New York (ENI). Perhaps the most prominent journalist covering religion in the United States says there will never be a shortage of good stories on his beat. "This is an enduringly religious country," said Gustav Niebuhr, who covers religion for The New York Times. "Americans are always rediscovering their faith and the ways faith interacts with society." Later this month, Niebuhr will collect an award in recognition of his reporting from the Presbyterian Writers Guild which has chosen Niebuhr, aged 44, as "Distinguished Writer of the Year". [862 words, ENI-00-0257]

22 June 2000

Turku (ENI). John A. Evenson, a pastor of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain and, since 1995, media officer and editor at the Church Mission Society, a London-based Anglican missionary body, has been appointed director and editor-in-chief of the Office for Communications Services (OCS) of the Lutheran World Federation. Evenson, aged 58 and a US citizen, was ordained in 1971 as a Lutheran pastor to a dual ministry of communication and pastoral work. He has worked as media relations director of the American Bible Society, and as director of interpretation for mission for the Lutheran Church in America. [312 words, ENI-00-0251]

Soulforce protesters want church action, not more debate, on gay issue

New York (ENI). An ecumenical coalition of gays and lesbians and their supporters will continue a campaign of civil disobedience when the Presbyterian Church (USA), one of the nation's most prominent Protestant denominations, begins its general assembly in Long Beach, California, at the end of this week. The Presbyterian Church will be the third of four US denominations facing protests this spring and summer from the coalition - Soulforce - which is applying non-violent resistance as US churches debate perhaps the most controversial issue of recent years, homosexuality. [1151 words, ENI-00-0252]

Anglican report warns of dangers of yoga and New Age therapies

London (ENI). A Church of England report has questioned the use of New Age therapies and even yoga. The report states that Christians may be "compromised" by using some holistic therapies because of the spiritual forces that are unloosed. "Some people assume that the energy source is from God as understood by Christians, but that is not necessarily the understanding of the practitioners," says A Time to Heal, a report on the Christian healing ministry for the church's House of Bishops. [551 words, ENI-00-0253]

Lutherans tell G8 leaders to keep promises to cut debts of poor nations

Turku (ENI). As the world's leading industrialised countries prepare for a major meeting next month, the council of the Lutheran World Federation has called for "genuine implementation" of commitments to reduce the debt of the world's poorest countries. In a message agreed at the conclusion of an eight-day meeting in the Finnish city of Turku, the LWF council called for the "liberation of the heavily indebted developing countries of the world from the tyranny of unsustainable debt". Leaders of the G8 countries (the seven leading industrialised countries plus Russia) are to meet late next month in the Japanese city of Okinawa. [445 words, ENI-00-0254]

Lutheran head hopes agreement with Vatican will extend to other churches

Turku (ENI). The general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation hopes that other churches of the Reformation will be able to participate in the follow-up to a major ecumenical agreement between the LWF and the Vatican. Dr Ishmael Noko said that he believed that his organisation could play a "bridge-making" role between the Vatican and Protestants in the follow-up to the joint declaration on the doctrine of justification, signed last October by the LWF and the Vatican, bringing to an end a major theological dispute dating from the Reformation. [983 words, ENI-00-0255]

India's Christians mourn sudden loss of Catholic archbishop

New Delhi (ENI). Tributes from around the world are arriving at Catholic Church offices in New Delhi following the sudden death of the Indian capital's archbishop, Alan Basil de Lastic, who was killed in a car accident in Poland late on 20 June. The 70-year-old president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) was travelling from a Catholic shrine near the Polish city of Krakow, to Warsaw when a motorcyclist suddenly crossed the path of the car in which the Indian archbishop was travelling. A Polish priest was at the wheel of the vehicle, and the archbishop was sitting next to him, in the front passenger seat. [826 words, ENI-00-0256]

20 June 2000

New York (ENI). Supporters of an American Catholic nun and a priest silenced by the Vatican for their ministry to gays and lesbians are campaigning against the church's decision. The nun, Sister Jeannine Gramick, said she was likely to be expelled from her religious order for refusing to abide by the Vatican ruling. Gramick has publicly challenged the Vatican order of 23 May, while the priest, Robert Nugent, has refused to comment. The Notification of 23 May silencing Gramick and Nugent followed a 1999 decision barring them from continuing their ministry to Catholic gays and lesbians and their families. In the latest decision, the Vatican told Gramick and Nugent that they could no longer speak or write on the subject or about the Notification. They were also prevented from commenting on the 11-year investigation into the case. [708 words, ENI-00-0247]

