Search results

Youth delegates to climate-change talks from churches of the Lutheran World Federation have initiated a call to fast with the poor and vulnerable who are disproportionately affected by extreme weather events. The call was joined immediately by other faith-based organizations present at the UN climate negotiations.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has called upon its worldwide member churches to join its delegation at the COP 19 climate change negotiations in Warsaw in a fast in solidarity with the poor and vulnerable disproportionately affected by extreme weather events.

The Archives of the WCC in Geneva have provided both research materials and a space for public consideration of “the ecumenical movement and Cold War politics”.

A newly established ecumenical panel of economic experts seeks to develop advocacy strategies for churches working to realize ethical, just and sustainable systems of economics and finance.

What will the world look like if we continue careening down a slide of eco-injustice? Ninth graders in South Africa have some idea. In a campaign organized by Suwi Siwila, the students pretended they were living in the future, writing a description to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

By Susan Kim (*)

By Susan Kim (*)

Joakim Book Jonnson, a salesman for a security company and a member of the Church of Sweden, transformed his urban commuter life when he decided to leave, at least temporarily, no ecological footprint.

By Susan Kim (*)

Inspired by participating in the Youth for Eco-Justice training, a joint project of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Durban, South Africa last year, Kristi Holmberg started a “Climate Justice Campaign” which concluded successfully on 22 April, Earth Day.

Justice must be the guiding principle for the upcoming summit on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, church organizations say.

A group of Christian leaders from Odisha (formerly Orissa), India visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) offices, sharing their experiences on working for religious freedom and lobbying for justice on behalf of religious minorities during the current session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

By George Arende (*)

While staff of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and sister organizations such as the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) are preparing for the COP17 meeting for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa next week, the ecumenical community in Brazil is starting to think about 2012 when the UN conference Rio+20 will assess the outcomes of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

The Cancun Agreement, adopted by the vast majority of parties at the United Nations climate change conference (COP16) in the early morning hours of 11 December, gives guarded hope to churches and civil society groups who had called for decisive action by the world's governments. In an improvement on the process that led to the much-criticized Copenhagen Accord last year, the president of the conference managed to keep the climate negotiations in the multilateral track and make some, although insufficient, steps forward.

Jointly issued by WCC and WCRC

Violent conflict leaves wounds not only on the victim's body but also in the soul of the community. The healing of these invisible wounds was the subject of a 5-11 September regional consultation and training session for Southern African church representatives.

Two global church organizations have congratulated the Durban Review Conference on the adoption of its outcome document, while regretting that the latter makes no mention of the plight of hundreds of millions of people affected by caste-based discrimination.

Caste-based discrimination in India may be 3,500 years old, but something new is unfolding. An emerging liberation movement has consciously chosen not to focus on Dalits' victimhood, but on the latent strength of the Dalit people, drawn from their own history and culture.

By Maurice Malanes (*)