Luanda (ENI). The world was responsible for much of Angola's recently concluded 27-year civil war, and thus now bears responsibility to help reconstruct the devastated southern African nation, according to a prominent church leader here. "The great superpowers acknowledge that our country has been destroyed, but they don't want to acknowledge their role in destroying it," said the Rev. Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga, a Baptist pastor who serves as executive secretary of the Inter-Church Committee for Peace in Angola (COIEPA). [904 words]

30 July 2002

Colombo (ENI). As India and Pakistan continue their military stand-off over Kashmir, church leaders from South Asia have issued a warning about the build up of weapons across the sub-continent amid growing poverty and deprivation. The church leaders, meeting in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, warned of the danger of military conflict between India and Pakistan and criticised the money spent on armaments rather than on tackling the region's social needs. [596 words, ENI-02-0214]

Pakistan church officials fear truth may never be known about massacre

New Delhi (ENI). Pakistan church officials say the deaths of four people arrested in connection with a church massacre last year means that the truth behind the massacre may now never be known. Police in Pakistan's Bahawalpur district said in a statement that the four were killed on Sunday when a police vehicle carrying the four came under attack. The four men had been arrested last week in connection with the attack last October by unidentified gunmen on a church in Bahawalpur in which 15 worshippers and a security guard died. [366 words, ENI-02-0215]

29 July 2002

Harare (ENI). Andrew Meldrum, the Zimbabwe correspondent of the British Guardian newspaper, who was acquitted by a Zimbabwe court on charges of publishing false information, is now fighting a deportation order issued by the authorities minutes after his acquittal. "It shows our government does not respect the judiciary," said the archbishop of Bulawayo. "Why don't they respect the decision of the court which found him not guilty." [362 words, ENI-02-0212]

German politician's nomination undermines Christian values, says cardinal

Bielefeld (ENI). Germany's conservative opposition leader has provoked the ire of Roman Catholic leaders by nominating an unmarried mother to be his minister for family affairs if he wins this year's general election. Edmund Stoiber is representing the country's two main conservative parties, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), in the election to be held in September. The parties are traditionally conservative on social questions and claim their policies are based on Christian values. [320 words, ENI-02-0213]

26 July 2002

Vancouver (ENI). A poll released just prior to the arrival of Pope John Paul II in Canada on 23 July for the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day in Toronto suggests that a majority of Canadian Catholics disagree with many of the basic tenets of their church. The poll, commissioned by the Toronto National Post newspaper, shows that 82 per cent of respondents believe priests should be allowed to marry, and 80 per cent think women should be allowed into the priesthood. Almost as many - 70 per cent - said that divorced persons should be permitted to remarry, and 70 per cent favoured abandoning the church's ban on birth control. [1059 words, ENI-02-0211]

25 July 2002

New York (ENI). Two former generals from El Salvador have been ordered to pay US$54.6 million in damages to three Salvadoreans, one of them a church worker, after a jury determined that the men were responsible for security forces that tortured the Salvadoreans during their country's 12-year civil war. The verdict was something of a landmark, according to a statement from the Center for Justice and Accountability, the San Francisco human rights group that initiated the case. It was one of the few cases since the Second World War in which commanders were held liable for war crimes committed by troops - a legal theory called "command responsibility". [697 words, ENI-02-0209]

Fears about the return of conflict threaten peace process in Sri Lanka

Colombo (ENI). A prominent Sri Lankan church leader has cautioned that unless people's fears about the country's fragile peace can be put to rest, the fledgling peace process in this island nation may be doomed to collapse. "We have peace now, but we are not sure whether we will have peace in the future," said the Rev. Ebenezer Joseph, general secretary of the National Christian Council (NCC) of Sri Lanka. [655 words, ENI-02-0210]

24 July 2002

London (ENI). Rowan Williams, the next archbishop of Canterbury, will be an inspiring but controversial leader in the opinion of the British press, which gave wide coverage to his appointment. "Canterbury's turbulent priest," commented the Daily Telegraph, in a reference to Williams's 12th-century Canterbury predecessor, the martyred Thomas Becket, who was described this way by the English king. [632 words, ENI-02-0208]

In Kenya, cremation of former church leader's wife leads to debate

Nairobi (ENI). The cremation of the wife of the former Anglican archbishop of Kenya has sparked a debate about the practice in a country where it is believed only two other Africans have been cremated in the past 20 years. Mary Kuria, the wife of former Archbishop Manasses Kuria, died on 6 July aged 73 and was cremated at a private family ceremony two days later. The news of the cremation came as a surprise to mourners who gathered at Nairobi's Anglican All Saints' Cathedral for a service of thanksgiving for Kuria's life. [478 words, ENI-01-0207]

23 July 2002

London (ENI). Rowan Williams, a prominent Anglican intellectual and theologian, has been named as the next archbishop of Canterbury in succession to George Carey. As archbishop, he will be the spiritual head of the Church of England and leader of the nearly 70 million-strong Anglican Communion world-wide. Dr Williams, 52, who is currently the archbishop of Wales, said when the appointment was announced today: "An enormous trust has been placed in my hands, and I can only approach it with a degree of awe as well as gratitude that I have been thought worthy of it." [1023 words, ENI-02-0206]