Publicise Porvoo so it can be more effective, says new Lutheran bishop

London (ENI). A newly installed Lutheran bishop has voiced concern that some Anglican priests are not sufficiently welcoming to members of his church despite the Porvoo Agreement between Anglicans and Lutherans. The 1996 Porvoo Agreement applies to Anglican churches of the British Isles, on the one hand, and Lutheran churches in Nordic and Baltic countries, on the other. But Bishop Walter Jagucki had hoped that its impact would be felt more broadly including in his own Lutheran Church in Great Britain (LCiGB). [705 words, ENI-00-0248]

Finland's Christians celebrate millennium

Turku (ENI). Dr Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), speaking at an ecumenical celebration in Finland to mark the new millennium, has called on churches to "seek together new ways for peace, justice and reconciliation within church and society". "These will be ways that take us beyond the generalities and common declaration to common action. Staying together takes a lot of energy and patience, and yet enables us to be open to one another, to learn respect for others, to be set free from the usual cultural blindfolds and trappings," he told more than 4000 people who gathered on 18 June in the Finnish city of Turku. [706 words, ENI-00-0249]

Lutherans warn that religious intolerance is on the rise in many nations

Turku, Finland, 20 June (ENI)-The council of the Lutheran World Federation - the world's biggest Lutheran organisation - today warned that religious intolerance and related violence were increasing in many parts of the world. The warning followed the presentation of a document to the LWF council, which is meeting in the Finnish city of Turku, on the efforts of the LWF's member churches to promote and defend religious freedom. The document, based on reports from LWF member churches, stated that "religious differences continue to be a major and perhaps increasing point of conflict between communities. Many countries are beset by various manifestations of religious intolerance, and all too frequently by violence in which perpetrators and victims are identified by religious differences." [598 words, ENI-00-0250]

19 June 2000

Jerusalem (ENI). Delegates to a summit of Orthodox Christian leaders in the Holy Land have warned that globalisation and science pose a threat to the church. During a pan-Orthodox theological symposium in Jerusalem (11 to 19 June), with the theme "Witness of the Church in the third millennium after Christ", participants expressed their fears and hopes for the church in a fast-changing world. The high point of the conference was a Pentecost Eucharist yesterday 18 June concelebrated by Orthodox prelates in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Yesterday afternoon the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Diodoros I, led a procession of Orthodox prelates, clergy and laity from his patriarchate in the Old City to Mount Zion, where prayers were said in many languages. [691 words, ENI-00-0244]

Canada to host next assembly of Lutheran World Federation

Turku (ENI). One of the "youngest" member churches of the Lutheran World Federation - the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) - is to host the organisation's next assembly in 2003. The LWF council - the organisation's governing body - which is meeting in the Finnish city of Turku, today 19 June agreed to accept an invitation from the ELCIC to hold its next assembly in Winnipeg, Manitoba. [539 words, ENI-00-0245]

As Fiji's crisis continues, churches' express doubts about coup leaders

Dunedin (ENI). Four weeks after the start of Fiji's coup crisis, several churches have rallied behind the military government which is locked in negotiations with the hostage-takers at Parliament. The churches also criticised the civilian coup attempt led by businessman George Speight. [718 words, ENI-00-0246]

16 June 2000

Hofgeismar (ENI). An Indian bishop who was detained while in transit in Singapore on his way to an ecumenical colloquium in Germany believes the incident highlights a continuing disregard for human rights, as well as dangers facing Christians in parts of Asia. "This is typical of the rights violations prevalent in many Asian states today, who don't want opposition and won't allow freedom of speech," said Bishop George Ninan, secretary of the joint council of two of India's leading denominations, the churches of North and South India. "They treated me like a criminal and branded me a deportee, when I had merely asked to visit the country for a few hours." [585 words, ENI-00-0241]

Liberation theology 'regaining influence' despite Vatican criticism

Hofgeismar (ENI). More than a decade after being condemned by the Vatican, liberation theology is regaining its influence, according to some of the participants at an ecumenical gathering taking place in Germany. [728 words, ENI-00-0242]

'We resist the idolatry of capital and the new religion of consumerism'

