“World Leaders Must Act Now in the Face of Climate Emergency” – Message from the Faith-Based Organizations To the High-Level Ministerial Segment of COP25

cop25-logoIf the world is to address the climate emergency, every person must be involved in a transformation on many levels, notes a message from the World Council of Churches (WCC) at the UN climate talks this week. Speaking on behalf of Faith Based Organisations in Madrid for the United Nations Conference on Climate change, the message led by the World Council of Churches told – inter alia – “We call for systemic, cultural and spiritual transformations that may be translated into changes in the ways we live, produce and consume.”

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Pontifical Academy for Life hosts interreligious discussion on palliative care

Vatican flag flies above St PetersVatican City, Dec 12, 2019 / 04:56 pm (CNA).- The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life held an international symposium this week on medical ethics and palliative care, hosted together with the WISH initiative, a part of the Qatar Foundation. The Dec. 11-12 conference included presentations by representatives of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism on the topic of medical ethics, palliative care, and the mental health of the elderly.

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Vatican: Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue Meets with World Council of Churches

Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue LogoThe Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue hosts a one day meeting aimed at enhancing interreligious solidarity in the service of a vulnerable and wounded humanity. The Prefect of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Ayuso, tells, We are called to collaborate in healing the wounds of our humanity.

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Serving a Wounded Humanity: Towards Interreligious Solidarity

shaking hands with the popeThe World Council of Churches (WCC) Office for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue met on 10 December to reflect on their next joint project entitled “Serving a Wounded Humanity: Towards Interreligious Solidarity.”

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Australia: Second Draft of Religious Freedom Bill released

religious freedomThe Morrison government has made 11 changes to its proposed religious freedom legislation in a bid to minimise dissent and secure its passage through Parliament early next year. But the changes largely heed the concerns of churches and religious groups and have been panned by the Greens and LGBTIQ groups as increasing the potential for discrimination.

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Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change for COP 25 Madrid, 2019

On the penultimate day of COP 25, a sign in the corridors reminds delegates of the urgency of reaching a positive outcome.


The most recent Climate Change Conference – called COP 25 – concluded yesterday in Madrid, Spain. Faith Communities, including the Brahma Kumaris and Religions for Peace International (both of whom have offices in the UN plaza in New York) (with a large delegation from the Lutheran World Federation) joined together with many faiths, many voices to produce a Faith-inspired declaration on Climate Change. This was delivered to the Deputy Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by the World Council of Churches – in service and on behalf of all faith communities. The document is called Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change for COP 25 Madrid, 2019 . You may read this document in full:

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Australia: 2019 Human Rights Day Oration

Australian Human Rights Commission LogoThe Hon Peter McClellan AM QC delivered the 2019 Human Rights Day Oration. His co-orator was Ms Chrissie Foster, mother of two girls who experienced child sexual abuse. “I cannot comprehend how any person, much less one with qualifications in theology and very often further qualifications from recognised universities, could consider the rape of a child to be a moral failure but not a crime,” The Hon Peter McClellan said.

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Religious leaders keep vision of peace alive on Korean Peninsula

Participants of the Steering group meeting of the Ecumenical Forum for Peace on the Korean PeninsulaEven as international tension mounts, religious leaders from North and South Korea renewed their exchange during a December meeting that kept the push for peace alive. Members of the Steering Committee of the Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula – including delegations from the Korean Christian Federation (KCF) of North Korea and of the National Council of Churches in South Korea (NCCK) – met in Shenyang, China, on 2-3 December 2019.

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Interfaith group delivers message to COP25

Rev. Henrik Grape, moderator of the WCC working group on climate changeIf we should be true to our faith, we cannot be quiet when we see what is happening,” reads the declaration of the Interfaith Liaison Committee to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to the United Nations climate change summit COP25 taking place in Madrid, Spain, 2-13 December. “We are voices that are driven by hope and compassion. In a most urgent situation to bend the emissions down faith traditions must contribute to the urgent transformation.

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Citizenship Bill in India threatens status of Muslims

USCIRF LogoWASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is deeply troubled by the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), originally introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah, in the Lok Sabha – the lower house of the Indian Parliament. The bill has the potential to remove citizenship from Muslims on religious grounds.

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