The Chernobyl disaster of 25 years ago remains a human and environmental tragedy so severe the consequences will continue for centuries. Its anniversary coincided with the Fukishima nuclear facility crisis in Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami there.
Lessons behind both tragedies will figure in an extraordinary conference beginning next week in Kingston, Jamaica where church representatives and partner organizations will discuss and debate a broad vision of peace.
The theme of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) ― May 16-25 ― is “Just Peace.” Topics like “Peace with the earth: so that life is sustained” will …
The killing of Osama bin Laden has united survivors of the 1998 terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, who now say they find strength in faith in God and prayer.
“Our faith has been giving us strength to soldier on in very difficult times. Our lives were changed forever,” Douglas Sidialo, who leads a group of Kenya terrorist attack survivors and families, told ENInews May 3.
He was speaking at a memorial park constructed at the site of where the embassy stood and where other survivors had converged following the news of bin Laden’s killing on May …
Westminster John Knox Press (WJK) has just published the twelfth and final volume of its best-selling Feasting on the Word series: Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 4. With the series now complete, WJK has also released multi-volume sets, which include three four-volume sets—one for each lectionary year—and a complete, twelve-volume set. In August, the Feasting on the Word: Complete Twelve-Volume Set on CD-ROM will be available.
A majority of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 173 presbyteries have ratified an amendment to the church’s constitution that removes a provision flatly prohibiting the ordination of sexually active unmarried Presbyterians as church officers.
The 87th vote in favor of the measure ― dubbed Amendment 10-A after it was approved by the PC(USA)’s 219th General Assembly last summer ― was cast today (May 10) by the Presbytery of Twin Cities Area.
The unofficial tally now stands at 87-62, with 24 presbyteries still to vote. The change takes effect July 10 ― one year from the adjournment of the 219 …
Last month’s Ecumenical Advocacy Days brought many Christians to Washington to learn about and advocate for gender justice and women’s issues.
Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church and Rabbi Berl Lazar, the chief rabbi of Russia, speaking at separate ceremonies on May 8 and 9, urged Russians to heed the lessons of World War II.
The Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church are joining together after they split more than 150 years ago to launch a church planting project in four “test areas” across the U.S.
While the Office of the General Assembly awaits official tallies, it appears that a majority of the 173 presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have approved a change in PC(USA) ordination standards.
At its meeting on Tuesday, May 10, 2011, the Presbytery of Twin Cities Area became the 87th presbytery to approve an amendment that will remove the constitutional requirement that all ministers, elders, and deacons live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” (G-6.0106b in the church’s Book of Order).
To congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
May grace, mercy, and peace be yours in abundance (Jude 1:2).
The debate about ordination standards has been a Presbyterian family struggle for much of the last three decades. We have sought to find that place where every congregation and every member, deacon, elder, and minister of the Word and Sacrament can share their gifts in ministry while, at the same time, the integrity of every congregation, member, deacon, elder, and minister is respected.
Hours after Osama bin Laden’s death was announced, the American Arab Forum received a phone call. The person on the line was looking for Aref Assaf, the Paterson, NJ-based organization’s Ivy League-educated president.
“`Tell your boss that we got his friend and we’re going to get him,”' the man said, according to Assaf, who dismissed the threat as kids pulling a prank. While the call represented a kind of hostility Assaf said many Arabs commonly endure in the United States, he believed bin Laden’s death might create an opportunity “to open a new chapter.”
“We have been paying the price …