World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed deep alarm at the recent decision of the Japanese government to approve the release of tritium-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.
World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca participated in a virtual “High-Level Dialogue on Multi-religious Response to COVID-19 Vaccine” on 19 March with Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as leaders from other religious groups.
The National Christian Council in Japan, in a “Statement Regarding the Enactment of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” expresses a “strong sense of disappointment that we have arrived at this point with the Japanese government neither approving nor ratifying” the treaty.
Religious leaders in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are welcoming the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, even as Japan's Christian council “regrets” that the government has not supported or ratified the treaty.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is remembering the life and commemorating the legacy of Rev. Tsutomu Shoji, former general secretary of the National Christian Council in Japan.
The war that erupted on the Korean Peninsula 70 years ago to divide Korea has yet to end, so more prayers and discussion are needed to raise awareness for the path to reconciliation and peaceful co-existence in the divided nation, churches believe.
On his visit to Japan last November, Pope Francis defined nuclear weapons as a “crime”. Two crimes, actually, folded into one. He named “the dignity of human beings” and “any possible future for our common home”. The pope added a critical qualifier in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The crime is committed not only by using nuclear weapons; it is also committed by having nuclear weapons.
Last September I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the first time as part of my sabbatical year. How does one encounter these two places that are such containers of pain, suffering and for me, as an American, complicity? To be a tourist feels wrong and I ended up contemplating the World Council of Churches (WCC) model of pilgrimages of justice and peace as a way to be in a space of suffering, and as a way to practice accompaniment, commitment and perhaps even hopefulness.
A Declaration for the People’s Korea Peace Agreement was launched on 23 July 2020 at a global Zoom convention initiated by the National Council of Churches in Korea, along with civil organizations.
The legacy of sexual slavery before, during and after the brutal Korean War weighs heavily on the shoulders of the thousands of Korean women who lived for decades under a brutal militarized patriarchy.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling for a world free from nuclear weapons, as the international community prepares to commemorate 75 years since the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Already, the WCC has published the first few in a series of blog posts highlighting different reflections and experiences from those who are calling for an end to nuclear weapons, from Japan, from the Pacific, from nuclear weapons states, and from those leading advocacy at the global level.
In July 2014, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee adopted a statement entitled "Towards a Nuclear-free World." In the same year, on 4 August, on behalf of the world's 500 million Christians, WCC Asia president Dr Chang Sang visited Japan, and delivered this statement in person to the chief cabinet secretary of the Japanese government, Yoshihide Suga. The churches in Japan, which experienced Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were greatly encouraged by these WCC actions.
Who on earth decided in June 1920 in a conference held in Crans, near Geneva, that the following year at Lake Mohonk, New York, an International Missionary Council would be established and give an enormous institutional impulse to the emerging ecumenical movement?
For many decades, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has worked to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula. From bringing people from both sides of the divided country together, to building an international ecumenical network to support them, the WCC has a history of formulating and promoting a vision for peace.
"The One Human Family ", report of the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit to the WCC Executive Committee meeting Bossey, Switzerland, 20-26 November 2019
Twenty-five ecumenical theologians and leaders gathered for public lectures coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Tokyo, Japan, on 17 September under the theme “Global Manifestations of Racism Today”.
Lectures and responses reflected on racism as a major concern of the ecumenical movement. Reflections focused on understanding global manifestations of racism today, and reaffirming the intersection of race and ethnicity with other determining characteristics．
