Posts Tagged ‘ church ’

Belgian Christians divided over banning of Muslim burqa

July 27, 2011
By

Jonathan Luxmoore, ENInews, Jul.25, www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=5043

Christian organizations in Belgium have had mixed reactions to a criminal code amendment making the country Europe’s second to ban the Islamic veil, or burqa.

“We’re against this ruling, since it violates basic human rights,” said Kristine Jansone, general secretary of the Brussels-based Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe. “Although I can’t speak on behalf of all our member-groups, I think it’s the general consensus we should oppose a measure which will clearly impede the free practice of religion.”

Jansone said her Council had worked to promote an “open attitude to Islam” within Christian churches, and did not expect ties with Muslim organizations to be affected by the ban.

However, an Orthodox bishop backed the restriction and said Christian doctrine held that “human beings are created with faces” and should be able to look at each other “to be a full person.”

“As Orthodox Christians, we’re experienced in having to respect the rules of the country we live in,” said Bishop Athenagoras Peckstadt, representative of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate in Belgium. “Most of those who wear the burqa do so because they are obliged to. Isn’t this itself a violation of human rights?”

Meanwhile, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg, deplored the ban as a symptom of “Islamophobia and anti-Muslim prejudices which continue to undermine tolerance in Europe,” and said it was more likely to “stigmatize” Muslim women and lead them to avoid public places, such as hospitals and government offices.

“We react strongly against any regime ruling that women must be dressed in full-cover veils. This is absolutely repressive and should not be accepted,” Hammarberg said in a 20 July website commentary. “However, the problem is not solved by targeting and penalizing the women.”

“Christian churches should speak up in defense of Muslim rights as a means of self-protection,” said Jansone, who believes greater efforts should be made to “provide a relevant infrastructure for Muslims to participate in society.”

Read the complete article here.

Christians should learn how to be a ‘minority’ from Muslims, bishop says

July 12, 2011
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Tim Ross, Daily Telegraph, Jul.12, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8631059/Christians-should-learn-how-to-be-a-minority-from-Muslims-bishop-says.html

The Rt Rev Nick Baines, the Bishop of Bradford, said some parishes in his diocese were 95% Muslim but that this should not be seen as “a problem”.

“This is a fantastic opportunity,” he told the General Synod, the Church of England’s national assembly, in York.

“It is a challenge, yes, but it’s an opportunity to rethink what it means to be a Christian community. We often ask Muslims to learn what it is to be a Muslim as a minority culture.

“Maybe we could benefit from learning some of the same lessons in some of our cities.”

Read the complete article here.

Church of England: respect faith in workplace

July 12, 2011
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Tim Ross, Daily Telegraph, Jul.11, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8628918/Church-of-England-bishops-meet-ministers-over-chilling-effect-of-equality-laws.html

Some employers see quiet displays of religious belief by their staff as being offensive “almost by definition”, the Church’s national assembly, the General Synod, has been warned.

Senior Anglicans have raised their concerns in meetings with government ministers and expect practical measures to safeguard Christian rights in response.

A series of cases in recent months have seen Christians face disciplinary action and even the law courts for expressing their beliefs, or displaying symbols such as the cross, at work.

Senior bishops including the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, have raised their concerns over the pursuit of “equality” at the expense of religious freedom with government ministers, including David Cameron.

Read the complete article here.

Muslims Must Protect Arab Christians

July 6, 2011
By

Kamal Nawash, Imam Ahmed Mansour and Pierre Maroun, Open Letter Today, Jul.5, openlettertoday.wordpress.com/

The last 10 years have not been easy for Arab Christians. Numerous events, including the U.S. invasion of Iraq has inspired the belief that the “Christian West” has declared war on Muslims of the Middle East. Many Muslims see military operations against Muslim majority nations by the United States as religious in nature because the United States is viewed by many Muslims as a Christian nation.

Unfortunately, some radical Muslims have attacked Christian Arabs in retaliation for American military attacks against majority Muslim nations such as Iraq. Most notably, churches have been attacked in Egypt and Iraq by extremists who now view their Christian countrymen with suspicion because they share the same religion as the Majority of Americans.

