Front Page

New Non-Fundamentalist Interfaith Group of Religious Leaders Confronts Economic Crisis

November 3, 2009, NEW YORK – In almost every news cycle, religious fundamentalists can be heard raising their voices on a range of social issues. It's time for the other side to be heard. That's the purpose of the Faith and Public Policy Roundtable, a newly formed coalition of mainstream religious clergy and academics from houses of worship, seminaries and universities, and ecclesiastical organizations throughout New York City. Their goal: to provide a non-fundamentalist voice of faith in the American public square.

Churches Reach out in Response to Fort Hood Shootings

November 6, 2009 – First United Methodist Church in Killeen, Texas, immediately opened its chapels for prayer after a gunman opened fire at nearby Fort Hood Nov. 5, killing more than a dozen people. The church, where much of the congregation is affiliated with the military, was staying open for prayer the next day, and will host a community worship service on Sunday. "When a tragedy like this occurs, the whole family comes together. By that, I mean the entire military community," said the Rev. E.F. "Skip" Blancett, church pastor. "A lot of conversation is going on in expression of grief and sympathy."

World Leaders Get Church Backing on Nuclear Disarmament

November 2, 2009 – "Now is the time to continue the trend" toward nuclear disarmament, four global, regional and national ecumenical organizations told leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, the United States and Russia. "The present opportunity must be transformed into conclusive actions." "The new striving to abolish nuclear weapons" is a sign able to "raise hope in the world," stated leaders of four ecumenical groupings that jointly represent nearly 200 churches in Europe and North America in a 28 October letter.

‘Resolution Against Torture' Adopted by Church of the Brethren Board

November 3, 2009, ELGIN, IL – A "Resolution Against Torture" has been adopted by the Church of the Brethren's Mission and Ministry Board, at a meeting last month at the church's General Offices in Elgin, Ill. Chair Dale Minnich led the board in a consensus model of decision-making. "Hearers and Doers of the Word" provided the theme for the meeting, based on James 1:22. The "Resolution Against Torture" was adopted after lengthy discussion and numerous revisions to a document originally presented by a small group of board members and staff.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall and its Meaning for the Ecumenical Movement

November 5, 2009 – The opening or fall of the Berlin Wall was an unexpected event for the people most directly affected, but even more so for the world at large. The ecumenical movement was no exception. However, the events in 1989 East Germany were to have a wide and long lasting impact on it that can still be felt today. To be sure, large numbers of people from the former German Democratic Republic had left the country since the opening of the border between Hungary and Austria in the summer of 1989.

Warnings on Warming Not Enough; Act Now, Says Faith Community

November 5, 2009 WASHINGTON, DC – As lawmakers grappled on Wednesday with a climate change bill that appeared stalled in a senate committee, just hundreds of feet away on the Northeast lawn of Capitol Hill, religious leaders were issuing an urgent call for speedy and responsible action on the proposed legislation. Some 100 participants in a climate vigil focused on the justice dimensions of climate change, spoke, sang, waved banners and prayed in an attempt to influence legislative action prior to next month's climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Bishops' Letter Pledges to Protect God's Creation

November 3, 2009, LAKE JUNALUSKA, NC – Pandemic poverty and disease, environmental degradation and a world full of weapons and violence are the wages of our sins against God's creation. But there is hope if we change our ways, the 69 active United Methodist bishops say in a pastoral letter that will be read in churches during Advent. The bishops at their fall meeting unanimously approved "God's Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action," a document that was started by the 2004 United Methodist General Conference. More than 5,400 United Methodists around the world have had input into the final document.

General News

ELCA's ‘Grace Matters' Programs Now Available Through Odyssey Networks

November 5, 2009, CHICAGO (ELCA) – Selected programs of "Grace Matters," the radio ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), are being made available in downloadable and podcast forms at the Web site for Odyssey Networks. Earlier this year ELCA Communication Services stopped production of Grace Matters because of budget reductions. The ministry, formerly known as "Lutheran Vespers," had been on the air since 1947. Each week Grace Matters' 30-minute programs, hosted by the Rev. Peter W. Marty, Davenport, Iowa, aired on nearly 180 radio stations in the United States, several European countries, plus Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico.

