New Delhi (ENI). The state government of Gujarat in India has halted its programme of closing relief camps that had served as makeshift homes for thousands of Muslim refugees. The decision announced on Wednesday to stop closing the camps followed widespread protests in which Christian activists and charity workers played a key role. The camps were set up to house Muslim victims of the communal killing and looting that plagued Gujarat from February to May. In sporadic mob violence over the course of many weeks, nearly 1000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. [521 words, ENI-02-0185]

Israel deports missionary who helped sick Palestinian children

Jerusalem (ENI). Israel has deported the head of a Christian organisation who had organised heart surgery and other operations for Palestinian children by Israeli doctors. Jonathan Miles, a United States citizen who founded the Israeli non-profit organisation Light to the Nations, was told he was no longer welcome in the country. The move has disturbed some Christian groups who had praised Miles for his humanitarian efforts in the midst of a deep conflict. Miles had been working in conjunction with Save a Child's Heart, a foundation providing free, urgent heart surgery for children in poor and developing nations. [780 words, ENI-02-0186]

27 June 2002

Amsterdam (ENI). Churches in western Europe are being challenged to examine their investment portfolios to help counter negative aspects of the global economy. The call was made at a meeting of 80 western European church representatives held from 15 to 19 June in Soesterberg, in the Netherlands. Participants drew up a list of actions for churches, including the idea that the churches examine the management of their own financial resources, such as pension funds, to see how far they can use their financial muscle to promote positive changes in the world economy. [333 words, ENI-02-0184]

26 June 2002

London (ENI). The experience of a Christian work camp in shattered East Berlin after the Second World War led John Arnold, now dean of Durham Cathedral in northern England, to a lifetime working for ecumenism in Europe. Arnold, 68, has just been named a recipient of one of Britain's highest honours - an OBE (officer of the Order of the British Empire) - by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the European ecumenical movement. He has been involved for many years in the work of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) - which brings together European Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches - and was its president from 1992 to 1997. [562 words, ENI-02-0183]

Australians less committed to Christianity, traditional family life

Sydney (ENI). Census figures showing a decline in Australians' commitment to Christianity confirm that churches must reassess their structures and operations to meet the challenge of modern times, according to the general secretary of Australia's National Council of Churches, the Rev. John Henderson. The figures, released this month but drawn from a national census conducted in 2001, show a decline in marriage, falling fertility and a rise in the number of people declaring they have no religion. Christianity remains the dominant faith in Australia, but continues to lose followers as other religions gain in popularity. [578 words, ENI-02-0182]

25 June 2002

Warsaw (ENI). Slovak churches have discriminated against the country's minority Roma population, barring members of the community - commonly known as Gypsies - from church services, a government commission has claimed. The charge was among the findings presented at a press conference by Peter Mikus, chairman of a five-member Interior Ministry commission on Roma issues. Mikus said exclusion from churches was "one of many instances of racist segregation" in Slovakia. [804 words, ENI-02-0180]

Carey says Anglican unity 'threatened' after vote for gay blessings

Vancouver (ENI). A war of words that threatens to divide the world-wide Anglican Communion has broken out following the decision of a diocese in western Canada to authorise the blessing of same-sex couples. The Anglican diocese of New Westminster, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, voted on 15 June by 215 to 129 votes to approve blessings for lesbian and gay couples. Leaders of eight conservative congregations walked out of the diocesan synod meeting in protest against the decision, insisting they would withhold financial commitments to the diocese and take church properties worth millions of dollars with them if they seceded. [657 words, ENI-02-0181]

24 June 2002

Geneva (ENI). Jesse Jackson, the prominent United States civil rights leader, is planning to take an inter-faith delegation to the Middle East to help promote a non-violent "third force" for reconciliation. Political sides are "frozen" and neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians have "the courage to overcome the deadlock", Jackson told journalists today in Geneva after meeting senior officials of the World Council of Churches. "We need a third force to reconcile the sides, we must build a bridge and heal a breach, reach out to civil society within Israel and among the Palestinians," said Jackson. [618 words, ENI-02-0179]

