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Christian and Muslim leaders and scholars meeting at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, site of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central offices today issued a joint statement of condemnation for the criminal attack on the Church of Our Lady of Najat (Sayidat al-Nejat) in Baghdad this past Sunday, 31 October.

Two panel discussions in Geneva, Switzerland highlighted the second morning of the “Transforming Communities” international consultation on Muslim-Christian relations. Panellists focused the attention of approximately 60 delegates on the topics “Beyond Minority and Majority” and “From Conflict to Compassionate Justice.”

“Our theology is not the same,” said Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan, “but we are all in the same boat.” The prince was addressing an assembly of Christians and Muslims gathered in Geneva, Switzerland to mark the beginning on Monday of a four-day international consultation on Muslim-Christian dialogue.

High-ranking Muslim and Christian leaders as well as renowned scholars and interfaith practitioners, representing various Islamic and Christians organizations, will gather 1-4 November at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva for an international consultation on Christian and Muslim concerns.

At the 50th meeting since its foundation in 1946, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) decided to refocus, establishing four thematic working groups, in order better to respond to the needs of the member churches.

A common word on international economic practices has been spoken by representatives of Christian and Buddhist traditions who met in late August at Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

A new inter-religious partnership for health will be kick-started at the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Review Summit in New York, 20-22 September.

World Council of Churches (WCC) partners and member churches in the United States continue to be at the forefront of the discussion concerning the proposed burning of the Quran by a church in Florida.

The general secretary of the WCC has offered his greetings, solidarity and a message of peace to the Muslim leaders of the world as they end the month of Ramadan.

“Among the many challenges that we face in the search for Christian unity is the need to overcome divisions and prejudices that exclude one another,” Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC said to the 22nd Pentecostal World Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

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 welcomed a recent Turkish government decree allowing for a better protection of the rights of non-Muslim religious minorities in Turkey.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) Living Letters team has appealed to Nigeria's religious leaders to encourage people belonging to different ethnic and faith groups to take initiatives to promote lasting peace and harmony in violence-affected communities.

It was a deeply moving experience for the Living Letters team visiting Nigeria on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) when they gathered to pray around a mass grave in Dogonahawa, near Jos, in the Central Plateau State on Tuesday. About 323 locals murdered last March have been buried at the site.

Muslims, Christians and people of other faiths should witness together to God's compassion in a world where too many suffer destitution and injustice, a Muslim scholar and a Christian leader agreed during an interfaith conversation and Bible study held at a 12-16 May German church convention (Kirchentag) in Munich.

The WCC is proud that one of its presidents, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania, has been awarded the highest distinction of the Republic of Albania in recognition of his merits in the field of inter-religious dialogue, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit wrote in a 22 April letter.

Catholicos Aram I, head of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit met at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey, Switzerland, on 6 April. It was their first meeting since Tveit entered office in January 2010.

With a new sense of urgency in view of a pandemic that grows exponentially, high level figures from many of the world's faiths have committed to exercise "stronger, more visible and practical leadership" in response to HIV, with an emphasis on eradicating the stigma and discrimination towards those affected.

The first-ever Summit of High Level Religious Leaders on HIV and AIDS will be held in Den Dolder, Netherlands, from 22-23 March 2010. It aims to generate greater involvement from religious leaders of many of the world’s faiths in the global response to the pandemic.