Hofgeismar (ENI). Christians from many denominations have appealed for alternatives to "globalised capitalism". These alternatives should strengthen democratic participation and ensure survival of the poor and marginalised. They also urged churches to support a "global coalition for economic justice and faith" and to resist the "fundamentalist religious adherence to neo-liberalism". "The ideology of the free market captures and dominates all sectors of societies and all dimensions of people's lives, even our bodies and deepest desires," said a concluding declaration from "Colloquium 2000", an ecumenical meeting in Germany. "The time has come for a radical change in the dominant economic system. The time has come for a committed process of committed recognition, education and confession regarding economic injustice and ecological destruction." [975 words, ENI-00-0243]

15 June 2000

Hofgeismar (ENI). A leading ecumenist has warned that the expansion of "financial capitalism" risks generating a "major crisis" unless challenged effectively by churches and other social movements. "The process of the capitalist economy has aimed at subordinating all other interests. It has been a process of conquest by mainly bourgeois Western powers," said Julio de Santa Ana, a professor at the Ecumenical Institute, at Bossey, near Geneva in Switzerland. "It aims at freedom, but imposes oppression. It aims at happiness, but creates pain and suffering. It says it affirms life, but it brings death." The Uruguayan professor was addressing the international inter-faith Colloquium 2000 on "Faith - Theology - Economy: Churches and Social Movements facing Globalisation", sponsored by the World Council of Churches and World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and held in Hofgeismar, Germany. [1030 words, ENI-00-0237]

As Christians celebrate Expo 2000, Tutu declares that evil will be defeated

Hanover (ENI). Christians had their own day at Hanover's Expo 2000 on 11 June when they celebrated "Pentecost- Day of the Christian Churches". To mark the event 1600 musicians from all over Germany provided music, along with a choir of 1500 singers, 800 of them from Hanover. The celebrations began with a Catholic service at the Expo's Christus-Pavilion, and in the evening South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Anglican) preached at an ecumenical service. [530 words, ENI-00-0238]

Academic accuses 'neo-liberals' of abuse of biblical texts

Hofgeismar (ENI). A Bible scholar has urged Christians seeking "social justice against globalisation" to "return to the Bible" to strengthen their campaign. However, he warned that sacred texts were also being used increasingly by "neo-liberal theologians" to justify the expansion of "global capital" by multinational corporations. "All movements face phases of enthusiasm and decline, and we need to ask which sources can help us in the choices we have to make now," said Professor Bastiaan Wielenga, a Dutch-born theologian who is now based in India. "We all have certain ideological presuppositions which can be strengthened or weakened by biblical texts. But if our interest in the Bible is genuine, we can reach an understanding." The professor, who teaches social analysis and biblical theology at a seminary in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was speaking during "Colloquium 2000", an inter-faith meeting co-sponsored by the World Council of Churches and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches at Hofgeismar Evangelical Academy in Germany. [567 words, ENI-00-0239]

Lutheran treasurer's final advice - rationalise international church work

Turku (ENI). The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) should "participate actively and strategically" in efforts to rationalise the work of international church organisations, according to the LWF's outgoing treasurer, Sigrun Mogedal. In a report presented today to a meeting of the LWF's council - the organisation's governing body - in Turku, Finland, Dr Mogedal said that such efforts were necessary because of the "overall resource constraints" facing many of the world's ecumenical and confessional organisations, and in order to offer a "credible witness". [589 words, ENI-00-0240]

14 June 2000

Hofgeismar, Germany (ENI). A former general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has urged church leaders to speak out against the "unjust structures of global capitalism". Philip Potter, originally from Dominica, West Indies, and WCC general secretary from 1972 to 1984, also vigorously criticised the ecumenical movement for failing to identify economic injustices, as well as for its "theological silence" on social issues in the 1990s. Potter was speaking at the start of "Colloquium 2000 on Faith - Theology - Economy: Churches and Social Movements facing Globalisation", organised by the WCC, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and a leading Roman Catholic agency, Pax Christi International. [1063 words, ENI-00-0232]