21 June 2002

London (ENI). The planned sale of historic paintings in a bishop's palace has not been realised more than six months after a vigorous campaign was launched to keep them in place. The paintings have hung in Auckland Castle, the seat of the bishop of Durham, since they were brought to the castle by Bishop Richard Trevor in the mid-18th century. Painted by the 17th-century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran, the set shows Jacob and his 12 sons, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. [446 words, ENI-02-0178]

20 June 2002

Vancouver (ENI). Canadian Anglicans have elected the first Inuk to serve as a diocesan bishop. In September, Andrew Atagotaaluk, 51, will become bishop of the Arctic, a vast territory of 3.9 million square kilometres reaching to the North Pole, from Labrador in the east to the Yukon border in western Canada. The diocese accounts for almost 40 per cent of the territory of Canada, yet has a population of only 53 000, including 18 000 Anglicans. A majority of the clergy in the diocese are, like Atagotaaluk, aboriginal. [624 words, ENI-02-0177]

19 June 2002

New York (ENI). The Presbyterian Church (USA) has elected a Palestinian American pastor and avowed proponent of non-violence as its new moderator. Meeting at its General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, the 2.5-million-member denomination selected the Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, of Atlanta, Georgia, for the position. As moderator, he will chair the assembly, which ends on 22 June, and serve as a denominational spokesperson for the coming year. Abu-Akel, voted moderator on 15 June, said he was elected because of his ministry and long record of work in the denomination but acknowledged that his election may have symbolic importance, as well. "Justice for Palestinians is timely," he said. [604 words, ENI-02-0176]

18 June 2002

London (ENI). Bishops of the Church of Norway have appealed to their counterparts in the Church of England to help them fight against nuclear waste being discharged into the sea. The radioactive waste - technetium 99 - comes from the nuclear processing plant at Sellafield in northern England. The discharges are a big public issue in Norway, where coastal communities feel their health and livelihoods are at risk from pollution spreading across the North Sea. [673 words, ENI-02-0175]

New US Catholic guidelines on sexual abuse stop short of defrocking

New York (ENI). US Roman Catholic bishops continue to face criticism after adopting new guidelines at an unprecedented meeting called to address a widening sexual abuse scandal. Critics say the long-awaited guidelines do not go far enough in their prescriptions for priests who commit child sexual abuse and do not address what many Catholic laity say is at the heart of the scandal: the response of the bishops when confronted with problem clergy. [732 words, ENI-02-0173]

Dutch Mennonites to set up national register of conscientious objectors

Amsterdam (ENI). The Mennonite Church in the Netherlands is planning to set up a national register of Dutch conscientious objectors to protect the interests of pacifists in time of war. Inclusion in the register will be open to all those who refuse to serve in the armed forces because of their pacifist convictions. The Mennonite Church says the register is needed because the law on military service has changed and no longer allows for objection to war on moral grounds. [292 words, ENI-02-0174]

18 June 2002

New York (ENI). US Roman Catholic bishops continue to face criticism after adopting new guidelines at an unprecedented meeting called to address a widening sexual abuse scandal. Critics say the long-awaited guidelines do not go far enough in their prescriptions for priests who commit child sexual abuse and do not address what many Catholic laity say is at the heart of the scandal: the response of the bishops when confronted with problem clergy. [732 words, ENI-02-0173]

Dutch Mennonites to set up national register of conscientious objectors

Amsterdam (ENI). The Mennonite Church in the Netherlands is planning to set up a national register of Dutch conscientious objectors to protect the interests of pacifists in time of war. Inclusion in the register will be open to all those who refuse to serve in the armed forces because of their pacifist convictions. The Mennonite Church says the register is needed because the law on military service has changed and no longer allows for objection to war on moral grounds. Until 1996, when obligatory national service was abolished, the Netherlands had accepted conscientious objection. [292 words, ENI-02-0174]