ELCA Resource Addresses ‘Worship in Times of Public Heath Concerns'

November 2, 2009, CHICAGO – The declaration of a national emergency has raised a number of questions across the United States about safely assembling for school and worship during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Worship and Liturgical Resources answered many of those questions in a resource titled "Worship in Times of Public Heath Concerns." U.S. President Barack Obama signed an Oct. 24 proclamation that "the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency."

Guess and Leanza to Present Workshops at RCCongress 2010

November 6, 2009 The Rev. J. Bennet Guess, UCC director of communications, and Cheryl Leanza, policy director for the UCC Office of Communication, Inc., will join more than 50 presenters and speakers at Religion Communication Congress 2010, the world's largest interfaith gathering of religion communicators, scheduled for April 7-10 at the Chicago Marriott. Under the theme Embracing Change: Communicating Faith in Today's World, more than 1,000 communications professionals from different from different faiths, different countries, and different areas of faith communications.

Lutheran CORE Responds to ELCA Congregational Mission Director

November 2, 2009, CHICAGO – Two leaders of the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE) said, with a "resounding yes," they are serious about their endeavors as an organization. They also said they "take no joy in following a process that will likely lead Lutheran CORE to depart from the ELCA's (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) institutional life and ministry." The comments were in a letter written by the Rev. Kenneth H. Sauer and the Rev. Paull E. Spring – both former ELCA synod bishops – in response to an Oct. 12 open letter to Lutheran CORE written by the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, executive director, ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission.

United Methodists Hold Line on Gay Issues

November 4, 2009 – Ten years ago, the Rev. Greg Dell was put on trial by The United Methodist Church for performing a same-sex union ceremony. Since then, a few states have legalized gay marriage and some mainline Protestant denominations, including the Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, now accept non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy. The United Methodist Church, however, has remained firm in upholding its traditional stance that homosexual practice "is incompatible with Christian teaching." In a decision released this week, the Judicial Council, the church's highest court, struck down a resolution from the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference that said the church is divided on the issue.

Top Court Rules on Financial, Clergy Issues

November 2, 2009, DURHAM, N.C. Local United Methodist churches cannot arbitrarily choose which general church programs to support financially, according to the church's top court. The Judicial Council has upheld the decision by Bishop Larry Goodpaster that the Western North Carolina Annual (regional) Conference's "Choice Empowerment" plan is a violation of Paragraph 247.14 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline.

Ecumenical News

Call for a Spiritual Ecumenism at Joint Declaration's Tenth Anniversary
LWF General Secretary Noko Says Walls of Separation Are Broken down

October 31, 2009 AUGSBURG, Germany/GENEVA – Celebrations in Augsburg, Germany, marking the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) ended today with a festive ecumenical service. Methodists, Lutherans and Roman Catholics underlined how much had been achieved in ecumenical dialogue over the past ten years. In his sermon in the Augsburg Cathedral, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) Walter Cardinal Kasper stated that the JDDJ was a sign of the workings of the Holy Spirit.

Dialogue Between Lutherans and Roman Catholics Has Paid Off
Tribute to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

October 31, 2009 AUGSBURG, Germany/GENEVA – "It was one of the most moving days in my life." With these words, the Presiding Bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) Bishop Dr Johannes Friedrich (Munich, Germany) recalled the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) between the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church ten years ago in Augsburg, Germany. In his greeting at a festive ceremony on 30 October in the Golden Hall of Augsburg town hall, Friedrich said, "Today we are celebrating the fact that the decades of patient dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics have paid off and we can now together subscribe to a differentiated consensus in the doctrine on justification. There are thus no longer any church-dividing differences regarding what is for Lutherans the central core of the biblical message."