Africans warn that 'false gospel of prosperity' may displace churches

Hofgeismar (ENI). Leading African Christians have warned churches that they risk being displaced by new religious groups offering a "false gospel of prosperity" unless they provide "more credible forms of support" to local communities. "Mainstream churches are losing ground - people are worshipping at them in the morning, but going to the new preachers in the evening," said Baffour Amoa, of Ghana, who is secretary-general of the Fellowship of Christian Councils of Churches of West Africa. "Violence, corruption and moral degradation are on the rise, and this is a serious challenge to anyone brought up believing in good behaviour, love of neighbour and respect for the Ten Commandments. The young are no longer being nurtured on these values, and people no longer have time to teach them." [853 words, ENI-00-0233]

Church leaders take a desert trek to bridge Australia's divisions

Melbourne (ENI). Leaders of nine Australian churches have completed a pilgrimage of reconciliation - a week-long 3000-kilometre bus trip to Australia's remote heart. The pilgrimage - described as a ''pilgrimage to the heart'' and a chance for a ''just reconciliation between races, cultures and churches'' - began on 4 June in the Australian capital, Canberra, where the nation's head of state, the governor-general, Sir William Deane, bid farewell to the pilgrims. The journey wound up seven days later at Uluru (formerly known as Ayer's Rock) with an ecumenical Pentecost service in Australia's massive central desert, with the Mutitjulu people, traditional owners of the rock, one of the most powerful symbols of the nation and of indigenous spirituality. [1022 words, ENI-00-0234]

Lutheran leader warns of risk of anti-globalisation protests world-wide

Turku (ENI). The president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Bishop Christian Krause, today warned of the risk of world-wide protests by the losers in "so-called free trade and globalisation". Bishop Krause, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brunswick, Germany, was speaking at a meeting in Turku, Finland, of the LWF council, the organisation's governing body. He referred to a meeting of the World Trade Organisation last December in Seattle, United States, where "militant crowds forced hundred-strong police contingents into the defensive, destroying part of the city centre of Seattle in protest against the plans of the international trade conference meeting there to liberalise world trade still further". [677 words, ENI-00-0235]

Sudden death of WCC editor shocks staff of Ecumenical Centre

Geneva (ENI). Marlin VanElderen, executive editor at the World Council of Churches and the author and editor of several key ecumenical books, died suddenly early on 12 June, at the age of 54. VanElderen, who was a member of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, joined the WCC as a consultant in the Communication department in 1980. Later he became editor of the monthly magazine One World, and in 1994 he was appointed executive editor for all WCC publications. According to a WCC press release, "during his 18 years of service for the WCC, VanElderen was one of the key staff persons in interpreting the work, the mission and the vision of the WCC. As managing editor of the WCC journal Ecumenical Review, he provided a platform of discussion to ecumenism world-wide. Countless WCC books and brochures owe their existence to his skills as a writer and editor." [349 words, ENI-00-0236]

13 June 2000

Vancouver (ENI). Seventy-five years ago, on 10 June 1925, Canada's Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians merged to become the United Church of Canada (UCC). More than 8000 members from the three churches took part in the union service at Toronto's Mutual Street Arena. The three denominations had begun serious consultations in 1899. These were interrupted by the First World War, but resumed in 1921, when the General Council of Local Union churches in Western Canada - representing congregations that had already merged locally in many communities - also joined the talks. [1748 words, ENI-00-0230]

English Christians celebrate orthodoxy and the millennium

London, 13 June (ENI)-Two leading prelates of the Church of England have taken part in mass gathering of traditionalist Anglicans at a time when the church remains split over women priests and bishops. The Forward in Faith movement, which organised the "Christ Our Future" gathering, opposes the ordination of women as priests and bishops, although the Church of England has had women priests since 1994. So far there have been no official moves to ordain women to the episcopate, although several other provinces of the world-wide Anglican Communion have women bishops. The traditionalist gathering was one of several high-profile church events in Britain over the past few days, many of which were linked to the feast of Pentecost and celebrated the Christian millennium. [830 words, ENI-00-0231]

9 June 2000

Harare (ENI). The former director of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJP), Mike Auret, has called on Pope John Paul II to excommunicate Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, for condoning violence and the breakdown of the rule of law in this southern African country. President Mugabe is a practising Catholic. Mike Auret, who is now linked to an opposition political party, is one of the most prominent white Catholic laymen in Zimbabwe. News of his attempt to have Mugabe expelled from the church comes at a highly sensitive as general elections are to be held here on 24 and 25 June. [1034 words, ENI-00-0223]

East Timor's Protestant church seeks to rebuild as it enters 'new era'