22 July 2002

New Delhi (ENI). A church charity in the hilly north-eastern region of India has been expanding into the tea gardening business as a way to make the church self-reliant and provide an income for local tribal peoples. The Partnership Mission Society (PMS) - the social wing of the 40 000-member Evangelical Free Church - already runs a 103-hectare tea estate at Diguncherra in the state of Assam and is negotiating with a company to buy another 200 hectares. Profits from the business will be channelled back into the church's schools, hospitals and job training centres, which until now been supported with funds from abroad. [469 words, ENI-02-0205]

19 July 2002

Brazzaville (ENI). Roman Catholic bishops in the Republic of the Congo-Brazzaville have called for reforms in the country's oil policy in an effort to stem the country's economic woes. In a statement issued last week, the bishops urged the creation of a committee composed of state, church and civil society representatives to oversee the country's oil production and revenues. Oil is at the core of the Congo's economy, accounting for more than 90 per cent of its exports and two-thirds of its revenues. Yet average Congolese are not seeing the benefits of its exploitation, the bishops argue. [436 words, ENI-02-0204]

18 July 2002

Moscow (ENI). A Chechen real estate mogul, an Israeli exporter and a Russian poet have come together in a grand plan to build a Bible theme park in Moscow. Under the plan, children will be able to visit a replica of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and play in an Egyptian fortress while their parents taste the "dishes from the Last Supper" and enjoy an Arabian bath. The park, billed as an entertainment Bible Land, is to open its doors in 2005 and occupy 32 hectares in western Moscow, its developers said at a news conference last week. [800 words, ENI-02-0203]

17 July 2002

London (ENI). The Church of England has voted strongly - and against traditionalist opposition - to allow church weddings for divorcees whose former partner is still living. The church's historic ban on such weddings was last reiterated in 1957, although it has often been disregarded by Anglican parish clergy. More than one in six weddings - 11 000 out of 65 000 - in 1999 involved at least one divorced person, a Church of England spokesman told ENI. The ruling general synod's decision, by 269 votes to 83, to allow remarriage in "exceptional" circumstances still leaves clergy free to refuse to marry couples including a divorcee. [620 words, ENI-02-0201]

Church debates pastor's participation in 11 Sept. commemoration

New York (ENI). A conservative US Lutheran denomination is debating whether it was proper for one of its clergy to participate in a public interfaith service following the 11 September attacks in New York City. The Rev. David Benke of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been suspended from his post as president of the denomination's New York-based Atlantic District while a church body determines whether he violated denominational rules in participating in a 23 September service at New York's Yankee Stadium with non-Christians. [658 words, ENI-02-0202]

16 July 2002

Bielefeld, Germany (ENI). High heels, cowboy boots, trainers, slippers and sandals should not be worn with pastors' robes during worship, according to a new book of Protestant liturgy for German clergy. This fashion proscription is among the strongly worded advice found in the recently published 590-page Evangelisches Gottesdienstbuch - Ergaenzungsband (or Supplement to the Book of Protestant Liturgy) meant to complement an earlier liturgy book published in 1999. [411 words, ENI-02-0200]

15 July 2002

Paris (ENI). French Protestant church leaders have signalled a "new era of relations" with one of the best-known ecumenical religious communities in Europe. For the first time in more than a decade, a delegation from the French Protestant Federation (FPF) earlier this month paid an official visit to Taizé, the hilltop ecumenical community in Burgundy that each year welcomes more than 100 000 youth from around the world for prayer and study. The visit was "a way of saying that a new era of relations can begin", Gill Daudé, head of the FPF's ecumenical service, told ENI. [401 words, ENI-02-0199]

12 July 2002

Manila (ENI). Churches and civil rights groups in the Philippines have called for the abolition of the country's death penalty, asserting that capital punishment is being used as a "gimmick" in politically motivated campaigns. "By preferring quick-fix solutions to the difficult but meaningful task of strengthening law enforcement agencies, President [Gloria] Arroyo shows herself once again a consummate politician who has no qualms about sacrificing moral integrity on the altar of pragmatism," the Coalition Against the Death Penalty said at a news conference this week. [576 words, ENI-02-0198]

11 July 2002

New Delhi (ENI). The death sentence imposed on a man in Pakistan on 29 June is but the latest illustration of the "arbitrary" nature of the country's blasphemy laws, say church leaders. The man, Abdullah (Augustine) Ashiq Kingri Masih, who comes from a Christian family, was convicted of blasphemy by a district court in Faisalabad. He had been charged with slandering the prophet Mohammed, an offence that carries a mandatory death sentence, although he is appealing the sentence to the High Court. Victor Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Pakistan, told ENI that churches in Pakistan could not risk getting involved in his defence because anti-minority feeling among Muslim fundamentalists was too strong. [655 words, ENI-02-0197]

