The NSW Ecumenical Council will hold an Ecumenical event praying for peace in the world, especially for Ukraine and Ethiopia. This event will take place at St Demiana & St Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church, Punchbowl, on Thursday 24 March 2022. This is a face-to-face event and will be live streamed.
News
Victorian Council of Churches Emergencies Ministry deployed to NSW
On Wednesday 16th March, the Victorian Council of Churches Emergencies Ministry deployed its first interstate team to Northern NSW to support the recovery efforts after the recent flood events. This deployment came about as the result of a request from the NSW Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network (DRCN) as a partner in the Australia Volunteer Emergency Chaplaincy Alliance (AVECA) and was a historical occasion.
First Islamic school in the NT opens its doors in Darwin
Darwin has opened its first Islamic school in the industrial suburb of Berrimah. The school has around 35 students at primary level, with plans to expand. There are three “sister schools” in Queensland. School leaders say they hope the school will attract more Muslims to Darwin.
MCG opens a new Multi-Faith Prayer Room
The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC), managers of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) are delighted to today unveil the brand-new MCG Multi-Faith Prayer Room, open to the public ahead of all four matches of Round 1 of the 2022 AFL Premiership Season.
USCIRF Warns of Potential for Significant Religious Oppression in Ukraine
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is appalled by the incalculable suffering already caused by Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, and warns that religious communities across Ukraine will likely be targeted with violence and oppression under any Russian influence
Voice of Religious Youth on Ukraine to All World Leaders
Religious Youth from worldwide regions speak out on the conflict in Ukraine. Youth are conscious of the need to create a future of peace, a future wherein their children and their children’s children may live in peace with one another and their neighbours.
Muslims in Australia experienced surge of hate after Christchurch massacre, report reveals
The Christchurch massacre triggered a surge of hate towards Muslim people in Australia, with women the vast majority of victims, a report has found.
The Islamophobia Register Australia (IRA) recorded a fourfold increase in reports of in person incidents of anti-Muslim hate, while reports of online incidents were 18 times higher in the two weeks after 15 March 2019, when an Australian white supremacist, Brenton Tarrant, murdered 51 people in an attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The third report of its kind, Islamophobia in Australia III draws on verified incidents of anti-Muslim hate in Australia in 2018 and 2019.
So, we are “learning to live with COVID” — can we learn to live with climate change?
Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam announces split with Moscow
A Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam has announced it is to split with the Moscow patriarchate, in the first known instance of a western-based church cutting ties over the invasion of Ukraine.
Don’t hand power to dangerous people (even when they really want it) — a modest Buddhist proposal
We are living in a time of transition. History is taking a new turn. Vladimir Putin has, at a minimum, reignited the cold war, and thermonuclear Armageddon is back on the list of imminent possibilities.
What makes these calamities uncanny is that they seem to emerge from one man’s bizarre, idiosyncratic ambition. While Russians elected him and seem to admire his strength, they surely don’t want an unhinged autocrat who is callous about their welfare and cavalier about the risk his actions pose to their lives and wellbeing. It is clear they made a mistake. They were fooled.
The importance and usefulness of Christian meditation practice now
Bishop Philip Huggins – formerly President of the Australian Council of Churches – reflects that the sadness and suffering in the Ukraine have drawn us to prayer and meditation. Here, Bishop Huggins gives an understanding of meditation and the Jesus Prayer.
Patriarch of Moscow responds to the World Council of Churches
With regard to the conflict in Ukraine, the Secretary General of the World Council of Churches appealed to Patriarch Kiril I of Moscow to intervene in the conflict. Here, we provide the reply of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