Tomohon, Indonesia, 8 June (ENI)-For Francisco de Vasconcelos, the 35-year-old general secretary of the Christian Church of East Timor (GKTT), the withdrawal of Indonesia from his homeland last year means that his church is entering a "new era". During the decades that East Timor was occupied by Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975, Indonesian language and culture dominated the life of the small Protestant church, tiny by comparison with the Roman Catholic Church to which most Timorese belong. Although some services were held in Tetum (the indigenous language of East Timor), the Bible, hymnbooks and the liturgy were all in Indonesian. [868 words, ENI-00-0224]

South African cricketer blames Satan for match-fixing controversy

East London (ENI). Sacked South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, who sent the international game into a spin when match-fixing allegations surfaced in India two months ago, blames everything on the temptations of Satan. [358 words, ENI-00-0225]

Prayer has cut crime rate by 10 per cent, say Nottingham's Christians

London (ENI). Cooperation between police and churchgoers in an English city has cut the crime rate on a housing estate, thanks, it is claimed, to the power of prayer. The organisers of the Prayerwatch scheme in the deprived Arnold area of the English city of Nottingham have reported a 10 per cent drop in crime over two years, against national trends. [489 words, ENI-00-0226]

Remove 'jihad warriors' to give peace a chance, says Maluku churchman

Tomohon (ENI). A senior Protestant leader from the Indonesian province of Maluku - which has been troubled by 18 months of inter-religious strife - has warned that efforts to end the conflict are now at risk because of the arrival of thousands of Muslim volunteers who have vowed a jihad (holy war) against Christians. [680 words, ENI-00-0227]

CCA's choice of assembly venue symbolises its future

Tomohon (ENI). For Dr Feliciano Carino, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, the CCA's general assembly that ended this week in Indonesia marks a turning point in the life of the organisation. Most of the CCA's 11 general assemblies have taken place in an Asian capital cities - the 1995 assembly was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the 1990 assembly in Manila, the Philippines capital. However, this year's assembly took place in the provincial Indonesian town of Tomohon, in the Minahasa region - one of the mostly Christian areas in predominantly Muslim Indonesia - of the island of Sulawesi, about 2000 kilometres east of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. And unlike previous assemblies, most of the 350 participants stayed with local church families rather than in air-conditioned hotels. [911 words, ENI-00-0228]

Churches urge European Union to consider rights of new members

Geneva (ENI). Representatives of Europe's mainstream churches - Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox - have urged the European Union to consider the rights and cultures of potential new member states as the organisation prepares to expand, allowing central and east European countries to join. The appeal by members of French and pan-European Christian organisations was made in discussions with a high-ranking French government official, Pierre Moscovici, secretary of state for European matters in France's foreign affairs ministry, on 5 June. From 1 July France will hold the presidency of the European Union for six months. [675 words, ENI-00-0229]

7 June 2000

Tomohon, Indonesia (ENI). A meeting of church representatives from across Asia has warned that religious minorities - particularly Christians - face "serious threats from the majority communities in all South Asian countries, endangering freedom of religion". A statement, adopted on 5 June at the 11th general assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), pointed in particular to the rise of "Hindu fundamentalism in India and Nepal, Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives, and Buddhist extremist tendencies in Sri Lanka". [794 words, ENI-00-0220]

Asian conference's choice of presidents leaves youth feeling left out

Tomohon, Indonesia (ENI). Despite protests from youth delegates that no one under the age 30 had been nominated, the Christian Conference of Asia's 11th general assembly, in a tense session late on 4 June, elected its four presidents for the next five years. Critics said it was the first time since 1973 that no one under 30 had been elected as a CCA president. [483 words, ENI-00-0221]

A papal visit to Moscow is unlikely, but Pope may meet Russia's patriarch

Rome/Moscow, 7 June (ENI)-The likelihood of Pope John Paul II fulfilling a long-held wish by visiting Russia has fallen dramatically. Contrary to expectations at the Vatican, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who visited the Pope on 5 June, did not renew the invitation, made by Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, for the Catholic leader to visit Russia. In Moscow a Russian Orthodox Church official told ENI that while there was little likelihood of a papal visit to Russia in the foreseeable future, a meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Alexei might be possible. [1007 words, ENI-00-0222]