14 June 2002

Warsaw (ENI). Protestant leaders in the Czech Republic have called on their fellow citizens to "accept guilt" for expelling more than 2 million Germans and tens of thousands of Hungarians after World War II. "As a responsible nation, known for its humanitarian, democratic traditions, we have a duty to see our guilt in a true light," the synod of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren said in a statement issued in the run-up to the Czech Republic's parliamentary elections, which are taking place today and tomorrow. The pre-election period has been marked by tension over demands for the annulment of decrees that forced German and Hungarian civilians out of the country after the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany. [618 words, ENI-02-0172]

'No excuse for passivity' against AIDS, UN official tells religious leaders

Nairobi (ENI). A top United Nations official has challenged African religious leaders to "seize the leadership" in the struggle against HIV/AIDS, saying that they had unique access to the grass roots and exceptional opportunities to influence politicians. In a blunt message, Stephen Lewis, the UN secretary general's special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, said there was "no excuse for passivity or distance", given the scale of the pandemic. "When AIDS has run its course - if it ever runs its course - it will be seen as an annihilating scourge that dwarfs everything that has gone before," he predicted in an address to a three-day gathering in Nairobi of more than 120 African religious leaders from 30 countries. [582 words, ENI-02-0171]

Ecumenical patriarch and Pope sign declaration on environment

Oxford (ENI). In a video hook-up between Rome and Venice earlier this week, Pope John Paul II and the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomeos I, signed a statement urging increased efforts to protect the environment. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I, regarded as the primus inter pares, or first among equals, of the world's Orthodox leaders, was in Venice at the end of a 5-10 June Adriatic Sea cruise. The cruise was intended to draw attention to the environmental problems of the Adriatic. [452 words, ENI-02-0170]

13 June 2002

New York (ENI). The death of a US missionary during a rescue mission by Philippine security forces last Friday is not likely to alter the need for a planned meeting between Philippine and US churches on the "war on terrorism", say United States church officials. If anything, the incident shows the need for churches to continue efforts for peace in the Philippines, said one church leader. On 7 June, American missionary Martin Burnham and Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap were killed during a gun fight between Philippine security forces and members of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim rebel group. "This could strengthen the resolve of church communities in the Philippines to pursue peace," said David Wildman, head of the human rights division of the General Board of Global Ministries, the mission arm of the United Methodist Church. [698 words, ENI-02-0169]

12 June 2002

Harare (ENI). The Zimbabwe presbytery of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa has urged Zimbabwe's government to repeal the nation's strict new law controlling the news media. President Robert Mugabe signed the law, called the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, on 15 March, immediately after winning the country's controversial presidential election. The act has been evoked to arrest journalists from the non-state-owned news media. About a dozen independent Zimbabwean and foreign journalists have been arrested and charged with breaking the law since it went into effect three months ago. [655 words, ENI-02-0167]

Canadian campaigners to 'call to account' the world's richest countries

Vancouver (ENI). When leaders of the world's most powerful countries meet in Canada later this month, they may well be greeted by thousands of unpaid invoices. A Canadian church campaign is planning to deliver the symbolic bills signed by Canadians who want to "call to account" the industrialised countries for the social and ecological debts that campaigners say are owed to the rest of the world. The leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialised nations are scheduled to meet at the end of June in the Canadian Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis, west of Calgary, for their two-day annual summit. [470 words, ENI-02-0168]

11 June 2002

Bielefeld (ENI). The leaders of Germany's main churches have intervened in a bitter public controversy about anti-Semitism. Protestant church leader Manfred Kock and Roman Catholic Cardinal Karl Lehmann called for an end to what each described as a "harmful" debate that has pitted a senior politician against the Central Council of Jews in Germany (ZJD). [369 words, ENI-02-0166]

10 June 2002

Bielefeld, Germany (ENI). By the time the coin was tossed to determine sides of play in the first match of the 2002 World Cup, a profound football-inspired question was bearing down on fans throughout Germany. From highway billboards around the country, and from the pages of Germany's major newspapers, came the query: "Are soccer players our real Gods?" The question is at the heart of the June advertising campaign launched by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the country's main Protestant body, to encourage people to think more seriously about what's important in their lives. [368 words, ENI-02-0165]

