Their story begins not in comfort but in conviction. They arrived in Oukasie township during one of the most turbulent periods in our country’s history. There was no promise of safety, no guarantee of success, only a calling. Listening to them, I was struck not by grand claims or heroic language but by a simple, unwavering posture: they came to serve. And they stayed

Ecocide: Neighbourhoods targeted in airstrikes reportedly carried out by US and Israeli fighter jets in March 2026. Photo: Behnam tofighi

When war poisons the earth

The conflict in Iran is causing severe environmental damage, from black rain and toxic smoke to threats to water, soil and climate, warn faith leaders and environmental experts

Lifelong toll: The author’s grandmother, Tryphina Chepape’s body has become the most immediate site of the quiet war, the place where everything seems to converge, where time, labour, memory and pain all meet without buffer. Photo: Supplied

The God of War within

A grandmother’s final visit becomes a quiet reckoning with the intimate wars of the body, memory and a life shaped by apartheid’s unseen violences

Hallowed halls: Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Israel. Photo: Andrew Price

Not in ritual; but restriction

As Easter approaches, access to Jerusalem’s holy sites reveals the politics of occupation, not a clash of faiths

US President Donald Trump and his Israeli ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shambolic war has shut the Strait of Hormuz, creating a diplomatic fallout with US allies. Photo: Avi Ohayon (GPO)

Easter in the time of war

The senseless US-Israel war has caused economic tremors around the world and sucked all of us into an unprecedented crisis characterised by soaring oil prices, the wanton destruction of infrastructure, the killing of innocent people, a humanitarian crisis and uncertainty

Face of youth: Bobi Wine was four years old when Museveni came to power.
Photo X @HEBobiwine

Bobi Wine in exile: Fighting Museveni, the god of Uganda

While President Yoweri Museveni consolidates power at home, Bobi Wine calls for sanctions and warns that Uganda’s “mode of dictatorship” could spread across the region