Ecumenicalnews
- World ecumenical and evangelical leaders, Pope Francis urge U.S. and Iran to wind down conflictThe World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Alliance along with Pope Francis called this week for restraint and de-escalation to prevent the conflict between the United States and Iran worsening.
- Australia's churches act on national fire crisis with responders and prayersRed and smoky skies at night and in the morning* looming in four Australian states indicate a catastrophe of biblical proportions as killer fires engulf them with towns and communities going down in flames, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded.
- After attacks in Nigeria, Syria, Somalia and United States, world churches' leader calls for end to violenceChristmas week is expected to be a time of peace, but this year it was not with attacks taking place in Nigeria, Somalia, Syria and the United States during the Christian celebrations and the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
- Burkina Faso cancels Christmas after extremist attacks, while Christians flock to BethlehemPope Francis delivers his yearly Christmas message at the Vatican while Christians from across the world celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, but in Burkina Faso, attacks by extremists force the cancelation of the feast celebrating birth of the "Prince of Peace."
- Christianity Today sparks furore after saying Donald Trump 'should be removed from office'Christianity Today, the evangelical magazine founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham triggered a national furore in the United States after it published an editorial calling for President Donald Trump's removal,
- Jürgen Moltmann, theologian who survived life under Nazi regime, leaves students spellbound with his accountStudents sat entranced as the theologian recounted that after serving in the Hitler Youth and the German Army as a "patriot" in World War II, he turned his back on nationalism and the horrors of that conflict.
- Manger relic from time of Jesus birth returns to Bethlehem from RomeAfter more than 1,000 years in Europe, a fragment of wood believed to have formed part of Jesus' manger has been returned to Bethlehem.
- Its the students who make Switzerland's Bossey so special, not the coursesAny prospective student who intends to study at the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute at Château de Bossey, in its picturesque setting near Geneva, soon learns it is an exceptional place.
- Germany tackles rising tensions 30 years after fall of the Berlin WallThe Nicolaikirche in Leipzig was the gathering point for events signalling the end of an era of communist rule in what was then East Germany, 30 years ago, on Nov. 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell.
- Esther Mombo says African Christianity is 'young and vibrant,' but needs to listen to its womenKenyan theologian Esther Mombo was born into an ecumenical environment in East Africa. She has a transcontinental education and told students of ecumenism this week that African Christianity is "young and vibrant", but that it needs to listen to the "women in the pews."
Countercurrents
- Voice of the world capitalist system from DavosINTRODUCTION With usual high hope and promise, the Davos annual ritual is on the stage. But, the promise and hope appear false. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Switzerland meeting beginning from January 21 has become one of the voices of the world capitalist system as it considers itself “the foremost creative force for engaging the […]
- Richest 1% own more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people, says reportA super-rich one percent of the world’s population has accumulated twice as much wealth as the remaining 90 percent, said a new report by Oxfam, a global charity. The report has been released on January 20, 2020 on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The gap between the filthy rich […]
- “Don’t fund our eviction”: honey-collecting tribe pleads with US governmentTwo tribal communities famed for their honey-gathering skills have written to the US authorities urging them to scrap support for a conservation project that could lead to the tribe’s eviction from their ancestral forests. The villagers, members of India’s Jenu Kuruba (“honey collectors”) tribe, object to the US Fish and Wildlife Service funding a project in Karnataka […]
- Break The Silence And Speak Up For The People Of PalestineThe third Monday of January every year has been designated a national holiday in the USA to honour the memory of slain civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. — who was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis. This honour was proposed during the Reagan era in 1986 but it was not recognised nationally […]
- Watching Mississippi Masala on the eve of Martin Luther King Day“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” are famous words of Martin Luther King Jr delivered on August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C. With those words he […]
- Ramchandra Guha’s history of balancing facts only help the Hindutva forcesRamchandra Guha is quite dangerous and ‘expert’ in balancing thing. His problems with Congress are manifold but many ‘experts’ feel that if they criticise the Sangh Parivar, it is their duty to criticise Congress more than them. Ram Chandra Guha has done that in past. I dont know why Rahul Gandhi should come in the […]
