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Is religion discriminating? Does there exist discrimination within and by different religions? World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit explored these questions with fellow panelists in Trondheim, Norway.

Thirty-five international students from the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, are embarking on a future of ecumenism, dialogue and unity that began with months of intense study and fellowship.

In a country where Christians are in clear minority, often suffering discrimination, and in a context that has seen repeated frictions and violence between people of different religious traditions, the Church of Norway and Church of Pakistan have broken new ecumenical ground during a recent week in Lahore, Pakistan.

An interreligious consultation on “Voices of Hope for a New Era” has called for enhanced collaboration between Buddhists and Christians in a spirit of humility and honesty and in service of a shared humanity.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), will participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.We would like to offer you a one-on-one interview with Rev. Dr Tveit in person, on the phone, or via Skype.
Dr Tveit can offer unique perspectives on the theme of the Annual Meeting - “Responsive and Responsible Leadership”:

He earned the title “Green Patriarch” as a religious leader addressing alarming environmental issues over at least two decades. In 2008, Time Magazine named His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as one of 100 Most Influential People in the World, for “defining environmentalism as spiritual responsibility”.

Religious leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region met in Bangkok on 6 and 7 December to develop a regional strategy for the prevention of incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes. Religious leaders and actors from thirteen countries took part in the meeting from the Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faiths. The meeting was organised by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect in collaboration with the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Analyzing efforts to protect religious communities and groups and build peace in Syria and Iraq, the WCC and Norwegian Church Aid presented a joint study on protection needs of religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and Iraq. The findings were announced on 12 December to the media and public at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

On 17-23 November, the Executive Committee of the WCC met for the first time ever in China. The visit was hosted by the China Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. The Three-Self Patriotic Movement is a Protestant church in the People's Republic of China, as well as one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world.

If we do not adjust aid better to the needs of the minorities in Syria and northern Iraq, we run the risk of building walls instead of bridges. As the populations of Syria and Iraq feel the toll of armed conflicts in their countries, the World Council of Churches and Norwegian Church Aid are now releasing a unique joint study, “Protection needs of minorities from Syria and Iraq,” today, 28 November, in Oslo, Norway.

A 50-year-old religious text can shape interreligious relationships crucial for peace-building today, found participants in a workshop organized by the WCC and attended by guests from the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) on 28 October.

The upcoming 500th anniversary of the Reformation represents a chance for the church to reflect on the lessons of past and take a critical look at what may be barriers to relationships between different denominations, according to general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

The chief cleric of Cairo’s prestigious mosque and university, H.E. Professor Dr Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar al Sharif, has decried the present-day “civilizational crisis” of poverty and insecurity and called for interreligious collaboration to address it.

The role of religions in promoting peace and countering violence was discussed during a two-day dialogue between the Muslim Council of Elders and the WCC in Geneva, Switzerland from 30 September to 1 October. Two sessions of talks, hosted by the WCC, involved presentations and discussions on key aspects of peacebuilding and interreligious dialogue, paying special attention to combating religious extremism leading to violence in many parts of the world.

Interreligious dialogue and cooperation provided the basis of talks on 30 September and 1 October 2016 addressing the theme “Towards an Integrated World,” a series of high-level discussions among the Muslim Council of Elders led by the Grand-Imam of Al-Azhar, based in Cairo, and representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC), its member churches and ecumenical partners including the Lutheran World Federation.

“Towards an Integrated World” is the theme of an opportunity for Muslim-Christian dialogue that unfolded during the visit of religious leaders from Egypt to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva and the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland on 30 September and 1 October 2016.

“Bossey opened my mind and my horizon.” These words from a former student touched Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller, dean of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, one month ago as the two met at a conference.

The Ecumenical Institute at Château de Bossey is observing its 70th anniversary with notable speakers, creative worship, prayer services and a book launch, over the weekend of 30 September - 2 October.

Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist religious leaders met this week in Assisi to discuss peace, while across the ocean in New York City global political leaders assembled at the United Nations also focussed on a troubled world.