LWF General Secretary Noko: New Quality in Lutheran-Roman Catholic Relationship
Cardinal Kasper Says Ecumenism Need Not Be Reinvented

November 1, 2009 AUGSBURG, Germany/GENEVA – When signing the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) ten years ago, "we committed ourselves to a joint ecumenical journey," said Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). He was speaking at celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of the JDDJ signing in Augsburg, Germany, on Saturday 31 October in the Golden Hall of Augsburg's town hall. On 31 October 1999 "we did not doubt that we will walk together on new ways. We acted in full awareness of the remaining difficulties between us," Noko recalled.

The Anglican Old Catholic International Coordinating Council – Communique

November 4, 2009 – The Anglican-Old Catholic International Co-ordinating Council (AOCICC) met in the International Study Centre, Canterbury, England, from 26 to 29 October 2009. The Council welcomed the Revd Carola von Wrangel from the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe as a new member. The members received reports of developments in each Communion and reviewed present ecumenical dialogues in which our Communions are engaged. The Council studied several papers on the theology of blessing. It also discussed and adopted an information leaflet about the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht. A draft text for a common statement on ecclesiology and mission was discussed.

Anglican, Roman Catholic Dialogue in the U.S. Continues

October 30, 2009 – Immigration reform, the papal encyclical "Veritatis Splendor" and the Vatican's invitation to Anglicans topped the discussion at the 66th meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation in the United States (ARC-USA) Oct. 26-27, according to an Oct. 30 press release. The meeting was the third such meeting in a round of the dialogue focused on the theme "Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Common Ground and Divergences," and was held at the Washington Retreat House in Washington, D.C.

Editorial Page

Editorial: Religious Reformation a La Bohemian

November 1, 2009 – On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg detailing many injustices of the time. Luther argued that many things were wrong in politics, society, and church and listed them one by one and asked his countrymen to discuss these issues. His Ninety-Five Theses gave birth to fundamental ideas such as justification by faith alone, the Bible as the only infallible authority for Christians, and the priesthood of all believers and began the Protestant Reformation.

Spanish News

Dirigentes Mundiales Reciben Apoyo De Iglesias Por Desarme Nuclear

2 noviembre 2009 – Publicado de manera conjunta por: Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, Conferencia de Iglesias Europeas, Consejo Nacional de Iglesias de Cristo y Consejo de Iglesias del Canadá "Este es el momento de continuar la tendencia" hacia el desarme nuclear, dijeron cuatro organizaciones ecuménicas mundiales, regionales y nacionales a los dirigentes de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (OTAN), la Unión Europea, los Estados Unidos y Rusia.

La Celebración Argentina Del Jubileo De Calvino Tuvo Su Acto Central En Buenos Aires

2 noviembre 2009, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – El Jubileo de Juan Calvino culminó formalmente sus festejos en Buenos Aires, al celebrarse el viernes 30 en la sede de la Iglesia Evangélica del Río de la Plata en calle Esmeralda, un culto que convocó a más de un centenar de personas de distintas confesiones religiosas, principalmente de la familia reformada-presbiteriana.

Juan Calvino En La Habana

2 noviembre 2009, LA HABANA, Cuba – Discurso pronunciado por el doctor SERGIO ARCE, importante teólogo, pastor presbiteriano jubilado y presidente de la Conferencia Cristiana por la Paz de América Latina y el Caribe, durante la develación del primer busto de Calvino en Cuba, con motivo de su jubileo, en un acto celebrado en esta capital, en la tarde del pasado sábado 31 de octubre. Se nos ha pedido que hablemos unos 15 minutos sobre Calvino en la Habana, la ciudad de edificios que constituyen un Museo Universal de Arquitectura, y que desde hoy resulta ser no sólo la Habana de los arquitectos que usan cemento y arena, sino también la Habana de un hombre que llegó a ser un arquitecto de ideas nobles y acciones ennoblecedoras.

El Muro De Berlín Cayó En Muchos Lugares

5 noviembre 2009 – Las oleadas de impacto social y político causadas por semanas de protestas prodemocráticas en Alemania Oriental y la posterior caída del Muro de Berlín, el 9 de noviembre de 1989, se dejaron sentir en todo el mundo. El teólogo sudafricano John de Gruchy recuerda cómo, mientras pasaba ese año un semestre sabático en el Seminario Teológico Unido de Nueva York, le pidieron que, durante unos días, hiciera de anfitrión del director de un instituto de estudios marxistas leninistas de Alemania Oriental.

