Front Page

Religious Leaders Say Arms Trade Treaty must Regulate Ammunition

July 20, 2012 – Christian leaders representing organizations of some 90 percent of the world's two billion Christians have issued a joint appeal to the 194 governments currently negotiating the first global Arms Trade Treaty: Keep ammunition in the treaty. Proposals on the negotiating table would ban arms sales for genocide, war crimes and grave human rights violations. Almost all of the 194 states involved recognize that the arms and ammunition most often used in these crimes must therefore be included in the treaty. Churches and their members witness the human costs of unlawful armed violence every day, as victims are brought to church hospitals and church graveyards in different parts of the world.

WCC Calls on Churches to Observe International Day of Prayer for Peace

July 18, 2012 The World Council of Churches (WCC) calls on the churches and congregations around the world to observe an International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September. The day coincides with the International Day of Peace initiated by the United Nations. The participants are especially invited to pray and act together for a just peace in communities, nations and the world. Prayers from different parts of the world will be shared through online means, including Facebook and Twitter. .

Bishop of Durham to Serve on Banking Standards Committee

July 17, 2012 – A cross party parliamentary inquiry into the banking industry and Libor scandal has had its membership confirmed with the inclusion of the Bishop of Durham as a non politically aligned member from the House of Lords. The Right Revd Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham has been invited to sit on the commission titled the ‘Parliamentary Commission On Banking Standards.' The terms of reference set out in the motion which resulted in the commission being setup requires it to consider and report on ‘professional standards and culture of the UK banking sector, taking account of regulatory and competition investigations into the Libor rate-setting process' and ‘lessons to be learned about corporate governance, transparency and conflicts of interest, and their implications for regulation and for Government policy.'

Aurora Community Gathers for Prayer

July 20, 2012 – After a lone gunman entered a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., early on July 20, killing at least a dozen people, the stunned community rallied to support survivors, pray for those who lost loved ones and prepare for a vigil that evening at the city municipal building. United Methodist-related Iliff School of Theology kept its chapel open for prayer all day. News reports said the shooter tossed tear gas before opening fire on the terrified audience. Dozens of theater-goers, including a 3-month-old baby, were wounded. Federal law-enforcement officers identified the shooter as James Holmes, 24.

General News

ELCA Youth Celebrate Diversity, Abilities and Faith

July 19, 2012, NEW ORLEANS – For Emily Schmidlin of Trinity Lutheran Church in Kent, Ohio, it is important to know that people with disabilities have a lot in common with those who do not. "Although we in the definitely abled community may look or act differently than (what) you're used to, we still have the same hopes, dreams, goals and a lot of the same abilities." Schmidlin was a volunteer July 16-18 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Definitely Abled Youth Leadership Event, popularly known as DAYLE – one of two preceding events of the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering taking place in New Orleans, July 18-22.

ELCA, Episcopal Bishops Say 2012 Is a Defining Moment for HIV, AIDS

July 20, 2012, CHICAGO – The presiding bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Church welcome the 20,000 people traveling from 200 countries to the United States for the 2012 International AIDS Conference taking place July 22-27 in Washington, D.C. In a letter to participants, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson and Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori commended the Obama administration for lifting the travel constraints "that for more than two decades prevented HIV-positive persons, including Lutherans and Anglicans, and all others living with HIV or AIDS, from traveling to the United States."

Anglicans Host Major Conference on Health and Healing

July 20, 2012 – The Anglican Health Network (AHN) will host a two-day conference in the UK in April next year to draw together the experience of churches engaged in health services and healing ministries. AHN Coordinator, Revd Paul Holley, commented: ‘In a changing health landscape, there are clear signs that churches are engaging afresh with the health sector.' The conference programme will consider the wide variety of health and healing initiatives offered by parishes, healing agencies and Christian hospitals. Speakers are drawn from the UK, Europe and the United States and will provide insight into new innovations in the field of faith and health.

