News and stories

Government and society must find “new resolve to protect the sanctity of life,” Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), said in a statement recognizing the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The latest issue of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation newsletter is available online. Learn more on the drafting of the "Ecumenical Declaration on Just Peace", on recent expert consultations and Living Letters visits to Nigeria and the Pacific. Be informed about concrete plans for the May 2011 meeting in Jamaica.

While peace is a commonly held value within Judaism, Islam and Christianity, other religious values can often become sources of conflict. In order to build community beyond faith boundaries a group of young adults from each of the three faith groups spent a week focusing on the common value of peace recently.

“The prospect for a religion-based approach to peace-making has a great potential in sub-Saharan Africa,” Dr Yacob Tesfai said presenting his new book Holy Warriors, Infidels and Peacemakers in Africa.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has denounced the extrajudicial killings of Benjamin Bayles and Jovelito Agustin, both lay ministers of the Philippine Independent Church.

Youth is getting ready to play a key role during next year's International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, which will take place in Kingston, Jamaica 17-25 May 2011.

Approaching the boat landing of the fishing village on Viwa Island off the coast of Suva, Fiji, it is hard to imagine a more idyllic setting than this South Pacific paradise filled with one stunning island view after another.

Is it time to start work on banning nuclear weapons? “Yes” says a growing majority of governments and civil society groups. “No” insists a tiny nuclear-armed minority. “Premature” say some of their closest allies.

Deep concern over the recent death of Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and the "increased oppression against Congolese human rights defenders" during the past year was expressed by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a letter to the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 4 June.

Deep concern over the precarious situation people on the Korean peninsula are facing was expressed by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a letter to WCC member churches in South Korea.