The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the loss of Rev. Bob Scott, whose ministry spanned more than 50 years and included work on a global level to overcome racism.
It is with deep shock and indignation that the World Council of Churches received the news that 49 people have been killed and at least 20 were wounded in terrorist attacks at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch and at the mosque in the suburb of Linwood in New Zealand.
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, met with church leaders and politicians in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand last week. The meeting occurred almost one year after his latest visit to the region. On request of the church leaders a meeting took place with political leaders to discuss follow-up on the Paris Agreement, peace in the Middle East and on the Korean Peninsula, and the challenges the region is facing.
Reconciliation was once primarily seen as a message of the church but is now used by secular leaders trying to establish peace in communities torn by conflict and war, the WCC president for Africa, the Rev. Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel, has said at a major Protestant gathering in Germany.
How can we begin building peace in an era of religious extremism and acts of terror? Start by reaching out in your own neighborhood, suggests Rev. Arshad Gill, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan.
The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed profound concern over the rejection of an appeal against the death sentence for a Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi, convicted under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law. To promote tolerance, religious harmony and protection of the rights of religious minorities, Tveit said it is important that justice is ensured in cases like that of Asia Bibi.
A three-day WCC consultation has featured diverse perspectives from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe on the politicization of religion and how this phenomenon contributes to discrimination and persecution of religious minorities around the world.
Churches and ecumenical groups urge European Union to raise questions with Pakistan government concerning religious intolerance and persecution of religious minorities there.