My Leading Role: Thoughts from a CLM Intern

July 19, 2012 – Over the past two months I have served in Congregational Life Ministries as a seminary intern. I explored vocational opportunities, developed leadership skills, and offered critical reflection. I enjoyed seeing the Church of the Brethren from a bird's eye view, and it was exciting to think creatively about new ways to be a denominational leader. I was able to participate in events like the Church Planting Conference, National Young Adult Conference, and Annual Conference. One important thing that I learned is that there are lots of young adults in the Church of the Brethren who are ready to lead, and looking for opportunities to do so.

Service on My Mind

July 19, 2012 – If you're like me, when you hear the words "National Young Adult Conference" you probably think of young adults traveling from all over the country, gathering in worship and community, enjoying peaceful recreation and workshops. "Service project" is probably not what comes to mind first. Many participants took a week off work to attend NYAC last month, and they spent several hundred dollars on travel and registration costs. Why then, you ask, would a group of them choose to spend an entire afternoon of free time working on a service project?

Convention Moves to Balance ‘Environmental' and ‘Economic' Justice

July 20, 2012 – In the past 20 years the state of Iowa has experienced three crisis-level floods, the latest, in 2008, put nearly a third of the state underwater. "It was a 500 year flood, causing $60 billion in damages," said the Very Rev. Cathleen Bascom, dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in downtown Des Moines, adding that the frequency of the floods "is what opened our eyes to the climate change issue." The cathedral, which sits on High Street along with the four other remaining "old churches," weathered the storms, but the low-lying areas – mostly home to low-income residents and immigrants – "suffered the most," she said.

Convention OKs Continued Trial Use of ‘Holy Women, Holy Men'
Gathering Also Approves 1979 Lectionary Option, Refers Creation Rites for More Work

July 17, 2012 – The 77th General Convention in Indianapolis made headlines when it approved a provisional rite of blessing for lifelong same-gender relationships (Resolution A049). But it also considered 35 resolutions on a wide range of other liturgical issues, from authorizing continued trial use of Holy Women, Holy Men to considering the best way to translate the prayer book into other languages.

Ecumenical News

From Conflict to Communion
Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission Urges Celebration of Fruits of Dialogue in 2017

July 20, 2012 – As they approach the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017, Lutherans and Roman Catholic representatives affirmed that through baptism Lutherans and Roman Catholics are bound to each other as members of the one body of Christ. The fourth meeting of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity took place from 12–19 July at Paderborn, Germany. The commission gathers under the auspices of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU). The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 will also mark 50 years of dialogue between the two churches, which the commission noted offers cause for celebration.

Ecumenical Patriarch Reaffirms Commitment to Christian Unity

July 18, 2012 – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I has reaffirmed the See of Constantinople' s commitment to work for Christian unity. Patriarch Bartholomew, who has held office since 1991, said that his predecessor Patriarch Athenagoras was criticized at the time for the openness he had demonstrated. Our Ecumenical Patriarchate, then as now, is continuously criticized for the ecumenical dialogue it pursues, as if it were our wish to sell Orthodoxy. Nothing is more unfounded. And yet today is no longer the epoch of egoistic withdrawal into self, autarchy and self-sufficiency. "Only through dialogue that it is possible to attain agreement, rapprochement and reconciliation" among Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew added.

Assembly Committee Plans Prayer and Music for Busan 2013

July 19, 2012 – Common prayer and music drawn from churches around the world are recognized as highlights of World Council of Churches (WCC) assemblies when they convene every seven years. The Assembly Planning Committee will meet from 23 to 27 July at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland to plan the 10th Assembly, which will take place in Busan, Korea from 30 October to 8 November 2013. Proposals for prayer life and music are part of a report from the Assembly Worship Planning Committee, which met from 5 to 12 July outside Busan at a Roman Catholic retreat centre. Members of the committee joined Orthodox and Protestant worship services and met with local and national leaders serving on the Korean Host Committee.

Editorial Page

Despite Doubters, Mainline Protestant Churches Are Poised for Success

July 18, 2012 – Conservative commentators like Rupert Murdoch's stable and Ross Douthat of The New York Times are feasting on what they perceive as the "death" of "liberal Christianity." They add two and two and get eight. They see decisions they don't like – such as the Episcopal Church's recent endorsement of a rite for blessing same-sex unions. They see declines in church membership. They pounce. Such "liberal" decisions are destroying the church, they say, and alienating young adults they must reach in order to survive.