10 July 2002

New York (ENI). Public confidence in US religious institutions has dropped dramatically this year to a 30-year low, reflecting the recent scandals affecting the Roman Catholic Church, a prominent polling organisation has concluded. A new national survey by the Gallup Organisation, based in Princeton, New Jersey, determined that only 45 per cent of Americans surveyed had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in religious institutions - a substantial 15 per cent drop from 60 per cent in 2001. It was the lowest percentage since 1973, when Gallup began surveying Americans on their confidence in national institutions. [736 words, ENI-02-0195]

Church refugee agency succeeds in resettlement plan for Somali refugees

Nairobi (ENI). After years of vigorous lobbying by United States church agencies, 12 000 refugees from Somalia who fled ten years ago to neighbouring Kenya will travel to the US for resettlement. The refugees - known as Somali Bantu to distinguish them from ethnic Somalis - are descendants of Africans who fled from slave traders elsewhere in Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries, eventually settling on the banks of the Juba River in the southern region of today's Somalia. Following Somalia's independence in 1960, many of them found themselves denied civil rights, land tenure and opportunities for educational and political advancement. [370 words, ENI-02-0196]

9 July 2002

London (ENI). Anglicans and Methodists in England took a key step towards unity when their governing bodies accepted a report proposing a covenant between the two churches. Each church agreed overwhelmingly to refer the report for grass-roots reactions before bringing it back to the national bodies next year. The covenant proposal was debated by the Methodist annual conference on 1 July and the Church of England's general synod on 6 July. [546 words, ENI-02-0193]

Russian Orthodox Church provides its evidence of Catholic 'proselytising'

Moscow (ENI). The Russian Orthodox Church has presented what it describes as evidence supporting its long-standing charge of Roman Catholic proselytising in Russia. The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church last week sent letters to the Vatican setting out its definition of proselytising and listing cases of what it viewed as Catholic poaching of its flock. Observers suggested that the letters could be intended as a prelude to a new round of illusion-free talks to deal with a crisis between the two churches. [830 words, ENI-02-0194]

8 July 2002

Oxford (ENI). Church leaders have reacted with concern to a European Parliament report calling on member states and candidate members of the European Union (EU) to ease access to abortion and contraception. In a vote that could anger many church leaders, the parliament in Strasbourg adopted a report on 3 July calling for abortion to be made "legal, safe and accessible to all", and for the "morning-after" pill to be sold cheaply in all EU countries. But whatever political pressure an EU parliamentary vote on abortion or contraception may bring to bear on member states, it remains advisory in nature, and not legally binding on any EU country. [647 words, ENI-02-0192]

5 July 2002

Bielefeld, Germany (ENI). With a marketing technique more common to airlines or retailers trying to build client loyalty, a church in northern Germany has issued confirmation cards entitling the parish's younger members to discounts in local shops. The Rev. Josef Kalkusch, a Lutheran pastor in Sachsenhagen, near Hanover, has created a plastic card identifying teenagers enrolled in his church's confirmation class. As with loyalty cards that qualify their holders to join a club, benefit from a sales promotion or accumulate bonus points towards a free flight, the Sachsenhagen confirmands can use their confirmation cards to get reductions on certain purchases. [491 words, ENI-02-0191]

4 July 2002

New Delhi (ENI). Christian schools and colleges in India have been told they risk being engulfed by a "wave of resentment" unless they open their doors to more Christian students from poorer backgrounds. The warning came from the All India Council of Christian Educational Institutions in an appeal timed to coincide with the start this week of a new academic year in northern India. Competition is fierce for admission to India's 25 000 Christian schools and 300 Christian colleges because of their strong academic reputation. [597 words, ENI-02-0190]

3 July 2002

Lima (ENI). Peruvian church leaders called for more tolerance and greater national unity as widespread, violent protests dogged the government of President Alejandro Toledo, and support for the president plummeted to a record low. A poll taken in Lima on 21 June by the Datum company showed that 82.6 per cent of those surveyed disapprove of President Toledo, who took office at the end of July last year. The president's support is even lower outside the capital, where people have taken to the streets, blocking highways and destroying public and private property, decrying both a lack of jobs and the government's plans to privatise two state-owned power companies. [591 words, ENI-02-0189]

2 July 2002

Harare (ENI). A potential political crisis in Zimbabwe could be averted by a re-run of the country's controversial March presidential election, Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop from South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has said. The election, which extended President Robert Mugabe's rule for a sixth term, was characterised by international observers as "fundamentally flawed" and fraught with violence and intimidation. [605 words, ENI-02-0188]

1 July 2002

Warsaw (ENI). Germany's main Protestant church has welcomed Russia's decision to return more than 100 medieval stained-glass windows to a German church almost six decades after they were seized by the Soviet Red Army. Protestant Bishop Wolfgang Hueber said the co-operation between the German and Russian governments in making the hand-over possible was "a good sign for peace and reconciliation" in Europe. The 111 stained-glass windows depicting biblical scenes from Creation to Judgement Day were handed over in St Petersburg to Germany's culture minister, Julian Nida-Ruemelin, on 24 June. The windows are to be reinstalled in their original location in the Marienkirche (St Mary's Church) in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, a city on the German-Polish border. [402 words, ENI-02-0187]

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