Search results

As the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca congratulated them and expressed solidarity with their ongoing fight for justice and peace.

As a report on human rights abuses in the Philippines was delivered to the UN by the global group Investigate PH, churches and human rights groups reiterated their concerns over propagation of a culture that allows the abuse to happen.

Rev. Prof. Dr Fernando Enns, on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC), presented a prayer in an interfaith setting during the 7th Global Interreligious Conference on Article 9 of the Japanese Peace Constitution, held 9 March in Okinawa.

Twenty-five ecumenical theologians and leaders gathered for public lectures coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Tokyo, Japan, on 17 September under the theme “Global Manifestations of Racism Today”.

Lectures and responses reflected on racism as a major concern of the ecumenical movement. Reflections focused on understanding global manifestations of racism today, and reaffirming the intersection of race and ethnicity with other determining characteristics．

The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned the massacre earlier this month of 14 farmers by police officers in Canlaon City, as well as Manjuyod and Santa Catalina towns in Negros Oriental in the Philippines. The WCC also renewed its call for the government of the Philippines to end the culture of impunity and to ensure full investigation and accountability for all such killings.

The National Christian Council (NCC) in Japan and other faith-based groups in the nation have issued a joint statement regarding comments from Masahiko Shibayama, minister of education and science, about the “Imperial Rescript of Education.”

At a global conference on xenophobia in Rome, a panel of four religious leaders from, respectively, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Islamic traditions, spoke candidly about how xenophobia can sometimes be woven deeply into the fabric of these traditions.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) joined the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church (UMC) as well as United Methodist bishops in the Philippines in appealing to the government of the Philippines for assistance and cooperation in extracting three United Methodist mission personnel from the country.

In an official ceremony on 10 December that reflected a lifetime of work for many peacemakers, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) executive director Beatrice Fihn joined the world in celebration but also sent a clear message: there is still a lot of work to do.

When Stephen Sidorak speaks about “A Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace to Japan on a Matter of Life and Death” his voice rings with passion, commitment and regret along with a yearning that nuclear weapons must never be used in anger again.

Some 200 people from Japanese churches and minority right networks as well as overseas partners, gathered for an international conference on minority issues and mission at the Korean YMCA in Tokyo.

During the 4th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, the WCC, in collaboration with the ACT Alliance and Lutheran World Federation, organized a side-event on “Faith-based organizations’ contribution to the protection of communities’ land rights: lessons learnt and good practices from Africa, Asia and Latin America” at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

Participants in Manilakbazan 2015, called by some the “Lumad caravan”, have come to Manila for a month-long series of activities and protests to bring attention to human rights violations in Lumad communities of the Philippines.

Adebayo Anthony Kehinde leads an African group supporting ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Its interfaith campaign is especially significant on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Japan.

The nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 revealed the brutality and dangerous logic of war, money and power, according to an Indigenous Anglican bishop from Canada.

Seventy years after nuclear fireballs exploded over two Japanese cities, an ecumenical group of pilgrims has come to Hiroshima to listen to those who survived and renew the struggle against their own countries’ continued reliance on nuclear weapons.

As an ecumenical delegation to Japan participates in Hiroshima Day observances on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing, the WCC has published a liturgical resource and invites churches around the world to join in prayer.

Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and a member of the church leaders’ pilgrimage to Japan on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings, pressed the case for the Humanitarian Pledge against nuclear weapons at the Hiroshima Day rally on 6 August 2015.

A statement issued by the 4th Global Inter-religious Conference on Article 9 has been received with appreciation by the WCC.