6 June 2000

New York, 6 June (ENI)-The general secretary of the National Council of Churches has welcomed a federal court decision which makes it likely that six-year-old Elian Gonzalez will soon return to Cuba. "We hope Elian and his father will be able to go home soon to a sense of normalcy," Robert Edgar said on 1 June after a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel which upheld a decision by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) denying the boy a hearing for a political asylum application and affirming the right of his father to speak for his son. "Our only disappointment is that this didn't happen much earlier," Edgar said. [725 words, ENI-00-0217]

Tsar Nicholas and his family likely to be made saints in August

Moscow (ENI). After years of debates and delays, Russia's last imperial rulers - Tsar Nicholas II and his family - are highly likely to be canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church in August. They will probably be among hundreds of canonisations of "new martyrs and confessors of Russia", to be undertaken by a special "church jubilee" council meeting of Russian Orthodox bishops. The new names listed for sainthood are mostly are clergy and lay people who died in Soviet prisons in the decades when Christians suffered persecution at the hands of the communist authorities. [623 words, ENI-00-0218]

Vatican urges journalists to resist the 'dictatorship of urgency'

Rome, 6 June (ENI)-Two leading Vatican officials have challenged journalists to make greater efforts to promote reconciliation and peace and to battle against much that is taken for granted in journalism, including the daily pressure for rapid, concise reporting of events. [679 words, ENI-00-0219]

5 June 2000

Tomohon (ENI). Indonesia's president, Abdurrahman Wahid, has appealed for dialogue and understanding between followers of different religions. In his speech on Saturday, 3 June, to the 11th general assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), which is taking place in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, President Wahid did not refer specifically to the wave of inter-religious violence with which Indonesia has been stricken in recent months. [923 words, ENI-00-0214]

Asia's church leaders to consider a new wider ecumenical association

Tomohon, Indonesia, 5 June (ENI)--Asian church leaders will meet next January to examine the possibility of creating new ecumenical structures to include all the region's main Christian traditions. The gathering - the third meeting of the Asian Movement for Christian Unity - will be jointly sponsored by the Federation of Asian (Roman Catholic) Bishops' Conferences (FABC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA). The CCA groups 98 Asian Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches, as well as 16 national councils of churches (NCCs). [895 words, ENI-00-0215]

Reduce financial dependency on the North, CCA told

Tomohon (ENI). The Christian Conference of Asia must undertake major structural changes to reduce its financial dependence on support from churches and agencies in the northern hemisphere, according to the organisation's treasurer. Presenting her report on 2 June to the CCA's 11th general assembly, Susan Li-Shu Chang, from the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, said that it was "imperative" that an "initial but clear and decisive move" be made to gradually reduce the CCA's financial dependence on supporting bodies from the "North". [541 words, ENI-00-0216]

2 June 2000

Tomohon, Indonesia (ENI). An international church gathering has opened in Indonesia with a call for Asia's Christians to "develop a more elaborate theology of how to live together with peoples of other faiths". The call was made before a congregation of 10 000 people at the opening worship on 31 May of the 11th general assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia. The meeting is taking place in Tomohon, in the Minahasa region of North Sulawesi, the fourth biggest island in the Indonesian archipelago. [604 words, ENI-00-0210]

Asian church council agrees to change in order to survive

Tomohon (ENI). The assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) has agreed to a sweeping restructuring of the organisation. The decision was taken after delegates were told that the changes were essential for the survival of the CCA which brings together more than 100 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches and national church councils in the region - from Pakistan to Aotearoa/New Zealand. [626 words, ENI-00-0211]

Two weeks into crisis, Fiji's churches struggle with its implications

Nadi (ENI). Two weeks after a coup led by businessman and self-styled representative of indigenous Fijian rights, George Speight, Fiji's churches and related institutions are still struggling to come to terms with its implications. Most churches are still reluctant to make official statements on the crisis beyond offering prayers and condemning the looting and other criminal acts that have taken place since 19 May, though the head of the Anglican Church in the region, Bishop Jabez Bryce criticised the coup soon after it took place. [895 words, ENI-00-0212]

Canaan Banana to serve gaol term after appeal fails

Harare (ENI). The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has upheld the conviction and sentence imposed on the country's first president, Canaan Sodindo Banana, for a series of sexual assaults on his aide-de-camp and other government workers. Banana, aged 63, is also a Methodist minister and former professor of theology at the University of Zimbabwe. [352 words, ENI-00-0213]

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