The Tokyo Olympic Games have begun one year late in one of the world's biggest cities. There are no spectators—and little of the usual spiritual support from churches and no official Olympic Village prayer room.
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.
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.
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.
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.