Ecumenicalnews
- 'Cyber-caliphate' linking Islamist network expanding globally with online recruitment, says religious freedom reportPersecution of faith groups has drastically increased in more than 95 percent of the world's worst-offending countries – a new report shows, highlighting how new tech is being used to crush religious freedom. The Religious Freedom in the World Report 2021 (RFR) is produced by international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
- Scottish church, Billy Graham group sue charity over venue cancelations said due to same-sex marriage viewsAn evangelical church and an association founded by the late Billy Graham has launched legal action against Scotland's largest charitable trust after it canceled a rental agreement over the church's views on same-sex marriage.
- Only 6 percent of Americans have dominantly biblical worldview, study showsNearly 9 in 10 U.S. adults have a mixture of worldviews, otherwise known as syncretism, and only small percentage hold a biblical worldview, a new study by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University shows.
- Church leaders breach sectarian divide, urge end to Northern Ireland violenceA week of disorder across Norther Ireland has left growing numbers of police officers injured, and Catholic and a Church of Ireland bishops were among those who joined for an ecumenical service before walking together to a peace wall gate at the center of clashes.
- Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Küng, who criticized popes, dies at 93Hans Küng, the prominent and sometimes controversial Swiss Catholic theologian, who challenged popes, has died peacefully in his sleep in the university town of Tübingen, Germany, where he had lived and lectured since 1960.
- 'Allah' is for all, Malaysian court rules, not just Muslims; evangelical alliance welcomes itThe World Evangelical Alliance has welcomed the Malaysian High Court's recent decision that recognized as unconstitutional and invalid a 1986 government directive that banned non-Muslims from using the word "Allah" to refer to God.
- Coin found in Jerusalem's Old City may contributed to Temple tax in Herod's timeArcheologists in Jerusalem's Old City have discovered a box of artifacts, including a rare silver that pilgrims might have used to pay the Temple tax during King Herod's reign, a period of biblical significance.
- Small number at Pope Francis' Easter Mass as he urges hastened COVID vaccine deliveryPope Francis celebrated Mass on Easter Sunday at the Vatican Basilica with a small number of the faithful present and after he urged nations to hasten distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly to the world's poor.
- US follows Europe as church membership falls below 50 percentAmericans seem to be following the pattern of Europeans and going to places of worship less and less and becoming more secular. The proportion of Americans who consider themselves members of a church, synagogue or mosque has dropped below 50 percent, a Gallup poll has found.
- Bishop issues Palm Sunday appeal for end to IS-led violence in Mozambique's Cabo DelgadoIn Mozambique, the Catholic apostolic administrator of Pemba issued an appeal on Palm Sunday for an end to violence in the northern province of Cabo Delgado where jihadi fighters linked to the group calling itself Islamic State are terrorizing the local population.
Countercurrents
- Ramsey Clark Described His Government As Humanity’s Ever More Threatening and Treacherous Enemy During this time in which many of us are still mourning the recent passing of former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark it seems appropriate to reflect on Ramsey’s many warnings to humanity like, ‘The government of Americans will lie, deceive, kill, do whatever it must to dominate – investors in war who control it insanely […]
- Revisiting NEP 2020 From The Perspective Of Global Education And Knowledge SocietyWritten by Bhumkia Rajdev, Abdul Basith and Suhail K New Education Policy 2020 has replaced thirty-four-year-old National Policy on Education (1986). The 66-page document talks about vision of government for ECCE (Early childhood care education), School Education, Higher Education and Professional education. It aims for universalisation of education from pre-school to secondary level with 100% […]
- Save Peri-Urban Areas From Neglect, Create Hubs of Greenery and Water ConservationPeri-urban areas have suffered much neglect and harm in recent years, but a change of policy and priorities can still bring to them very creative livelihoods based on valuable but neglected traditional skills which can be utilized in important endeavors of increasing greenery, water-conservation and agro-ecology. Peri-urban areas are semi-rural, semi-urban areas, or rural areas […]
- A Nudge Here, An Appeal There–Why Participative Restrictions May Be Better Than Enforced LockdownsThe appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to observe the Kumbh related rituals in more of a symbolic way to avoid crowding and protect public health in times of an escalating pandemic had the desired impact on at least some groups of holy men and they agreed to leave the site of the great religious […]
- Climate crisis: Time is fast running out, and World Bank changes toneA climate summit is going to begin. Ahead of the summit, the World Meteorological Organization released a report on April 19, 2021, which has warned: Time is fast running out. The report – State of the Global Climate 2020 – finds that concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) continued to climb in 2020, despite lockdowns imposed […]
- Profiting from Hajj: Commodification of SpiritualityHajj is one of the five pillars of Islamic practice. Every adult Muslim is required to perform hajj once in a lifetime if they can afford the journey. It is staged on the 8th to 13th days of Dhu’l Hijjah, the final month of the Islamic lunar calendar. The Saudi royal family – which calls itself […]
- Charlie Chaplin – Book Review – ‘Hasre Dukh’ (Beaming Sorrow)- By Bha. D. Kher-“Revolutionary Dreaming Tramp” (On the occasion of Charlie’s Birthday- 16th April 1889) “I consider myself a citizen of the world, an internationalist… I just happen to have been born in London, England. It could have been Burma or China or Timbuktu, I’d still be the way I am. I’d keep my first citizenship because, […]
