Ecumenicalnews
- Woman among 6 appointed to previous all male Vatican body welcomes move by Pope FrancisPope Francis's appointment of six women among the new members to the Vatican's Council for the Economy, has drawn praise for expanding the role of women into a previously all male body.
- John Hume, Irish nationalist, Northern Ireland peace broker, praised by Catholics, Protestants and world leadersJohn Hume was a Catholic nationalist who stood for Ireland as a unitary state, but he was also a peacemaker and straddled the divide into the mainly Protestant unionist camp at a time when Northern Ireland was in a state of deep conflict in the last century.
- 75 years after A-bombings in Japan, world worries about new arms raceHiroshima pastor Yoshitaka Tsukishita was a two-year-old boy playing outside, near what became ground zero, when the world's first atomic bomb was dropped in an act of war on the Japanese city of Hiroshima 75-years ago on August 6.
- Alarm raised about ongoing crisis in Nigeria at world churches' meetingNigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is experiencing concurrent crises this year, highlighted in a recent spate of violent attacks in the north of the country, and the World Council of Churches has expressed alarm about the destruction to life taking place.
- World Council of Churches names 2022 date for 11th Assembly in GermanyThe executive committee of the World Council of Churches has approved a new date for the WCC 11th Assembly, which will now be held in Karlsruhe, Germany, from August 31 to September 8, 2022.
- Religious liberty put at risk by Hong Kong security law says Asian cardinalThe Catholic cardinal who heads Asian bishops' body has issued a warning on Hong Kong's new Chinese-made security law noting that religious freedom in China faces severe restrictions. But the Anglican archbishop of Hong Kong has backed the new legislation.
- Religion and government in the United States – eight facts from PewMany Americans believe in the separation of church and state, but others, often conservative evangelicals often argue that the notion is nowhere to be found in the U.S. Constitution. Dalia Fahmy wrote for Pew Research on July that separation of church and state has come under scrutiny again this summer after the U.S. Supreme Court […]
- Rapid COVID-19 spike strains South Africa's health system as churches rush to aid those hitSouth Africa's has by far Africa's highest COVID-19 infection rate in Africa, and is likely to pass the 400,000 mark this week while the health system in its Eastern Cape Province - has collapsed with reports of patients lying on dirty, bloodied floors in urban hospitals.
- Nigerian Christians praise Muslim group's call to government over Boko Haram's terror actionsNigeria, Africa's most populous nation with an estimated 210 million people, has a distinctive mix of people with almost equal numbers of Christians and Muslims, most of whom get on, living their normal lives intertwined in peace, except when terror strikes.
- Turkish president's mosque decision on Hagia Sophia evokes 'grief and dismay' at World Council of ChurchesThe head of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches has written to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressing "grief and dismay" from WCC members at his decision to convert the world famous Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
Countercurrents
- Macron Lectures Lebanon: The Condescending Politics of AidThe explosion in a Beirut portside warehouse containing over 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate on August 4 has done its bit to light more fires under Lebanon’s ruling powers. With the blast still bloodily fresh and traumatic – the destruction of the city’s port with over two hundred deaths and thousands injured – promises of […]
- Covid-19 and the Health Crisis in Latin AmericaLatin America has surpassed more than 5 million Covid-19 cases to overtake North America, with 4.8 million Covid-19 cases, as the region worst-hit by the Coronavirus pandemic. This astronomic increase in Covid-19 cases has been accompanied by a corresponding economic catastrophe of great magnitude. According to a United Nations Policy Brief entitled “The Impact of COVID-19 on Latin America and the Caribbean”, […]
- Lost at Sea: Left Liberals Have No PartyI wrote this article over four years ago in 2016 for the purpose of challenging left liberals to face the fact that they have no party. In re-reading it today, everything I said in the original article remains true. In fact, the Democratic Party has leaned even further to the right over the last four years. In […]
- Something In the AirA 1969 song written and sung by John ‘ Speedy ‘ Keen of the group Thunderclap Newman fits too well today… much too well: Call out the instigators Because there’s something in the air We’ve got to get together sooner or later Because the revolution’s here and you know it’s right And you know that […]
- Human Cost of SilenceIn a haunting memoir, Piera Sonnino has narrated her devastating experience as a twenty-two-year Italian Jewish woman. She lost her parents and three brothers in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. She is the only holocaust survivor in her family. Her memoir, ‘This has happened: An Italian Family in Auschwitz’ provides a moving account of […]
- Corporate As Predator, State As AccompliceW.H. Auden, the British poet, once wrote that many lives have been lived without love, but none without water – or words to that effect. Auden couldn’t possibly have written about the utter necessity of water without thinking of the billions and trillions of farming families who contributed since time immemorial to the making of […]
- Draconian Laws and Suppression of DissidentsTo the world India is known as the largest democracy in the world. If you considered holding elections at regular interval as the only criteria of being a democracy you can give this tag. But, the dismal condition of freedom of speech and the right to dissent in the country is a real cause of […]
- Will War with Iran Be Trump’s Election Eve Shocker?Was Donald Trump’s January 3rd drone assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani the first step in turning the simmering Cold War between the United States and Iran into a hot war in the weeks before an American presidential election? Of course, there’s no way to know, but behind by double digits in most national polls and flanked […]
- Democratise Roads, Govt dare not call us Urban NaxalsHere is an opportunity to stress the demand for democratisation of road space. The government dare not accuse the activists of being urban Naxals because its own guidelines in the wake of Covid suggest creating more space on roads for bicycles and pedestrians. Various studies conducted by the ministry of housing and urban affairs MoHUA […]
- Abrogation Of Article 370 Came Up After Paying the High CostIt was 5th August, last year, when Narendra Modi led Bhartiya Janta party (BJP) government stripped off special status of erstwhile state. It was done in the pretext of development, good governance, and peace. It was argued that abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A will open the floodgates for development and prosperity. The former princely […]
Nachrichten
- Gemeinsame interreligiöse Erklärung fordert die Ablehnung aller AtomwaffenAm 6. August hat die interreligiöse Gruppe eine „Gemeinsame Erklärung anlässlich des 75. Jahrestages der Atombombenabwürfe über Hiroshima und Nagasaki“ veröffentlicht und darin erneut auf die existenzielle Bedrohung der Menschheit durch Atomwaffen hingewiesen.