- ‘Success’ as Trickster: Sweden as Cautionary TaleBack around 1990 it became time to replace my old chain saw, an American-made model. It had done a lot of work, but could be perplexing and temperamental. Some of that was no doubt my fault. Meanwhile, Swedish-made chainsaws had become popular locally for well-earned reasons. So I took the plunge and bought a Swedish […]
- Guantánamo’s Indelible LegacyCo-Written by Karen J. Greenberg & Joshua L. Dratel In January 2002, the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility in Cuba opened its gates for the first 20 detainees of the war on terror. Within 100 days, 300 of them would arrive, often hooded and in those infamous orange jumpsuits, and that would just be the beginning. At its height, the […]
- Western ‘Political Correctness’ Does Not Make All People EqualIn the West, there is a new wave of political correctness at work: it is all about one’s sexual orientation; who has sex with whom, and how.Suddenly, the mass media in London, Paris and New York is greatly concerned about who has the right to change his or her sex, and who does not want […]
- RSS Seeks Madras High Court Help For Erasing Its Violent Anti-Muslim Heritage: A Fit Case For Perjury[This dossier is in continuation to my request to friends in Tamil Nadu that democratic-secular organizations/individuals must intervene in this case so that anti-national RSS fails to manipulate/use higher judiciary for hiding its toxic communal agenda. I have reproduced original RSS documents (except one by Rajeshwar Dayal ICS who was the first home secretary of […]
Nachrichten
- ÖRK übermittelt Beileidsbekundung nach dem Tod von Sultan QuabusIn einem Kondolenzschreiben an Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tarik al Said sprach Pastor Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, der Generalsekretär des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen, sein Mitgefühl aus und bedauerte den Tod Sultan Quabus, der den Oman ein halbes Jahrhundert lang regiert hat.
- ÖRK-Mitarbeitende feiern „Große Wasserweihe“Am 13. Januar schritt Pater Prof. Ioan Sauca durch 42 Büros des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen, um mit den dankbaren Mitarbeitenden die „Große Wasserweihe“ nach der orthodoxen Tradition zu feiern.
- Junge Menschen in Afrika sind bereit, Herausforderungen zu meisternJunge afrikanische Geistliche, Theologinnen und Theologen sowie Laien sind bereit, die herausfordernden Problem ihres Kontinents und der Welt in Angriff zu nehmen. Dies ging aus einem kürzlich vom Ökumenischen Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) in Partnerschaft mit der Gesamtafrikanischen Kirchenkonferenz (AACC) durchgeführten Aufsatzwettbewerb für Autorinnen und Autoren unter 35 Jahren hervor.
- Über Moltmann, Sodepax und die ökumenischen Ursprünge der BefreiungstheologieJürgen Moltmann sah erstaunt aus, als er seinen Namen auf der Liste der Mitwirkenden las. Während eines Abendessens, das vor kurzem im Ökumenischen Institut in Bossey stattfand, überraschte ihn mein Kollege Stephen Brown, der Herausgeber der Zeitschrift The Ecumenical Review, mit einer 50 Jahre alten Broschüre.
- Notfallhilfe der Kirche während der Buschfeuer bedarf guter VorbereitungenEin paar Tage mit leichtem Regen bedeuteten für die Menschen, die die Buschfeuer im Südosten Australiens bekämpfen, eine kurze Atempause. Feuerwehrleute, die Bevölkerung und andere Einsatzkräfte nutzten diese Unterbrechung, um sich gegen die nächste Feuerwalze in Stellung zu bringen.
- Pastoralschreiben an Kirchen in Australien: ÖRK betet für „Verschnaufpause von Hitze und Flammen“In einem Pastoralschreiben an die Kirchen in Australien hat der Generalsekretär des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen, Pastor Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, betont, dass die verheerenden Buschbrände in vielen Teilen Australiens den Horizont zu einem Zeitpunkt verdunkeln, an dem große Teile der Welt in Feierstimmung sind.
- ÖRK mahnt angesichts des sich zuspitzenden Konflikts zwischen den USA und dem Iran zu „maximaler Besonnenheit“Der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) ist zutiefst besorgt über die möglichen Folgen des Luftangriffs der USA auf den Flughafen in Bagdad im Irak für den Nahen Osten. Bei dem Luftschlag am heutigen Tag wurde General Qassem Soleimani, einer der bekanntesten militärischen Befehlshaber des Iran, getötet. Der Angriff ist eine dramatische Eskalation des Konflikts zwischen […]
- Gott des Lebens, Gott der Gnade, Gott der Liebe!Ein Gebet vom Ökumenischen Rat der Kirchen zum Beginn des neuen Jahres. Von Pastor Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, Generalsekretär
- ÖRK sendet Pilgergrüße an Taizé-GemeinschaftWährend sich die Taizé-Gemeinschaft auf ihr jedes Jahr kurz nach Weihnachten stattfindendes Jugendtreffen vorbereitet, das dieses Jahr in Polen stattfinden wird, hat der Generalsekretär des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen (ÖRK), Pastor Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, im Namen der ganzen Kirchengemeinschaft Gebete und Worte der Ermutigung übermittelt.