7 June 2002

Harare (ENI). Thousands of villagers in the Zimbabwean province of Matabeleland are going hungry since militants of the country's ruling political party disrupted a Roman Catholic Church feeding programme for schoolchildren and expectant mothers. Villagers in the drought-prone region of Binga had been living on handouts from the Catholic Church and the UK-based Save the Children Fund since last year. But in May, Ignatius Chombo, the minister of local government, public works and national housing, ordered Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) to discontinue its food aid programme because "it has structures similar to the government's". [583 words, ENI-02-0164]

New book brings debate about Mexican saint into public view

Mexico City (ENI). While Vatican officials have admitted wondering whether the ailing Pope John Paul II will visit Mexico in late July, some church leaders here have raised their own doubts - about whether the man the Pope is coming to canonise ever really existed. Their scepticism centres on the legend of the 16th-century Juan Diego, who is believed to have seen apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and whose cloak was reported to have been imprinted with her image. Manuel Olimon Nolasco, a Catholic priest and history professor at the Pontifical University, claims in a book due to come out soon that the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Juan Diego's cloak was hand painted, rather than divinely imprinted, as the Vatican maintains. [681 words, ENI-02-0163]

6 June 2002

Thrissur, India (ENI). Nearly 70 Hindu families left homeless last year after a deadly earthquake struck the western Indian state of Gujarat received keys last week to new houses built by one of India's Orthodox churches. The 68 homes form a new village called Srinarayan Nagar in the region hardest hit by the earthquake, the Kutch district. Officials estimate that more than 20 000 people were killed and half a million people were rendered homeless in Gujarat on 26 January last year, when a tremor measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale shook the state. Non-governmental organisations put the casualty figures much higher. [663 words, ENI-02-0162]

5 June 2002

New York (ENI). Defenders of human rights are facing some of their toughest challenges ever in the wake of the 11 September attacks in the United States and the subsequent US-led "war on terrorism", according to a new report from Amnesty International. Echoing concerns raised by some religious groups and leaders since the attacks in the US, the London-based human rights organisation said that in 2001 security interests often took priority over the defence of human rights. [720 words, ENI-02-0160]

Former US archbishop makes emotional apology

New York (ENI). One of the most prominent liberal Catholic clerics in the US has publicly asked for forgiveness amid revelations that he had settled a sexual assault claim out of court. In an emotional address on 31 May in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the city's former archbishop, Rembert Weakland, acknowledged that he had had an "inappropriate" relationship in 1979 with a former graduate student. He has denied the allegation of sexual assault. [578 words, ENI-02-0161]

4 June 2002

Warsaw (ENI). A movement to revive the ancient Olympic truce under which wars were suspended during the Olympic Games has gained the support of half a dozen Orthodox patriarchs. The Orthodox leaders have added their names to those of 100 other church and government leaders who have signed a formal appeal for a world-wide truce during the games, scheduled for Athens in 2004. "If the Olympic Truce can help us bring about even a brief respite from conflict and strife, it will send a powerful message of hope to the international community," says the appeal, launched in November last year. [495 words, ENI-02-0159]

3 June 2002

London (ENI). Religion took centre stage at the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee when the leaders of Churches Together in England signed an ecumenical covenant with the queen looking on. The 50th anniversary of the queen's accession to the throne in 1952 is being celebrated by Britons with a four-day holiday from 1 to 4 June. One of the highlights of the jubilee, a service at Windsor on 2 June, was followed by the signing ceremony. [616 words, ENI-02-0158]

Don't idolise nature church report tells supporters of organic farming

London (ENI). Supporters of organic farming, who see it as the environmentally friendly way to produce food, have been warned against treating nature "as quasi-divine". The admonition was given in a report on intensive farming by the Church of Scotland's Science, Religion and Technology (SRT) Project, which described as "neo-pagan" the attitude that nature was "not to be tampered with lest 'she' strike us back". Such a world view was just as questionable as its opposite, the promotion of scientific rationality as an "idol". [730 words, ENI-02-0157]

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