El Matrimonio Civil Entre Personas Del Mismo Sexo Se Debate En El Congreso

4 noviembre 2009, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – El Congreso argentino comenzó el jueves pasado- en distintas comisiones- a debatir la modificación del Código Civil que permitirá a las personas no heterosexuales contraer matrimonio y acceder a los derechos que se derivan de esta institución. Esto sería posible reformando el artículo 172 del Código Civil. Para eso se cuenta con dos proyectos. Ambos proyectos tienen en común que modifican todos los artículos del Código Civil en los que se menciona, en términos matrimoniales, "hombre y mujer," y se los reemplaza por un término más abarcativo, el de "contrayentes."

La Caída Del Muro De Berlín Y Su Significado Para El Movimiento Ecuménico

5 noviembre 2009 – Si la apertura o caída del Muro de Berlín fue inesperada para los más directamente afectados, todavía lo fue más para el mundo en general. El movimiento ecuménico no fue una excepción, aunque los acontecimientos de 1989 en Alemania del Este iban a tener en él un amplio y duradero impacto, que todavía se siente en la actualidad. Desde la apertura de la frontera entre Hungría y Austria durante el verano de 1989, muchos ciudadanos de la República Democrática Alemana se habían ido del país en búsqueda de seguridad.

CORCA Pide a Instituto Católico De París Se Abstenga
De Otorgar Los Polémicos Honoris Causa Anunciados

5 noviembre 2009, SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica – La Coordinadora Centroamericana "Monseñor Oscar A. Romero concluye una carta enviada al Instituto Católico de París, instando a que se abstenga de entregar su honoris causa "al Cardenal Oscar Rodríguez Madariaga (…) como tampoco a aquel designado, conjuntamente con él para tal inmerecida distinción, que es Michel Camdessus, director del Fondo Monetario Internacional, FMI, de 1987 a 2000, conocida organización mundial causante de las condiciones de muerte que viven nuestros países empobrecidos por causa de sus políticas."

Día De La Reforma: Plantarán Árboles Para Marcar El Compromiso Con La Creación

31 octubre 2009, GINEBRA, Suiza – Hace veinte años, los cristianos de la antigua Alemania Oriental se reunieron en Wittenberg para celebrar el Día de la Reforma en la iglesia donde el 31 de octubre 1517, Martín Lutero, según se dice, clavó su lista de demandas para la reforma de la Iglesia Católica Romana. Diez días después, el muro de Berlín cayó y una nueva era de la reforma comenzó en la Europa moderna, con repercusiones sentidas en todo el mundo. Este año, las celebraciones en Wittenberg contarán con una ceremonia- el domingo 1- en la que representantes de las diferentes ramas de la Cristiandad plantará un árbol en el Lutergarten (Jardín de Lutero).

"Calvino Sigue Siendo Presencia Del Mundo Ante Dios"
Afirma Directora Del Museo De La Reforma

2 noviembre 2009, LA HABANA, Cuba – "El protestantismo, antes de ser una cultura y valores basados en la Historia, sigue siendo, fundamentalmente, convicción, fidelidad, presencia del mundo ante Dios," expresó la doctora Isabelle Graessle, directora del Museo Internacional de la Reforma, al ser develado un busto de Juan Calvino aquí, como cierre a las celebraciones por el año Jubilar que organizara la Iglesia Presbiteriana-Reformada de Cuba. "Es la razón por la cual no podría existir otra condición para nosotros los protestantes que la de una presencia real en el mundo, en uno mismo y ante Dios.

La Sexualidad Desde Una Perspectiva Liberadora

5 noviembre 2009, BARRANQUILLA, Colombia – Convocadas por el tema "Nuestro CUERPO REGALO DE DIOS: Un desafío para las mujeres desde nuestros Derechos Sexuales y Derechos Reproductivos¨, se realizó en Barranquilla Colombia el Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres de CLAI auspiciado por UNFPA, Fondo de Población de Naciones Unidas. (Primera entrega) Según nos refiere su organizadora la Coordinadora Regional de la Pastoral de Mujeres y Justicia de Género, Lic. Teresita Bustamante Ospina, "Fue un espacio maravilloso, donde las mujeres pudimos compartir muchos tabués con los que fuimos criadas, en torno a la sexualidad.