- Grußbotschaft des ÖRK-Generalsekretärs zu Weihnachten: „Die Weihnachtsbotschaft richtet sich an alle Menschen“In einer Grußbotschaft zu Weihnachten spricht der Generalsekretär des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen, Pastor Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, darüber, wie die Geburt Jesu in der Bibel als die Zuwendung des Schöpfers für die Welt beschrieben wird.
Palestine Updates
- News snippetsPalestine Update 327 News snippets What follows is a collection of articles that once more show how tough the occupation is and what hardship means for Palestinians as they seek their liberation. Worst of all, there is an international community that does not seem to really care to act in line with their responsibilities. Please […]
- Of land, laws, and boycottsPalestine Update 326 Comment Of land, laws, and boycotts Often times, a map is a mere sheet of paper that shows one where a certain location can be identified. It is meant to be a helpful aid to find one’s way around. But when maps are sprayed with deceptive politics, its time to be agile […]
- Palestinians in Israeli prisonsPalestine Update 325 Comment Palestinians in Israeli prisons “The Israeli security wants to leave a mark on the psyche of those it detains: resistance has a price, and it is hefty,” Qadura Faris, head of the Prisoner Society. 95 percent of Palestinian prisoners in Israel experience ill-treatment or torture during their detention and interrogation. Palestinians […]
- BDS undermines Israel’s liberal and democratic image in the worldPalestine Update 324 BDS undermines Israel’s liberal and democratic image in the world More than the achievements of the economic, academic and cultural boycott, BDS has succeeded in undermining the greatest asset of Israeli public diplomacy: Israel’s liberal and democratic image in the world…Credit, of course, goes to the Israeli government, which in declaring war […]
- Israel is systematically poisoning one million Palestinian childrenPalestine Update 323 Israel is systematically poisoning one million Palestinian children By Robert Inlakesh* Palestinian medical workers tend to wounded children,members of a family where six were killed in an Israeliairstrike in central Gaza Strip on November 14, 2019.(Photo by AFP) We have now entered 2020, the year in which experts at the United Nations […]
- The UN predicted Gaza would be unlivable by 2020. They were right.Israel is trying to keep Gaza ‘quiet’ by applying new calculations to make life survivable — without allowing the people to truly live. View of a destroyed house after Israeli air strikes targeted a nearby Hamas site on Monday, in Gaza City, on March 26, 2019. (Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90) While revelers around the […]
- Challenging EU’s complicity in the Israel occupationPalestine Update 322 Comment Challenging EU’s complicity in the Israel occupation In the current context of the Israeli colonization of Palestinian lands, the EU has neither demonstrated political vision nor the courage to challenge Israel’s disgusting and abrasive colonial policies. Palestine Updates has held firmly to the view that the EU is complicit in Israel’s occupation […]
- A New Year assertion- We will not be silentPalestine Update 321 Comment A New Year assertion- We will not be silent It will be 15 years since the launch of BDS whose “strategic threat” is not to Israel’s economy, but rather, to its image. As we begin a New Year, the relentless growth of BDS is promise that Israel can never hope to […]
- “Come-See–transform”Palestine Update 320 Comment “Come-See–transform” News from Palestine is usually like this. One bit of bad news is contrasted by peoples resistance- either from within Palestine or from individuals, civil society groups, social movements, faith-based communities, and those from outside who choose to be on the side of the Palestinians in the struggle for freedom […]
- True liberation – That is Christmas!Palestine Update 319 “Scar of Bethlehem” Video: Banksy releases artwork “A new piece of art by Banksy unveils the scene of the manger of Jesus, placed in front of the Israeli separation wall, scarred in a star shape by a mortar shell. Dubbed the “Scar of Bethlehem”, the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph are backlit […]
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 […]