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By Manuel Quintero (*)

By Alexander Belopopsky (*)

"Raise your chairs," was the Rev. Dr Walter Altmann's solution to the absence of indicator cards during opening actions of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee meeting in Geneva on August 30.

The newly-elected moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee speaks in this interview about the beauty of the ecumenical vision and the enthusiasm it engenders, the scandal of divisions between Christians, and his dream of churches which allow themselves to be renewed so as to experience the unity of the Christian family.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Jewish community at this time, and especially with those who were closest to Dr Alexandre Safran in life", said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, in a 28 July letter of condolence addressed to the Geneva Jewish community on the death of its Chief Rabbi. Expressing gratitude to God "for the great gift of his life, faith, intellect and service to humanity", Kobia recalled Safran's struggles "to warn the international community of the terrible menace posed to vulnerable minorities by Nazi domination in Europe", and described him as "an accomplished advocate for the state of Israel" whose contributions to inter-religious co-operation were "well ahead of his time".

Patriarch Theophilos III, head of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, was received by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia today at the WCC headquarters in Geneva in their first official encounter since he was elected in 2005.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, called upon churches and ecumenical partners to take action to stop "terminator technology". "Applying technology to design sterile seeds turns life, which is a gift from God, into a commodity. Preventing farmers from re-planting saved seed will increase economic injustice all over the world and add to the burdens of those already living in hardship," stated Kobia.

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