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As representatives from the world's major faith communities prepare to meet in Geneva 7-9 June 2005, leaders of the World Council of Churches (WCC) have expressed hope that the event will provide a new impetus to interreligious dialogue.

By Hugh McCullum (*)

by Henrike Müller (*)

By Elizabeth S. Tapia (*)

By Mark Woods (*)

By Juan Michel

The WCC has forcefully denounced the series of bombings which targeted Christian churches in Iraq on 1 August 2004.

By Alexander Belopopsky (*)

Cf. WCC Press Update Pu-04-05 of 22 January 2004

By Joel (*)

Reacting with "profound sorrow" to news that a military attack on Iraq has begun, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser has today released a statement calling the attack "immoral, illegal and ill-advised".

Struggling against intolerance is a vital way of resisting the free market model of globalization, according to Geneviève Jacques, director of Programmes for the World Council of Churches (WCC). Speaking at the third World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jacques suggested that the struggle against intolerance is directed against dogmatic claims that the free market model is the only option; it responds to a situation of existential crisis produced by the culture of violence and its deadly fruits.

The world’s religions aspire to peace. However it is a sad fact that they are often involved in conflict and violence. This paradox was the subject of intense discussion at a multi-faith consultation on violence, peace and religions held in June. Forty participants – Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North and South America – gathered for eight days at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, near Geneva. The elimination of violence, they declared, is a challenge to all religions. The consultation was the first in a series on the topic of religions and violence to be organized by the Ecumenical Institute.