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The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) met formally on 25-27 June in Paris, under the theme “The normalization of hatred: challenges for Jews and Christians today”. This meeting took place at a time of significant challenges in public and religious life for many communities around the world. At the meeting Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, presented the WCC policies on antisemitism and the WCC’s work for human rights for all. The WCC News met with him after the meeting.

Twenty-seven young ecumenists from across Asia are currently attending the month-long Asian Ecumenical Institute organized by the Christian Conference of Asia. The programme aims to provide ecumenical formation and leadership development training for prospective church and ecumenical leaders. It is being held at the Christian Conference of Asia headquarters in Payap University Campus in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz hosted an international conference on “The Many Faces of Jesus Christ: Contextual Christology in a New World Come of Age.” Meeting from July 4-6 on the university campus, the conference brought together 20 scholars from Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America to listen to and debate new developments in Christology from around the world. Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal and Reformed theologians made presentations on Christology, as reflected in theological writings, poetry, art, music and murals, and lived experience.

The International Council of Christians and Jews held its annual conference in Lund, Sweden on 30 June through 3 July with the theme: “Transformations Within and Between: How Does Our New Relationship Affect Christians and Jewish Self-Understandings?”
Approximately 160 participants representing many organizations, including the World Council of Churches, came from 23 nations. They began the conference in the Lutheran Cathedral of Lund with greetings from local religious and civic leaders.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted a Sikh-Christian dialogue on 5 July with the theme “Pursuing Peace in a Pluralistic World” to commemorate the 550th birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak, the first guru of the Sikhs.

As they met with the staff from the World Council Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy programme, religious leaders in Uganda realized they are well-placed to empower adolescents and young people with knowledge and skills to negotiate issues relating to sexuality.

Young students from all over the world were welcomed to the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland on Tuesday for the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Interreligious Studies.
The theme of the 2018/2019 academic year is “Engaging for just and participatory societies - belongingness in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”.

Azza Karam knows about the intersection of faith-based organizations with United Nations agencies, the non-governmental organization sector and governments, saying it has changed over the past 10 years with much more interaction now.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sent greetings to Muslim friends and colleagues as they celebrated the festival of Eid al-Fitr.

“Many Christians find that it is an enriching experience, and indeed a positive challenge to their faith, to observe something of how Muslims practise their faith through the month of Ramadan,” wrote Tveit. "For example, your commitment to fasting, to mutual forgiveness, and to remembering the needs of the poor and hungry, is a welcome reminder to Christians that these practices are also important to us in our own faith.”

At a conference with the theme “Promoting Peace Together” held in Geneva on 21 May, religious leaders focused on two historic documents related to peace-making. The first, “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” was jointly signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Abu Dhabi in February. The second, “Education for Peace in a Multi-Religious World: A Christian Perspective,” jointly prepared by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Council of Churches (WCC), was officially launched at the conference.

As Buddhists across the world prepare to observe the festival of Vesak, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit extended greetings to the WCC’s Buddhist partners. “May you continue to be inspired by the wisdom of Gautama Buddha whose birth, enlightenment and death you commemorate on this festive day,” wrote Tveit.

Racism is a curse that continues to haunt the global community, with new forms constantly emerging. This curse brings us to the realisation that no country is free from racism and we cannot afford any attitude of pretence or denial that no further action is needed to focus on racial justice in order to re-establish human dignity and equal human rights on a global scale.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and John Wiley & Sons (Wiley) have announced that Current Dialogue, the WCC’s journal of interreligious dialogue, will from 2019 be published by Wiley as part of the WCC quarterly, The Ecumenical Review.
One of the most long-standing and respected journals in the field of interreligious dialogue, Current Dialogue started publication in 1980–81, produced by the WCC’s then programme on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies.

In the wake of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, the Omnia Institute for Contextual Leadership, based in Chicago, lifted up points of hope that peace will win in the end. In a 25 April message, Shanta Premawardhana, president of the institute, wrote that every person of every faith of every nation deserves to wake up in peace. “Every child deserves to feel safe, welcomed, and alive to the promise that each day brings,” Premawardhana wrote. “I'm sure you know that this is why we build Interfaith Peacemaker Teams in Sri Lanka.”

From 23-25 March, 1,600 young people from 43 countries came together in Beirut, Lebanon with the brothers of the ecumenical, monastic community of Taizé (France). Middle Eastern and Western Christians discovered how fruitful and stimulating an ecumenical exchange can be.

The latest issue of Current Dialogue tackles diverse themes ranging from Jain approaches to religious plurality to the elimination of nuclear weapons. Marrying theory to practice, it seeks to throw light on the foundations for interreligious engagement of particular religious traditions while also highlighting the various challenges that communities of faith face in contemporary contexts across the world.

On 15 March, a group of Ecumenical accompaniers from the WCC were invited to share Shabbat dinner with the Kol HaNeshama congregation in Jerusalem.

Religions are often thought of as distinct and competing traditions, but the phenomenon of people belonging to multiple religious traditions is widespread, according to a World Council of Churches (WCC) publication presented during the European Academy of Religion in Bologna, Italy.

The Christian Conference of Asia gathered over 100 participants representing seven religions including Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Bahai, Hindu and Sikh to meet with the participants of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace Reference Group to discuss relevant issues about religion and their implications to the Asian society.