Jerusalem, 29 May (ENI)--A US group representing six faith communities who spent 13 days visiting Israel and the Palestinian Territories seeking to create interfaith dialogue say they learned much from working with one another in such a way for the first time. The 14 students and five clergy from the Faith Council at Duke University in Durham in the state of South Carolina, included Bahais, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims. They were in the Holy Land from 5 to 18 May.

"This was the first time we have worked with such a multi-faith group," said Rabbi Ron Kronish, director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council of the Center for Interreligious Encounter with Israel, which helped facilitate the trip. "It is a fascinating mutual exchange." The group travelled to religious sites of four faiths present in the Holy Land. They visited the Western Wall. The retaining wall there is the only remaining part of the biblical Temple Mount, the holiest site for Judaism, and it is where Haram a-Sharif, the holy Muslim Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque are located.

The group also visited Christian churches in Jerusalem, Galilee and Bethlehem and went to the Bahai World Centre which is located in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. From there they went on to the nearby holy Shrine of Bahji. People who met the group were surprised when they realised the number of religions they collectively represented, said Jonathon Cross, an undergraduate majoring in Arabic and religion, who grew up as a non-denominational Christian. "They were surprised that our diverse religious identities did not affect our relationships. It made me realise not to take our friendships for granted," said Cross.

The group met with local religious leaders, members of religious communities, as well as academics. They were present for Israeli independence day celebrations and visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and saw the Israeli separation barrier in Bethlehem. The barrier cuts through Palestinian territories, and Israelis have said it has been built to prevent suicide bombers entering Israel. Many Palestinians view it as a means of encroachment by Israel or a collective punishment for action by militants against Israel. Part of the vision of the Faith Council is to sponsor interfaith pilgrimages to places of religious conflict, said a council coordinator, Emily Wilson, a Mennonite.

"We all have a very different perspective on religious culture … and also the political situation," said Wilson. "It is interesting to see the reactions and to be able to openly talk about them," she said. "I've seen our group build relationships to the point where we can really be honest and open with each other … You don't usually get inter-faith groups with people not of the Abrahamic faiths [Christianity, Islam and Judaism]." Compared to the Buddhist tradition of non-violence as exemplified by the Dalai Lama and Tibet, there is "a lot of action" in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, noted Buddhist James Obordo Ong, a Duke philosophy graduate student originally from the Philippines and the Buddhist representative on the Faith Council. "One of the central principles of Buddhism is self-knowledge," said Obordo Ong. "We do think that when we meditate we are making a change in the world though it is not visual," he said. "It helps us understand better what we can change." [565 words]

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London, 21 May (ENI)--Some British religious leaders have criticised a new law that will allow scientists to conduct research on diseases such as Altzheimers and Parkinsons by using hybrid embryos that combine human and animal DNA, after the UK parliament rejected a ban on such a procedure. An amendment proposing a ban was substantially defeated on 20 May by members of parliament during two days of debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Lawmakers also rejected a proposal to cut the upper time limit for abortions from 24 to 22 weeks, and for doctors to consider the need for a "father and mother" before allowing IVF treatment to lesbian couples.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, who led a campaign against the new law, told Britain's Channel 4 TV, "It is strange that a government should pass a law denying a child the right to a named father. The cement of society is the family, and the presence of a father and mother." The cardinal had earlier called for the establishment of a bioethics commission of experts to study all the implications of embryo research. He said that Britain as a whole was becoming aware that 200 000 abortions a year was not only sad but also very wrong.

Ian Lucas, co-ordinator for pro-life groups demonstrating outside Parliament, said lawmakers had voted against the wishes of three quarters of the population, who he asserted wanted a reduction in the time limit for abortions. Dr Malcom Brown, director of Mission and Public Affairs for the (Anglican) Church of England, said, "Any erosion of the unique moral status of the human embryo opens the door – if only a crack – at the top of a 'slippery slope' to treating human beings as less than ends in themselves."

Mohammed Shafiq, director of the Ramadhan Foundation, a British Muslim youth organization, said, "I am horrified that the rate of abortions has increased drastically to levels not seen before. The foundation urges MPs to vote against it and protect human life. We respect pro-abortion views but strongly disagree with them on the basic principle of our faith that human life is sacred and should be protected." The proposed law places a responsibility on the research community, as well as those who draw up the regulatory frameworks, to keep the boundary of 14 days for the use of embryos for research purposes, and other ethical restraints on the use of embryos.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, made no immediate comment on the vote, though he had written in the Daily Mail newspaper before the vote that he thought the measures relating to non-reproductive cloning could open the way to a less respectful attitude to life, and to a person being treated primarily as a tool to another's ends. In an article in Britain's The Observer newspaper, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is a member of the Church of Scotland, described research using animal-human hybrid embryos as an "inherently moral endeavour" that could save millions of lives.

"Should children who face death or critical illness find new hope in scientific advances that would allow their new brother or sister to be not just a blessing to their family but also a saviour sibling to them? And should people be able to approach IVF clinics without fear of discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation? My answer to those questions is an unequivocal 'Yes'," Brown said. [592 words]

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Shillong, India, 12 May (ENI)--The National Council of Churches in India has joined the battle to turn green by calling for Christians to mobilise in the world's second most populous nation, and to join in the fight against global warming. "We urge all member churches to initiate on war footing green parish programmes, plastic-free church campuses, biological farming," exhorted the closing message from the once every four years assembly of the churches in India during its 1-5 May gathering at Shillong in northeastern India.