Spanish News

Teología Y Vida De Las Iglesias Entre Las Montañas Andinas

14 julio 2012, COSTA RICA – El tercer día del CLADE V se centró en la vida de las iglesias evangélicas y la labor teológica en los países llamados andinos porque los atraviesa la cordillera de los Andes: Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia y Venezuela. Se trata de países con el trasfondo de un catolicismo que ha desarrollado una religiosidad popular de raíz española pero vinculada a la religiosidad indígena de los incas, chibchas, aymaras y otras etnias de la región, a las cuales se agregó el elemento africano que vino con la esclavitud.

Atletas Musulmanas Pueden Usar El Chador, Decidió La FIFA

19 julio 2012, PARÍS, Francia – Aún constando en su reglamento la prohibición a cualquier concesión política o religiosa a atletas, la Federación Internacional de Futbol Asociado (FIFA) va a permitir que jugadoras musulmanas jueguen vestidas de velo (chador) y usen trajes holgados que cubran todo el cuerpo, para no acentuar las curvas.

Foro ACT-Colombia E Iglesias Atienden Crisis Humanitaria En El Cauca

18 julio 2012, COLOMBIA – La crisis humanitaria que viven las comunidades indígenas en la región del Cauca en Colombia se ha hecho más visible en el último mes a causa del incremento de la confrontación armada en esta región. Según la Cruz Roja durante las últimas dos semanas más de 2500 indígenas del Cauca se han visto obligados a salir huyendo de sus casas para buscar refugio en albergues temporales ante los combates y hostigamientos entre las Farc y la fuerza publica de Colombia.

Grupo Religioso De1struye Dos Escuelas En El Estado De Michoacán

20 julio 2012, MÉXICO – Seguidores de un tal "obispo" que se hace llamar Martín Le Tour, destruyeron dos escuelas en la comunidad Nueva Jerusalén, municipio Turicato, en el oeste mexicano, esta semana que concluye, mientras pobladores denunciaron ante las autoridades que han sufrido una persecución "sin descanso," encaminada a impedir el derecho de los niños a la enseñanza escolar.

Evangélicos Franceses Deciden Alejarse De La Teología De La Prosperidad

16 julio 2012, FRANCIA – El Consejo Nacional de Evangélicos en Francia (CNEF), redactó un documento para eliminar la teología de la prosperidad de las iglesias francesas. El CNEF, tiene por objeto regular la doctrina del mundo evangélico francés y su Consejo, formado por teólogos de diferentes organizaciones religiosas (pietistas, ortodoxa, bautista, pentecostal y carismático pentecostal) elaboró un estatuto de 30 páginas que fue publicado el 22 de mayo.

La Decepción De RÍO+20 Motiva a La Juventud a Promover La Eco-Justicia En El Ámbito Local

18 julio 2012 – La semana que Raquel Kleber pasó en junio en la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Desarrollo Sostenible, también conocida como Río+20, fue muy intensa. Raquel Kleber, una estudiante de Relaciones Internacionales, subrayó en Río los logros del proyecto "Criatitude," un proyecto educativo nacional dirigido a desarrollar "actitudes creativas" para fomentar el desarrollo sostenible y la eco-justicia.

New York Metro News

Diocese of New York Bishops Authorize Same-Sex Blessings

July 19, 2012, NEW YORK – Bishop Mark Sisk on July 19 sent the following letter to the clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of New York authorizing them to perform same-sex unions and blessings on or after Sept. 1. A letter from Bishop Coadjutor Andrew Dietsche follows.

