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For churches in Africa, the Old Testament has historically occupied a prominent place in theological thinking. “Our theology is constructed with the image of God in the Old Testament,” reflects Charles Klagba, theological consultant for the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA).

In comments to staff of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 18 August, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed alarm at the “blocking and hindering of the food supply in famine-struck Somalia, with the effect that more and more people are dying. This interference with humanitarian aid is inhumane and must be strongly condemned.”

Hendrew Lusey has never forgotten the words he first heard at a World Council of Churches (WCC) workshop on human sexuality in 2002. At that time, he had recently been appointed the regional coordinator for central Africa with the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA).

The HIV pandemic has been on the world stage for three decades now.  For most of that time the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its member churches have been deeply involved in making churches and theological institutions HIV-competent, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr Susan Parry has turned her vision of the “AIDS-competent church” into a reality that has helped thousands of people across southern Africa and the rest of the world whose lives are affected by HIV.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

In an energetic book launch featuring Jamaican drummers and an Indian “Bollywood” dance lesson, the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) released a new publication seeking to break the silence on sexual abuse of women by clergy within the church.

As peace advocates from around the world relayed heartrending stories of violence and oppression, they also expressed their ongoing hope that a movement of peace will prevail during the proceedings of the second day of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) being held in Kingston, Jamaica.

After losing his father, uncle and grandmother to violent and, in some cases, suspicious causes of death, Martin Luther King III still believes that that there is a higher and more noble way and that is to "dislike the evil act" but "still love the individual."

The power and political will being used in Libya to protect the safety and interests of the Libyan people “must be directed away from the use of armed force” and “channelled into negotiations to end the bloodshed” now consuming Libya, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) said in a statement on 4 May.

“Dalit studies are driven not by a sense of fascination with the phenomenon of caste but by social responsibility and moral commitment for social transformation. This will elevate the empirical to the universal”, said Prof. Gopal Guru from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, in his keynote address at an international colloquium on “Caste, Religion and Culture” in Kochi, Kerala, India.

An international colloquium on Caste, Religion and Culture will be held in Cochin, Karala, India, 1-4 May. The event will be held at the Renewal Centre in Cochin and is being sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the National Council of Churches in India, the Centre for Social Studies and Culture and the Student Christian Movement of India.

The World Council of Churches, Conference of European Churches and the Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe have expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Libya.

In a letter to the prime minister of Pakistan, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed “great shock and dismay” at the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistan government minister for Minority Affairs. Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit noted that reports indicate that Bhatti “was assassinated by religious extremists because he was critical of the controversial blasphemy law in Pakistan.”