- The Ukrainian crisis and Biden’s interestsThe strange policy, pursued by the present occupant of the White House during the past few weeks is fairly surprising. Moreover, Joe Biden’s actions vis-à-vis Russia are downright contradictory, to say the least. Or maybe his strange initiatives are sending some ulterior message to the team around him and those who supported last fall’s very […]
- Voices from the Margins, and Engaging Slave Selves and Narratives “India is fundamentally a hierarchical, violent and inequalitarian society and its image is spreading like a stain when the Dalits and Muslims are being treated on par in terms of the value of their lives with a history of lynching and killing,” says noted historian Prof. Dilip M. Menon, Mellon Chair and Director, Centre […]
- Free Hidme Markam1,000 + activists, academics, concerned citizens from 20+ states in India and across the globe write to Chief Minister Chhattisgarh. Call for immediate release of Hidme Markam and end state excess on adivasis in Bastar Deeply outraged by the arbitrary incarceration of Hidme Markam, an adivasi human rights defender and environmental activist, for over 40 […]
Palestine Updates
- Settlers storm archaeological site near NablusIsraeli settlers today stormed the archeological site of Sebastia, north of the West Bank city of Nablus, according to an official. Sebastia mayor Mohammad Azzem told WAFA that the settlers forced their way into the site under the protection of the Israeli military, which declared the site off-limit for Palestinians. He added that a large […]
- A Palestinian Prayer for Ramadan: May the Voices of the Oppressed Be HeardCOVID-19 cases in Palestine, especially in Gaza, have reached record highs, largely due to the arrival of a greatly contagious coronavirus variant which was first identified in Britain. Gaza has always been vulnerable to the deadly pandemic. Under a hermetic Israeli blockade since 2006, the densely populated Gaza Strip lacks basic services like clean water, electricity, or minimally-equipped hospitals. […]
- Irreconcilable HebronYardena Schwartz It was about 7 PM on May 2, 1980, when Tayseer Abu Sneineh set out from a cave hideout on the outskirts of Hebron with three other Palestinian militants. Like his comrades, Abu Sneineh, a twenty-eight-year-old math teacher, was a member of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah group, the leading faction of the Palestine Liberation […]
- Palestine Update Nr. 458 – 5. April 2021Palestine Update Nr. 458 – 5. April 2021 Wachsender Widerstand Die vierten Wahlen in Israel innerhalb der Zeitspanne von zwei Jahren haben nur die politische Unordnung bestätigt, in der sich die israelische Demokratie befindet. Netanyahu will an der Macht bleiben. Aber sein wichtigstes Ziel ist jetzt, einen Gefängnisaufenthalt zu vermeiden – als Strafe für seine […]
- Palestine Update Nr. 456 – Dringender Anruf an Papst Franziskus, die globale ökum. Bewegung und WCC …Palestine Update Nr. 456 – Dringender Anruf an Papst Franziskus, die globale ökum. Bewegung und WCC … Kairos Palestine – eine Bewegung für Wahrheit Dringender Appell an Seine Heiligkeit Papst Franziskus, die globale ökumenische Bewegung und den Weltkirchenrat: Stehen Sie den palästinensischen Christen bei – Leisten Sie Widerstand gegen die ethnische Säuberung von Ostjerusalem So […]
- Palestine Update Nr.454, Wahlen sind der Schlüssel, um die pal. Politik mit neuer Energie zu versorgen,19.3.21Palestine Update Nr.454, Wahlen sind der Schlüssel, um die pal. Politik mit neuer Energie zu versorgen,19.3.21 Wahlen sind der Schlüssel, um die Politik der Palästinenser mit neuer Energie zu versorgen (Auszüge aus einem Artikel von Oman Rahman) Die Gelehrte Dana El Kurd hat eine gründliche Kritik am Spurenbericht der PA (Palestine Authority), einer Vertiefung der […]
- US offers half-hearted, politicized ‘humanitarian’ aid to PalestiniansPalestine Update 462 US offers half-hearted, politicized ‘humanitarian’ aid to Palestinians The US pledged to resume financial aid for UNRWA on the pretext of the two-state negotiations. Who stands to benefit: the agency, the Palestinian refugees, or the international community’s diplomacy? US President Joe Biden is exerting minimal effort in distinguishing his diplomacy from that […]
- New all population Israeli-Palestinian survey: 45% of those living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea believe “apartheid” is an appropriate description of the regimePalestine Update 461 New all population Israeli-Palestinian survey: 45% of those living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea believe “apartheid” is an appropriate description of the regime B’Tselem is publishing the results of its new commissioned public opinion survey. The survey, conducted took a fresh approach by examining what all people living under Israeli control […]
- .Analysis: “If Israel has committed no war crimes, then why does it refuse the ICC probe?”By Professor Kamel Hawwash for Middle East Monitor: On 5 February, Palestinians saw a long tunnel open and a light flicker in the distance for justice. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber I “decided, by majority, that the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine, a State party to the ICC Rome Statute, extends to the […]
- Organization Sign-On Form: Petition #SaveSheikhJarrahPalestine Update 460 Organization Sign-On Form: Petition #SaveSheikhJarrah Palestine Updates readers to sing and disseminate widely In Solidarity, Ranjan Solomon The link is here: https://forms.gle/fR45xfhmrfgmZvGb8
Christian Conference of Asia
- GS Statement and Letter (2016-2019)(1). Statement Condemning the Police Firing against Farmers in Kidapawan, Mindanao in the Philippines (2). GS Keynote Address In Search of a New Vision for Christian Mission in Asia_March 2016 (3). GS Letter to Suicide bomb attack against innocent people in Pakistan (29 March 2016) (4). Report of the CCA General-Secretary-18 July 2016(5). Statement on […]
- Sudhir Adhikari, Bangladesh Ecumenical Leader Passes AwaySudhir Adhikari, a prominent ecumenical leader in Bangladesh passed away this morning (21 September) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Born in Barisal, Bangladesh in a traditional Baptist Christian family, Sudhir Adhikari was a scientist by profession and worked with the government of Pakistan and Bangladesh for several years. As a devoted lay member of the Bangladesh Baptist […]