New York Metro News

Bishops Protest Proposed Education Cuts

October 30, 2009, NEW YORK – Eight New York bishops sent a letter to the state's Governor David Patterson Oct. 29 protesting proposed budget cuts to education. In the letter, the bishops, representing the state's six Episcopal dioceses, gave four reasons among their concerns for opposing the cuts.

National News

ELCA Leaders among Those Helping at Fort Hood

November 6, 2009, CHICAGO – Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are among those helping in the aftermath of a tragedy at Fort Hood, Texas. An Army psychiatrist allegedly shot and killed 13 people and injured another 30 people Nov. 5 on the grounds of the country's largest military base. The Rev. Michael T. Lembke is an ELCA pastor and chaplain for III Corps at Fort Hood. His daughter, Heidi Lembke, is a seminary intern at Immanuel Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in neighboring Killeen, Texas. Heidi Lembke said a prayer vigil will be held the evening of Nov. 6 at Fort Hood. "All are invited to join us in prayer across the globe," she said.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Welcomes Travel Policy Change for People with HIV

November 5, 2009, CHICAGO – The presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) joined others in welcoming a decision by U.S. President Barack Obama to remove entry restrictions into the United States for people who are HIV-positive. "Ending discriminatory policies and confronting stigmatizing attitudes toward people living with HIV and AIDS are essential for their full inclusion in society and religious communities," said Hanson, who is also president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Geneva.

International News

Foreign Workers Abused by Taiwanese Employers

November 1, 2009 – What kind of a job would require foreign workers to work 365 days a year, more than 16 hours a day, forbid employees from visiting a doctor when ill, on top of withholding rightfully earned income? Are jobs such as these another form of slavery? Legal Aid Foundation received a call for help recently from five Vietnamese personal nurses working at a nursing home. With assistance of social workers from a Catholic organization, these Vietnamese workers were able to flee ghastly working conditions and find help.

Ecumenical Body Sends Letter to South African Churches

November 6, 2009 – The Executive Committee of the Reformed Ecumenical Council has sent a letter to the South African members of the REC and of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) concerning and clarifying the status of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NHKA) related to the union of the REC and the WARC. These two bodies, the REC and the WARC, plan to merge into a new body, to become the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), in June 2010 on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.

Lessons from the Fall of the Berlin Wall Are Relevant Today

November 5, 2009 – Twenty years ago in East Germany, "Christian hope and perseverance contributed significantly to the fall of the Berlin Wall," said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. Commenting on the 20th anniversary of event that brought to an end the "cold war era," Kobia stressed: the people who "gathered in the churches and became the nucleus for the movement of change [ ... ] taught us that Christian faith can inspire a resistance movement against fatalism and despair – a lesson which is as important today as it was twenty years ago."

The Berlin Wall Fell in Many Places

November 5, 2009 – The political and social shock waves caused by weeks of pro-democracy protests in East Germany and then the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, were felt around the world. The South African theologian John de Gruchy recalls how, while spending a sabbatical semester at Union Theological Seminary in New York that year, he had been asked to play host for a few days to the director of an East German institute for Marxist-Leninist studies.

A Statement by the Church of Pakistan

November 2, 2009 – Adopted by the Executive Committee of the Synod: Church of Pakistan, at its meeting on 21 October, 2009, at Murree: The recent tragedy of Gojra, where nine Pakistani Christians were burnt to death by a frenzied mob, has raised yet again the whole issue of the status and security of the religious minorities in an overwhelmingly Islamic country like Pakistan. This incident has highlighted in a very painful and tragic way, the experiences of Pakistani Christians, who so often are victimized under the false pretext of either having desecrated the Holy Quran or insulting the holy Prophet of Islam.