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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.”

More than midway through the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in Kingston, Jamaica, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said he believes the convocation's outcomes will both tangible and significant.

Fourteen-year old Gudiya Putul is not in Kingston, Jamaica attending the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), but her name and history were brought to the attention of some IEPC participants Saturday during a workshop about economic injustice and human trafficking.

Realizing a peaceful reunification of Korea would not only be a gift for the Korean people but also for the people of Asia and the world as a whole. For the church, both in and outside Korea, realizing a unified Korea will also mean the church being unified in their efforts.

In war-torn or violent communities – and perhaps in so-called peaceful ones – reaching a state of just peace takes strength and courage.

When Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa visited a gold mining operation in Tanzania, he came across something he never expected to see: a world-class runway and sprawling houses with private swimming pools.

Sofía Chipana Quispe is part of the first generation of her family born in the city. Her parents migrated to La Paz, Bolivia, from the Andean mountain rural areas before she was born in 1952.