 | 2008 |
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| 20.08.2008 |  | | Ceremonies, books and broadcasts mark the WCC 60th anniversary
"Stating that in seeking Christ they found each other, the 147 churches that sixty years ago came together in Amsterdam, Netherlands committed themselves afresh to Christ and covenanted with one another in constituting the World Council of Churches (WCC)," said the Council's general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia as he prepared to leave for a commemorative event to be held at the location where the WCC was officially founded 60 years ago, 23 August 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Read more
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| 13.08.2008 |  | | Inter-religious youth group celebrates open debate
During a youth interfaith seminar outside Geneva last month some participants realized the religious differences are usually smaller than imagined and cultural differences are often more significant than expected. Read more
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| 12.08.2008 | | | Ecumenical bodies call for ceasefire, negotiations and urgent relief in the Caucasus region
A public statement from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC) has called for prayers and assistance for those affected by the recent conflict in the Caucasus. The war began five days ago and despite its brevity has already killed hundreds of people, displaced thousands others and severely damaged homes, buildings and property in several cities. Read more
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| 12.08.2008 | | |
Water for all: young Christians study defence of this precious resource
"Water has no colour, no race, no nationality, it is the same all over the world," according to Rania Flavie Tourma, an Orthodox Christian from Syria. So to her, it was perfectly natural that people from around the world gathered near Geneva, Switzerland at the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) Summer School on Water to unite in defence of this natural resource.
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| 11.08.2008 | | |
"A Common Word" letter sparks a series of dialogues among Christians and Muslims
A recent dialogue held in late July at Yale University in the United States brought together Muslim and Christian scholars, intellectuals, academics and religious leaders from the United States and around the world. The event was one of a series of dialogues organized in response to the October 2007 open letter "A Common Word" sent by 138 Muslim scholars to Christians around the world. The letter invited them to dialogue about what they viewed as the common parts of their respective faiths. Read more
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| 07.08.2008 | | |
Despite poverty, seeds of hope bud in Indonesia
On a recent travel to Indonesia, a "Living Letters" team representing the member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) discovered seeds of hope for a world without violence. In Sulawesi, the Moluccas, West Timor and other islands they saw how the churches were working side by side with their communities and those of other faiths to bring peace and the improvement of all people.
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| 06.08.2008 | | |
Global campaign to promote "HIV-competent" churches
Representatives of ecumenical organizations meeting in advance of the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City vowed to launch a global campaign to help churches become competent in dealing with the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Read more
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| 04.08.2008 | | |
Women and youth break the cycle of violence in Indonesia
The remains of flattened buildings at the Christian University of the Moluccas in Indonesia are a grim reminder of conflict. During 1999-2004 hundreds of Christians and Muslims died and millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed in a tragedy which more sober leaders and members of both faith communities regret. Read more
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| 31.07.2008 | | | Peace in Sudan may take a long time - Interview with Marina Peter
More than 20 years of advocacy work for Sudan on behalf of the churches won to Marina Peter, European coordinator of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum, a decoration from the German government and a deep sense of the complexities of a country whose size is almost that of Western Europe and has seen internal wars over the last 50 years. Only addressing Sudan "in its complexity and as a whole" will bring about peace, she says. Read more
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| 29.07.2008 | | | West Papuans "traumatized", WCC team tells Indonesian government
West Papuans have yet to recover from the trauma of human rights violations. At the same time continuing in-migration is threatening to marginalize them in their resource-rich province, an ecumenical team from the World Council of Churches (WCC) told top-level Indonesian government officials. Read more
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| 29.07.2008 | | |
Faith groups emphasize action before International AIDS Conference
Can religions do more in response to the AIDS pandemic? To address this question over 450 representatives of faith-based organizations currently responding to HIV and AIDS will gather in Mexico City, 31 July - 2 August, in advance of the XVII International AIDS Conference.
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| 28.07.2008 |  | |
Muslim peacemaker from Nigeria to speak at closing ceremony of interfaith summer seminar
Imam Dr Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa will be the main speaker in the closing ceremony of the interfaith summer seminar 2008 at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey, near Geneva, on Wednesday 30 July.
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| 25.07.2008 | | |
End ban on aid, say ecumenical leaders hailing Zimbabwe memorandum of understanding
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has joined with a coalition of church organizations calling for an end to restrictions which have banned humanitarian aid distributions in Zimbabwe. In a statement issued yesterday by the WCC, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Student Christian Federation, World Alliance of YWCAs and World Alliance of YMCAs congratulated Zimbabwean and African leaders involved in current negotiations for signing a memorandum of understanding to continue discussions over the future of Zimbabwe. Read more
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| 24.07.2008 | | | Young Christians from around the world study water advocacy at summer school near Lake Geneva
From 28 July to 4 August in Bossey, near Geneva, some 25 young adults from six continents will discuss water issues in their respective countries as well as Christian approaches to advocacy at the first summer school of the Ecumenical Water Network. Read more
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| 23.07.2008 | | |
Rekindling hope, renewing the tradition of Christian-Muslim cooperation in Sulawesi
The concrete wall behind the altar of the Christian Church of Central Sulawesi in Palu, Indonesia still bears marks from two bullets just three inches to the right of a framed cross-stitch portrait of Jesus Christ.