The relationship between Arab Christians and Muslims has not always been tense. In fact, the history of Christian/Muslim relations in the Arab world has been historically remarkable and beneficial for the entire world. For example, in the early days of Islam, Arab and Middle Eastern Christians translated scholarly Greek philosophy and religious work into Arabic. This, in fact, helped propel the Muslim nations into a global power with advances in science, mathematics, astronomy, and arts while Europe was still sinking in what is known as the dark ages.

In return, some hundreds of years later Arab Christians translated scholarly Muslim work in the sciences; mathematics, astronomy, medicine and the humanities from Arabic into Latin and Greek, which helped kick off the European renaissance and transformed Europe into a leading world power. This wealth of knowledge could not have existed had it not been for the unique Islamo-Christian relationship.

Read the complete article here.

Churches across America read from the Qur’an

July 6, 2011
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Tad Stahnke, Common Ground News Service, Jul.5, www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=30023&lan=en&sp=0&isNew=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Although negative stories of Islamophobia in the United States abound in news media, most Americans respect religious diversity. That’s why on Sunday, 26 June, thousands of people across America joined together at dozens of churches and other houses of worship across the country. Congregants united to do far more than read Christian scriptures; from Alabama to Alaska, from California to New York, worshippers also heard the words of Jewish and Muslim sacred texts as rabbis and imams joined pastors in leading an event called Faith Shared.

A joint project of Human Rights First and the Interfaith Alliance, Faith Shared brought Americans together to counter the anti-Muslim bigotry and negative stereotypes that have erupted throughout the country in the past few years and led to misconceptions, distrust and, in some cases, even violence.

Read the complete article here.

Celebrating Faith, Altruism And Our Modern Community

July 6, 2011
By

Lord Sacks, Huffington Post, Jul.5, www.huffingtonpost.com/chief-rabbi-lord-sacks/religion-community_b_890357.html

In his new book “American Grace,” [Harvard sociologist Robert] Putnam sets out the good news. A powerful store of social capital still exists. It is called religion: the churches, synagogues and other places of worship that still bring people together in shared belonging and mutual responsibility. The evidence shows that religious people – defined by regular attendance at a place of worship – actually do make better neighbours.

Religious Americans are simply more likely to give of their time and money to others, both within and beyond their own communities.  Their altruism goes beyond this. Frequent worshippers are also significantly more active citizens. They are more likely to belong to community organisations, especially those concerned with young people, health, arts and leisure, neighbourhood and civic groups and professional associations.

Tested on attitudes, religiosity as measured by church or synagogue attendance turns out to be the best predictor of altruism and empathy: better than education, age, income, gender or race. On the basis of self-reported life satisfaction, religious people are also happier than their non-religious counterparts. So, if we’re searching for the big society, this is where we will find it. Politically, it’s the idea of the moment, but it’s what faith communities have been doing all along. It’s their greatest strength and a large part of their raison d’être.

Read the complete article here.

Christians issue rule book for spreading faith

June 30, 2011
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Robert Evans, Reuters, Jun.28, www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-religion-conduct-idUSTRE75R36N20110628

A coalition of major Christian churches including the Vatican launched a rule book on Tuesday for spreading their faith that aims to reduce hostility from Islam and other religions to efforts to convert their followers.

The five-page code of conduct, which has been under negotiation since 2005, was unveiled at a Geneva news conference by the World Council of Churches (WCC), a senior Roman Catholic prelate and the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA).

It urges Christians wanting “to share the good news of God’s kingdom” — missionary work or simply publicly testifying to their faith — “to build relations of respect and trust with all religions” and adapt their approaches to local conditions.

It reaffirms their right to proselytize, or promote their beliefs and seek converts.  But it also urges them to abandon “inappropriate methods of exercising mission by resorting to deception and coercive means,” saying that such behavior “betray the gospel and may cause suffering to others.”

The code, entitled “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct,” comes amid growing tension between small local Christian communities and majorities from other religions in many, especially Muslim, countries.

Read the complete article here.

Islamic Center barbecue eases difficult week

June 30, 2011
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Emily Heffter, Seattle Times, Jun.26,  hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WA_ISLAMIC_CENTER_BARBECUE_WAOL-?SITE=ILROR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Confronting stereotypes is nothing new to Muslims at the Islamic Center of Eastside. It’s the very reason they have an open house every few months – to invite in neighbors and “demystify” themselves.

