More than 40 church leaders and diakonia specialists from 15 Asian countries participated in training in ecumenical diakonia and development organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 4-7 December.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the loss of Bishop Barnabas D. Mondal, know for his support of theological education in South Asia, and for being the first national bishop and the former moderator of the Church of Bangladesh. He passed away on 29 June in Dhaka.
“The seeds of peace come from the ground.” That is the vision that Rev. Dr Shanta Premawardhana, former director of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation at the World Council of Churches and now president of OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership, tries to follow with his organization.
To promote strong measures against climate change, the WCC and the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights organized a side event to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Young ecumenical leaders from Asia have met in Siam Reap, Cambodia to examine how religious traditions can offer resources to overcome religious violence in a changing Asian context.
The WCC is inviting young adults from Asian churches to participate in a two-week-long training programme called Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity. The deadline to submit applications is 31 March.
Participants in a recent WCC consultation in Myanmar have stressed the need to equip churches and ecumenical organizations to build peace, human security and human dignity in order to move beyond conflicts, towards a world of peace.
In South Asia, where conflicts are often fueled by religion, a WCC conference stressed the role of Christians and Hindus as eminent stakeholders in their common search for justice and peace – beyond majority and minority politics.
Imagine a place where young Christians can gather, opening doors to interfaith reflection while working for justice and peace. This is the Metta Karuna Reflection Centre in Siem Reap, Cambodia, founded and operated by Sister Denise Coghlan.
The serene air of the Metta Karuna Reflection Centre in Siem Reap is being stirred up. It is buzzing with the voices of young Christian leaders from Asia who believe that by engaging in interfaith dialogue, they can help bring justice and peace to Asia, a region where religious plurality can be both a blessing and a challenge.
The life of Tun Channareth from Cambodia was changed dramatically in his early twenties. A resistance soldier fighting the Khmer Rouge, Channareth’s legs were shattered when he stepped on a landmine near the border between Cambodia and Thailand.
Exploring realities of multi-religious societies and discovering new ways of working together as faith communities to promote justice and peace, young Christian leaders from Asia have gathered in Cambodia to take part in a two-week training programme called Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity (YATRA).
Jayonta Adhikari, a Bangladeshi member of the WCC Central Committee, speaks about socio-political realities for Christians in his country, aspirations for protection of human rights, as well as what the WCC's call for a “pilgrimage of justice of peace” means for the region’s churches.
Thirteen years after the bomb attack at the Catholic Church of Baniarchar in Bangladesh which killed ten people and injured more than twenty, religious groups hold rally in Dhaka demanding justice.
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.
The WCC general secretary has expressed solidarity with Bangladesh, and concern over recent tragedies in the country, including the loss of over a thousand lives in a garment factory accident near Dhaka, as well as increasing attacks against religious minorities.