- Neuer Termin 2022 für 11. ÖRK-Vollversammlung beschlossen, ist „Gelegenheit, sichtbare Einheit zu vertiefen“Der Exekutivausschuss des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen (ÖRK) hat den neuen Termin für die anstehende 11. ÖRK-Vollversammlung beschlossen, die nun vom 31. August bis 8. September 2022 in Karlsruhe, Deutschland, stattfinden wird. Die ursprünglich für 2021 geplante Veranstaltung wurde aufgrund der gegenwärtig ernsten Lage weltweit und der Unsicherheiten im Zusammenhang mit der COVID-19-Pandemie um ein […]
- Globale Entwicklungen fordern Aufmerksamkeit des ÖRK-ExekutivausschussesIn einer Sitzung, deren Format und Schwerpunkte von der globalen Pandemie bestimmt wurden, hat der Exekutivausschuss des Ökumenischen Rats der Kirchen (ÖRK) diese Woche auch wichtige internationale Entwicklungen und Situationen angesprochen.
- ÖRK-Interims-Generalsekretär: Wir setzen unsere Gebete für ein Überdenken der Hagia Sophia-Entscheidung fortAls am 24. Juli zum ersten Mal seit den 1930ern wieder muslimische Freitagsgebete in der Hagia Sophia stattfanden, drängte der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) gemeinsam mit Mitgliedskirchen und internationalen Organisation, zu denen auch eine Reihe prominenter muslimischer Oberhäupter gehörte, auf ein Überdenken der Entscheidung, das Museum in eine Moschee zu verwandeln.
- ÖRK schlägt Alarm wegen Notständen in NigeriaNigeria, Afrikas bevölkerungsreichster Staat, erlebt dieses Jahr gleich mehrere Notstände, und der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) hat sich mit Unterstützungs- und Solidaritätsbekundungen an die dortigen Kirchen gewandt.
- Christliche Präsenz in Jerusalem ist Thema eines RechtsstreitsDer Exekutivausschuss des ÖRK nahm ein kürzlich gefälltes Urteil des Jerusalemer Bezirksgerichts in einem langjährigen Grundstücksstreit zur Kenntnis, in den die dortigen Kirchen verwickelt waren, und rief die israelische Regierung auf, die Rechte der christlichen Kirche in der Jerusalemer Altstadt zu achten.
- Verschärfung der Libanon-Krise verlangt laut ÖRK nach StrukturreformGalt der Libanon einst als leuchtendes Beispiel für die Vielfalt und das friedliche Zusammenleben der Völker und Religionen im Nahen Osten, so hat der jahrzehntelange Kampf der Zivilbevölkerung zu einer Spirale aus wirtschaftlichem Zusammenbruch und staatlicher Lähmung geführt.
- Muslimische Oberhäupter solidarisch mit der dringenden Forderung des ÖRK, die Hagia Sophia als Ort der Aufgeschlossenheit zu bewahrenAm 11. Juli sandte der Interims-Generalsekretär des Ökumenischen Rats der Kirchen (ÖRK), Priester Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca, einen Brief an den türkischen Präsidenten, in dem er seine „Betrübnis und Bestürzung“ ausdrückte und darauf hinwies, dass die Hagia Sophia seit 1934 „für Menschen aller Nationen und Religionen ein Ort der Aufgeschlossenheit, der Begegnung und der Inspiration“ […]
- ÖRK-Exekutivausschuss tagt online und befasst sich mit der 11. ÖRK-Vollversammlung 2022 und den Plänen für 2021Der Exekutivausschuss des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen (ÖRK) tagt vom 20.–24. Juli per Videokonferenz und befasst sich mit den anhaltenden Auswirkungen der COVID-19-Pandemie auf die Arbeit des ÖRK in den Jahren 2020 und 2021 sowie mit Plänen, die ökumenische Zusammenarbeit im Kampf gegen den Rassismus zu intensivieren.