National News

Episcopalians, Others Send Prayers to Colorado after Shootings

July 20, 2012 – Episcopalians and others are reacting to what one called the "empty evil" of the mass shootings in a Denver-area movie theater just after midnight July 20. The Rev. Gary R. Brower, an Episcopal priest and university chaplain at the University of Denver, told Episcopal News Service via e-mail June 20 that "given the deep wounds of Columbine, this particular tragedy hits us all pretty hard. And, of course, we've been reeling from the loss of hundreds of homes in recent forest fires. This has been a difficult summer." Brower was referring to the mass shooting April 20, 1999, at a high school in Columbine, Colorado, about 17 miles southwest of Aurora where the latest shooting took place

Conferences Reject Church's Stance on Gays

July 18, 2012 – Rejecting the denomination's stance on gay rights and same-sex marriage were important issues for at least 15 United Methodist annual (regional) conferences this summer. United Methodists from Washington and the northern panhandle of Idaho approved legislation supporting the Marriage Equality Act. The law was signed by the governor in February and would have made Washington the seventh state to allow same-sex marriage. The law was set to go into effect June 7 but Referendum 74, an anti-gay marriage measure, got enough signatures to put the initiative on the November ballot and put the law on hold.

International News

Church World Service, Rights Groups and NGOs Hail
Congressional Call for Un Response to Haiti Cholera

July 18, 2012, WASHINGTON, DC –Humanitarian agency Church World Service is among a coalition of human rights groups, faith-based organizations and NGOs working for just and sustainable post-earthquake recovery in Haiti who commend a letter sent by 104 members of the U.S. Congress to Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, requesting that she urge the world body to act decisively in addressing Haiti's cholera crisis. This important appeal was sponsored by Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and delivered to Ambassador Rice July 17, 2012.

Fighting a Myth about Exclusion and Death in Mauritania
LWF Works with Local Partner to Combat HIV and AIDS

July 19, 2012, NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania/GENEVA – Fatimata Ball recalls that when she first learned she was HIV positive, all she wanted to do was die. She had already quit her job as a nurse and sold her valuables so she could afford to look after her husband, who had contracted the virus. When she found out that she was HIV positive as well, she felt paralyzed by the diagnosis. Today, however, she takes every opportunity to share her experience to combat the stigma associated with the disease. Ball is the first Mauritanian to publicly disclose her HIV status.

Review Team Offers Radical Vision for Church in Wales

July 20, 2012 – A radical new vision for the future of the Church in Wales is set out in a report launched today. Supersize parishes run by teams of vicars and lay people, creative ideas for ensuring churches stay at the heart of their communities and investing further in ministry to young people are among the report's recommendations following an independent root and branch review. The Church in Wales commissioned the review a year ago to address some of its challenges and to ensure it was fit for purpose as it faced its centenary in 2020. Three experienced people in ministry and church management examined its structures and ministry and heard evidence from public meetings across Wales attended by more than 1,000 people.

Archbishops Affirm Bible in Schools

July 20, 2012 – The two New Zealand-based Archbishops have publicly declared that the Anglican Church stands four-square behind the Bible in Schools programme. Archbishop David Moxon and Archbishop Brown Turei were moved to comment following televised remarks made yesterday by St Matthew-in-the-City priest Clay Nelson, who has joined the atheist run-Secular Education Network in a bid to get the religious education programme out of the country's primary and secondary schools.

Middle East News

Religious Israeli Lawmaker Tears up New Testament

July 19, 2012, JERUSALEM – An Israeli lawmaker has torn up a copy of the New Testament in front of cameras in his parliament office. An aide says Christian missionaries mailed the Christian scripture to Michael Ben-Ari of the ultranationalist National Union Party. Itamar Ben-Gvir said Ben-Ari, an Orthodox Jew, was enraged to receive the book, in whose name he says millions of Jews were slaughtered. Ben-Ari tore it up, he said, then posed for photographs with the destroyed Bible. Many Christians over the centuries persecuted Jews, holding them responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. Government spokesman Mark Regev said, "We totally deplore this behavior and condemn it outright. This action stands in complete contrast to our values and our traditions.”

People in the News

First Female Anglican Bishop for Africa Elected

July 19, 2012 – The Anglican Church of Southern Africa July 18 made history by electing the first female Anglican bishop on the continent. The Rev. Ellinah Ntombi Wamukoya, 61, became the bishop-elect of Swaziland and the first woman bishop in any of the 12 Anglican provinces in Africa. It is thought she is only the second bishop elected in a mainline church on the continent. Her election comes as the Anglican Church of Southern Africa – which also includes Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Lesotho – commemorates 20 years since the ordination of women to the priesthood as presbyters and bishops.