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A call to churches worldwide to educate people about racism was made by church leaders from across the Americas and the Caribbean at the end of a conference held last week in Managua, Nicaragua.

Dr Jorge Ramirez Reyna, president of Asociación Negra de Defensa y Promoción de Derechos Humanos (Black Association for Human Rights Defense and Promotion, ASONEDH) in Peru, reflects on the issue of racism in his country and the role of the conference on the Violence of Racism in Latin America, which was organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) 22-24 June in Managua, Nicaragua. He was interviewed by Sean Hawkey.

The silence of the international community to the plight of millions of North Koreans facing starvation and severe malnutrition was of deep concern to the members of an ecumenical forum for peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula, which met last week, 16 to 19 June, in Nanjing, China.

Church leaders from across the Americas and the Caribbean are meeting in Managua, Nicaragua, to discuss the violence of racism, and the challenges it poses for churches and ecumenical organizations.

The volatile and precarious situation of Christians in the Middle East was of deep concern to the members of the February 2011 meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee, and it will be highlighted in an upcoming conference on Christians in the Middle East to be held in Greece.

Substantial information on torture and other human rights abuses was entrusted to the Brazilian attorney general at a ceremony in São Paulo on 14 June 2011. There was also a call for a national truth commission in Brazil to shed more light on past atrocities during the ceremony.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit arrived Tuesday in São Paulo, Brazil for a six-day visit which includes the delivery of documents related to human rights issues during the military dictatorship from 1964 - 1985 and visits with Brazilian churches and Latin America ecumenical agencies.

Escalating violence against civilians in Sudan’s disputed South Kordofan State is leading to major humanitarian catastrophe with an estimated 300,000 people besieged, cut off from relief aid, and unable to escape fighting, according to a number of aid agencies and witnesses in the region.

During a two-decade period of brutal dictatorship, in 1979, Brazilian church workers and dissenting lawyers found a loophole in the legal system allowing them to gather evidence of atrocities and other abuses committed by the military regime.

“If we don’t have dreams about what we want to become true, we are not quite realistic,” says the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). “A radical realism in the form of dreams is required to open the space for serious dialogue on the challenges we are facing together.”

Wealth and property shape a “false reading” of human value, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said recently at a Protestant convention in Germany.“Property and possessions have purpose in as much as they help us to live as the people God called us to be and no more,” Tveit said in a Bible study at the German Protestant Kirchentag which met in Dresden 1-5 June.

The experience of the German city of Dresden demonstrates how churches can be witnesses to peace and reconciliation based on justice, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit,  said in advance of the 33rd German Protestant Kirchentag 1- 5 June.

Participants at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) released a message on Tuesday expressing their unified experience of a week-long exploration of a just peace and to navigate a path forward as they return to their homes and churches across the world.

The Rev. Joachim Mukambu Ya'Namwisi, who represents both the Mennonite Church and the Church of Christ in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he has watched churches develop increasing strength when it comes to standing up for basic human rights.

A number of workshops led by the Orthodox were presented at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), held 17-25 May in Kingston, Jamaica, leading to deep reflection and robust and honest conversations.

Making peace, as an integral part of the life of church mission and witness, has not been as common as one might think.

As a 10-year-old schoolgirl, on 6 August 1945, at 8:15 a.m., Setsuko Thurlow, then Nakamura, suddenly saw a brilliant bluish light flash outside her schoolroom window. “I remember the sensation of floating in the air. When I regained consciousness, in the total darkness and silence, I found myself in the rubble.”

“As faithful disciples of the Lord of peace, we must constantly pursue and persistently proclaim alternative ways that reject violence and war. Human conflict may well be inevitable in our world; but war and violence are not.”

The story starts with Peter. Not biblical Peter, just a kid named Peter who's a little bit overweight, who has bumps on his face, and, oh, yeah – sometimes, he doesn't smell very good.

Pope Benedict XVI saluted the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) on Sunday, praying that “every act of violence is eliminated.”