"We may not be as much a party to global warming as the developed world. But, we too are contributing our part to it," said Methodist Bishop Taranath S. Sagar, who was elected president of the NCCI during the assembly, for a four year term. Addressing a news conference, Bishop Sagar, who is based in the southern city of Bangalore, said, "It's time for the churches in India to take up environmental issues seriously."

Sagar told Ecumenical News International, "Though the churches stand united at national level, this unity is not reflected in action at regional or local level. Our challenge is to foster greater collaboration and unity at local congregation level." Acknowledging global warming as "a human sin" against nature, the national forum of 30 Orthodox and Protestant churches in India said that Christians have a duty "to make our presence a healing and transforming one".

To realise its goal, the church council urged its members to promote an effective "greening of faith" at the congregational level, and to take steps to encourage and support sustainable farming at a time when agricultural lands are being converted into special economic zones due to rapid industrialisation. Regular crop failures due to drought, the excessive use of pesticides and hybrid seeds have driven thousands of farmers into debt traps, triggering in many cases suicides and forcing the federal government earlier this year to write off US$15 billion in loans to small and marginal farmers.

Environment concerns and global warming was one of five themes at the church assembly attended by 270 delegates from across the country. [360 words]

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Nairobi, 9 May (ENI)--The roots of an impending global food crisis that has led to soaring prices for basic foodstuffs are to be found as much in political as in economic factors, says a Kenyan academic who belongs to a global church environmental network. "The rise in price is not only because of decline in supply," said Professor Jesse Mugambi, who teaches religious studies and philosophy at the University of Nairobi. "It is artificially imposed by rises in fuel costs and other constraints more political than economic."

Mugambi was interviewed by Ecumenical News International after the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development on 5 May began a two-week meeting in New York. The commission is discussing issues "critical for increasing the global food supply in a manner that addresses concerns regarding poverty, hunger and the environment". Mugambi said there could be no short-term solution to a long-term problem. "The long-term solution is equity, not charity," said Mugambi, a member of a World Council of Churches' working group on climate change. "Equity is based on long-term investment."

The UN meeting is taking place against a background of price hikes for basic food commodities that have sparked unrest and riots in many countries around the world. "Food prices have soared, without an improvement in personal and family income," noted Mugambi. He said that current international economic and agricultural policies discourage Africa from growing staple foods in favour of cash crops.

The UN says challenges in agriculture and rural development are made more urgent by increased land degradation, drought and desertification, particularly in Africa. This has reduced soil fertility and food production, causing increasing hardships to rural populations. "Africa is the only continent which produces what it does not consume, and consumes what it does not produce," Mugambi told ENI. "Tropical Africa has some of the best soils for agricultural production in the world," he said. "But why should those soils be used for the production of non-staple agricultural commodities, while some of its people go hungry every day?"

Some church leaders believe climate change, the production of bio-fuels and rising energy costs are factors leading to the food crisis. In addition, said Roman Catholic Archbishop Boniface Lele of Mombasa, "People are moving to towns, meaning there are fewer farmers. Working on farms is less prestigious, compared to the lure of towns." [400 words]

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Shillong, India, 2 May (ENI)--Indian church leaders attending a once-every-four-years meeting of the National Council of Churches in India in Shillong have spoken out against what they describe as the growing commercialisation of the Christian faith. "Churches too are caught in the trap of seeing people primarily as individual customers, and the Christian faith becomes a product to be marketed," lamented Bishop Dinesh Kumar Sahu, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in India, a grouping of Orthodox and Protestant churches.

"Today's phenomenon expresses itself in the form of an unholy alliance between 'evangelism' and 'consumerism'," rued Bishop Sahu of the Church of North India. He was speaking on 2 May, the second day of the council's assembly that has as its theme, "Together in mission: empowering local congregations". Subu asserted, "In the marketplace of religious ideas and persuasion, free and competitive denominationalism contradicts the basis of being a Church." He spoke after a colourful opening ceremony that began with a parade by hundreds of local Christians in traditional costumes through the streets of Shillong, the capital of India's northeastern Meghalaya state to the Jaiaw Presbyterian Church. More than 270 delegates are attending the 1-5 May assembly in the city, which is tucked away in the foothills of the Himalayas and surrounded by Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar) and China.

"The sellers of the prosperity gospel are doing great disservice by selling the Gospel to those who seek success in their business, profession and student examinations," decried Kunchala Rajaratnam, a former NCCI president, on 1 May in a keynote address. Besides this "sacred commercialisation", Rajaratnam asserted, "we also have rampant secular commercialisation of the administration and elections of the Church." He asserted that bribes were being paid for appointments in church institutions.

Acknowledging that not all churches were involved, Rajaratnam, who is director emeritus of the Chennai-based Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, noted that by indulging in such corrupt practices, churches "were forfeiting the moral right to proclaim the Gospel, thus invalidating the legal rights we possess". With poverty being the "bane of Indian society", Rajaratnam urged the churches to be "models of development" for the government and civil society. In his address to the assembly in the city known for its churches, Bishop Jeyapaul David, the NCCI president, also made critical comments about any evangelisation that did not respect and empower local congregations.

"Many people talk about making disciples without integrating them into a worshipping community called Church," noted David, who heads the Thirunelveli diocese of the Church of South India. "We hear about crusades being conducted across the country challenging the people to accept Christ as their saviour. But, when they respond and turn to Christ they are not integrated into a congregation." [460 words]

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