The recent incidents of violence in Bagua, Peru are "but one instance of a series of government actions to abrogate the rights of the Indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon over land and resources", stated the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a 9 June letter to President Alan García Pérez.

As social networks become more and more popular, churches still struggle to find the best ways of using these new features to communicate with their members and spread the gospel.

The hope that all Christians will be able to celebrate Easter on the same day in the future was reaffirmed by an international ecumenical seminar organized by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, 15 May.

At a time when the international community is re-kindling the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, the North Korean nuclear test is a source of profound concern, stated the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia.

According to an Indian church worker, the violence against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa last year was not a one-time event but the consequence of a fragmented society. However, the results of the recent general elections are heartening.

"Being indigenous peoples is not about wearing colourful garments but about being engaged in the political struggle towards an alternative to the current, crisis-laden model of civilization", says María Chávez, an indigenous person from Bolivia who is a consultant for indigenous issues at the World Council of Churches (WCC).

In spite of a global trend to better recognize the right to conscientious objection – which is marked with an International Day on 15 May – those who exercise that right are often discriminated against, persecuted, repeatedly punished or sent to prison in many countries, first results of a study being conducted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) show.

In 2008 the World Council of Churches celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity as well as its own 60th anniversary. This gave the WCC “pause to reflect on how far the ecumenical movement has come since the Council was born in 1948 and where the Holy Spirit is leading as we proceed into the uncharted territory of the 21st century”, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia says in the annual review.

The prime minister of uranium-rich Namibia favours his country ratifying the Africa Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, a long-delayed milestone that requires action by only two more states, but with a caveat about peace.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has urged the government of Sri Lanka to immediately release from detention Santha Fernando, an ecumenical official who has been under arrest for nearly a month.