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| 21.07.2008 | | | Inter-religious dialogue is a top concern for WCC and Ecumenical Patriarchate
Dialogue is "the best way for mutual understanding and cooperation in human relations as well as in peaceful coexistence among nations," said the final communiqué issued by the conveners of the World Conference on Dialogue and broadly affirmed by the conference which ended on Friday 18 July in Madrid, Spain. Read more
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| 18.07.2008 | | | Churches' feedback greatly needed, committee says
A key committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling ecumenical partners, including its 349 member churches, for more feedback on two crucial matters of concern facing the church and the WCC. Read more
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| 16.07.2008 | | | WCC solidarity team visit to strengthen Indonesian Christian efforts in overcoming violence
Churches working for peace in Indonesia - a country which over the last decades had to cope with repeated outbreaks of ethnic and religious conflicts, the integration of internally displaced people as well as refugees from outside its borders - will receive a solidarity visit of an international ecumenical delegation sent by the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 17 to 24 July.
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| 15.07.2008 | | | WCC to attend Madrid interfaith conference
World Council of Churches (WCC) representatives will participate at the 16-18 July international interfaith conference convened in Madrid by the Muslim World League following an initiative by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. Read more
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| 08.07.2008 | | | WCC internship programme 2009
The World Council of Churches (WCC) will welcome five young people (aged 18-30 years) to serve as interns in its Geneva offices from February 2009 to January 2010. Interns bring valuable experiences to the WCC at the same time as they undertake several modules of ecumenical learning. Read more
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| 07.07.2008 | | | Pacific visit to highlight WCC concern on climate change
Climate change, its causes and consequences as well as the role of churches and the worldwide ecumenical family will be at the center of a 7-14 July visit to the Pacific region by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. Read more
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| 07.07.2008 | | | Seesaw of interfaith cooperation: working together for peaceful relations in Cologne
"It's always good to see what can come of an idea," says Rev. Barbara Rudolph, executive director of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK). On this beautiful summer Sunday, she is delighted to hear how the local project in Cologne of the campaign Weißt Du wer ich bin? ("Do you know who I am?") has developed. The nationwide campaign was launched by the ACK, the Central Council of Jews, the Central Council of Muslims and the Turkish-Islamic Union at the Institute for Religion (Ditib) and has, with support from the Federal Ministry for Internal Affairs, set up 120 local projects to promote greater interfaith cooperation. In Cologne, too, the seed has fallen on fertile soil.
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| 04.07.2008 | | |
Care for the people of Zimbabwe, WCC tells the international community
After "what is now being described as a deeply flawed election", the World Council of Churches (WCC) has called for the protection of the population "against increased and continued violence", an "intensified international monitoring of the situation" and the provision of humanitarian aid. The WCC also issued a warning concerning the possible consequences of economic sanctions. Read more
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| 04.07.2008 | | |
WCC team challenges Germany, "the European champion in arms sales", with questions about the purpose of war
On a visit to the German Federal Defence Ministry in Berlin on Tuesday evening, members of a delegation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) asked questions about German arms sales and about whether wars, such as the Iraq war, can ever solve problems.
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| 03.07.2008 | | |
Violence within the family: Churches need to keep their ears open to calls for help
German churches' experience with the issue of "domestic violence" will play an important role in a Peace Declaration of the World Council of Churches planned for 2011. "The churches have denied the existence of this issue for a long time", said Georges Lemopoulos, deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), speaking on Saturday 28 June in Frankfurt.
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| 03.07.2008 | | | WCC salutes Ingrid Betancourt's liberation, calls for other hostages to be released
The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia expressed "joy" at the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages in Colombia today. Welcoming the liberation "as an important step in a yet uncompleted process", Kobia called upon the FARC "to release hostages on a humanitarian basis". Read more
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| 02.07.2008 | | | Young Muslims, Jews and Christians participate at an interfaith summer seminar in the outskirts of Geneva
From 7 to 31 July in Bossey, near Geneva, some 25 young adults - Muslims, Jews and Christians - from European, Middle Eastern, Asian, African and American countries are exploring together the question: "How can we affirm our religious identities not in separation or against each other but in relation to one another?" Read more
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