Saturday’s scheduled open house came just two days after two Muslim men were arrested in Seattle and accused of planning a terrorist attack on a Seattle military building. Disheartened but expecting questions, presenters at the Islamic Center in Bellevue worked up an extra PowerPoint slide to address terrorism.

“The stereotype is always there,” said Bahiyya Hassan, adding that the arrests feel “external” to a congregation more focused on the day-to-day aspects of faith and community. “This was planned a month ago. It doesn’t really matter, because we’re just hoping we can talk about what Islam is actually about.”

A short presentation at the open house reviewed the basic beliefs of Islam, followed by a frank and casual question-and-answer session that covered how Muslims fit prayer into their workday and why they wear hijabs on their heads.

“If I wake up with a bad hair day, actually, it doesn’t matter,” laughed Leslie Taylor, of Bellevue. “You’re not going to know, because I can put this on.”

The women met separately from the men in the upstairs of the mosque, chatting and eating barbecue sandwiches and kebabs.

While they find the media’s focus on Muslim terrorists puzzling, Muslims at Saturday’s event said they also know their faith is misunderstood.

They waited patiently Saturday while non-Muslims unfamiliar with the religion’s terminology struggled to find the right way to ask questions. They tried to explain the deep sense of community they feel during prayers and described a God who is compassionate and gracious.

In one exchange, a Muslim woman described the ins and outs of the mosque’s weekly prayer service to a visiting Presbyterian, and then asked the woman to describe her church’s service.

Read the complete article here.

German bishop suggests praying with Taliban is better than bombing

June 14, 2011
By

Anli Serfontein, ENInews, Jun.2, www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=4937

The former leader of Germany’s Protestant community, the Rev. Margot Kaessmann, says she believes that a suggestion to pray with the Taliban by candlelight is “a much better idea than bombing water tank lorries in Kunduz, ” she told a Bible study session at the Kirchentag, the lay church festival now underway here.

“We know that in the end peace can only grow and be achieved by slow, often painful and risky reconciliation processes in which the victims are heard and the perpetrators admit their guilt, ” she told about 5,000 participants in the event. Kaessmann, the first woman to lead the Evangelical Church in Germany, said that perhaps she is naive, but added that Jesus also was naive.

Kaessmann’s comments drew loud applause from the 5,000 attendees in the room in which she spoke as well as another 1,500 observers watching her comments on video screens outside. She also criticized NATO bombing in Libya, noting that the military actions don’t seem to be contributing to a peaceful resolution of that country’s political schism.

Read the complete article here.

Statement on Christian-Jewish Relations

May 30, 2011
By

Religious News Service, May 25, www.religionnews.com/index.php?/pressreleases/christian_center_releases_statement_on_christian_jewish_relations/

After collaborating and working with various Christian organizations, leaders, and scholars over the past three years, the leaders of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC) in Efrat and Jerusalem have released a statement of A Jewish Understanding of Christians and Christianity. CJCUC is the first Orthodox Jewish entity to engage in dialogue with the Christian world.

In partnership with The Witherspoon Institute in Princeton New Jersey, CJCUC recently publicized their scholarly work at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem and at Yale University on the topics of “Covenant & Mission” and “Hope & Responsibility in the 21st Century.” In addition, CJCUC has collaborated with scholars connected with the Hebraic Heritage Christian Center in Atlanta, GA, in discussing the issues of “Evangelization” and “Jewish Understanding of Christianity.”

CJCUC’s Founder Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin said, “This statement only represents the view of our center but should also be used as a catalyst for other orthodox Jews and Jewry worldwide to consider fostering relationships with Christian communities. Leaders within the Catholic and mainline Protestant churches as well as the non-denominational movements of Evangelical Christianity have become sincere friends of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. It is vital that we strengthen our relationship with them. We are certain that through these relational dialogues we will find far more which unites us than divides us.”

The complete statement can be read at  www.cjcuc.com.  A key paragraph states:

Jewish and Christian theologies are no longer engaged in a theological duel to the death and therefore Jews should not fear a sympathetic understanding of Christianity that is true to the Torah, Jewish thought and values. In today’s unprecedented reality of Christian support for the Jewish people, Jews should strive to work together with Christians toward the same spiritual goals of sacred history—universal morality, peace, and redemption under God—but under different and separate systems of commandments for each faith community and distinct theological beliefs.

Read the complete article here.