- Weltwoche für Frieden stellt kreative Solidarität und gemeinsame Fragilität in den MittelpunktDas Thema „Kreative Solidarität in gemeinsamer Fragilität“ soll gläubige Menschen überall auf der Welt ermutigen, die Macht des Gebetes während der Weltwoche für Frieden in Palästina und Israel zu demonstrieren. Diese besondere, mit Aktionen unterlegte Gebetswoche findet jedes Jahr von 13.–21. September statt. In diese Woche fällt auch der Internationale Gebetstag für den Frieden am […]
Palestine Updates
- Palestine Update Nr. 390 , Fortschrittliche jüdische Opposition gegen Zionismus 25.7.20Palestine Update Nr. 390 , Fortschrittliche jüdische Opposition gegen Zionismus 25.7.20 Meinung *Fortschrittliche jüdische Opposition gegen Zionismus* Zionismus war viele Jahre lang eine Minderheitsbewegung in der ganzen von Juden bewohnten Welt. Vor dem Holokaust war seine politische Bekanntheit minimal. Von Polen dachte man, es sei das zionistische Herz. Aber auch dort unterstützten nur […]
- Why Should Palestinians Write Their Sports History?By Issam Khalidi Palestinian modern history is unique, not only because of the Nakba (i.e. catastrophe) of 1948, and the expulsion of the 750,000 refugees from their land, but because this history consistently has been a subject of concealment, distortion and theft. After the Nakba, Israel sought to put an aura on its crimes it committed […]
- The Sand CatcherGU-Q scholar pens debut novel on complexity of Palestinian memory Author and scholar Omar Khalifah (pictured), an associate professor of Arabic literature and culture at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q), a QF partner, published his debut novel titled “The Sand Catcher”, which compels the reader to view the tragedy of Palestine through a new lens, […]
- Documentary: ‘Steal of the Century’ (Part 2)Documentary: ‘Steal of the Century’ (Part 2) The documentary ‘Steal of the Century’ shows the brutality of the occupation under which the Palestinian people live. (Photo: Video Grab) ‘Steal Of The Century’ (Part 2) is a documentary by Robert Inlakesh, filmed on the ground in occupied Palestine, investigating the peace process, Donald Trump’s proposed ‘Deal […]
- How the West Stole Democracy From the Arabs – Book ReviewHow the West Stole Democracy From the Arabs – Book Review How the West Stole Democracy From the Arabs, by Elizabeth F. Thomson. (Photo: Book Cover) By Jim Miles (How the West Stole Democracy From the Arabs. Elizabeth F. Thomson. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 2020.) Having just read The War That Ended Peace, the title “How the […]
- An overview of this editionPalestine Update 392 Opinion An overview of this edition This edition of Palestine Updates brings you a collection of short but powerful poems by Dennis J Bernstein, a poet and human rights activist that must make any normal human being ponder with agony and anger. The poems precede a statement by Tayseer Khaled, member of […]
- Palestinian Citizens in Israel: A History Through Fiction, 1948-2010In the aftermath of the 1948 Nakba, Palestinians have had to contend with different forms of erasure and fragmentation of Palestinian identity, while acquainting themselves, without choice, with a colonial reality which thrived upon exclusion. Manar Makhoul’s study regarding the evolution of Palestinian identity explored in Palestinian literature brings a sequence of changes to the helm. In […]
- Man-made IsraelMan-made Israel [Book Review] Erasure of Palestinian history has become an obsession. Sam Bahour What do you get when you mix ten decades of biblical studies, an Old Testament, the ideology of Zionism, and a tablespoon of politically motivated archaeology, all mixed in a bowl of historical evidence? Author Keith W. Whitelam undertook this recipe […]
- Indian solidarity group protests the Israeli court ruling that Palestinian prisoners have no right to social distancingPalestine Update 391 Indo-Palestine Solidarity Network (IPSN) Indian solidarity group protests the Israeli court ruling that Palestinian prisoners have no right to social distancing The Indo-Palestine Solidarity Network (IPSN) is a growing network of like-minded people drawn from all parts of the country committed to justice and freedom for Palestine. It seeks an end to […]
- Settlements and National ParksIntroductionIsraeli construction in East Jerusalem began as soon as the area was annexed in 1967. Large Jewish neighborhoods/settlements were built: French Hill, Giloh, East Talpiot, Ramot, Neveh Yaakov, Pisgat Ze’ev, and Har Homa. The Israeli authorities expropriated about one third of East Jerusalem’s territory for constructing these neighborhoods. The neighborhoods were built along the municipal […]
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 […]