News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. October 3, 2001 [2001-283]
Tutu Academy launched to help develop African leadership
(ENI) Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu has launched an initiative that seeks to help develop leadership skills at all levels in African countries.
The new Desmond Tutu Leadership Academy, launched in Cape Town in early August, aims to find and educate leaders in fields such as community development, management, academia and politics. "This is not an elitist idea," said Zola Makosan, a program officer for the academy. "Among the most urgently needed leaders are those who come from historically disadvantaged groups like women and refugees." Many analysts are convinced that a leadership crisis is one of the greatest obstacles to development in Africa.
The academy is part of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre, launched in 2000. "In 2003 we aim to open a visitors' centre in Cape Town where people from all over the world can reflect on such issues as diversity, education and the need for scarred communities to live responsibly in peace," said Makosan.
Theologian proposes world conference of Muslims and Christians
(ENS) Theologian Jurgen Moltmann of Germany has proposed that a World Muslim-Christian Conference be held in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States-and he suggests that Pope John Paul II might be the right person to convene such a conference.
In an interview with an Italian newspaper, Moltmann said that the immense suffering caused by the September 11 attacks might help promote dialogue between the religions "because both Christianity as well as Islam have sufficiently strong currents willing to continue on this path." He said that the objective would be to support peace and "agree on a concrete step, in view of a new world policy."
"Terrorism must not be identified with the Muslim world, as it only affects a small part of it," Moltmann said. "We must help and support Muslims to defeat it from within. We Christians cannot do so from outside." He added, "We need a globalization of justice. Peace will only exist in the world if it is based on justice."
Muslim leaders meet with staff of National Council of Churches
(NCC) After a meeting with Muslim leaders in New York, National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar said, "We shared our repudiation of the attacks and of any who distort Islam, turning a religion of peace into a justification for murder." In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and the Pentagon, the NCC will hold regular consultations between Christian and Muslim leaders.
Following the September 26 meeting, participants agreed that a top priority would be to help major media producers demonstrate more sensitivity to Muslims and provide better information about Islam.
"Never has interfaith understanding and cooperation been more important than it is today," said Edgar. "The peace of our neighborhoods, and the true security of nations around the world, may well turn on our capacity to build communities of respect and to bear witness together for justice and peace."
Deploring attacks on Muslim individuals and institutions across America, Edgar said, "We will move forward with the Muslim community both to heal the wounds of the recent events and to work together for peace."
Religious riots in Nigeria leave hundreds dead
(ENI) Soldiers were needed to quell skirmishes in the central Nigerian city of Jos where ethnic and religious conflict has claimed hundreds of lives. Houses, churches and automobiles were burned and it is estimated that 300 people might have died in the clashes between Muslims and Christians in early September. Hospital officials suggested that the government casualty figures would have to be adjusted upward, perhaps by hundreds of more victims.
Tension was running high before the riots, in the wake of the appointment of a Muslim politician as local coordinator of a federal program to alleviate poverty. Christians saw the appointment in a predominantly Christian community as an attempt to deprive them of religious freedom. The spark that set off the riots, however, was the Muslim practice of barricading roads on Fridays, the Muslim holy day. A Christian woman attempted to cross a barricaded street and that led to a scuffle that spread to other parts of the city.
"We are not only citizens of one nation but also children of one God," scolded President Olusegun Obasanjo during a visit to Jos.
"Though tribe and tongue may differ, though religions may differ, in brotherhood we stand." The president argued that Christians and Muslims needed each other and that "there shall never be a time when our society shall be totally free from differences." Nigerians must resolve their differences without resorting to violence, he added.
Religion should not be used as a tool for violence, said Sultan Alhaji Maccido, the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims. "No religion will encourage segregation, discrimination and suppression," he said.
Christians in Pakistan fear reprisals in wake of military action
(ENI) With the prospect of military action by the United States in neighboring Afghanistan, the minority Christian community in Pakistan fears reprisals. "The situation is very tense," said Victor Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan. The NCCP issued a statement following an emergency meeting, urging the U.S. to "exercise restraint and prudence," fearing that an attack would put Pakistan's Christians in "real danger."
"From our experience, anti-Western protesters here always single out Christian targets to give vent to their anger," said Azariah. He urged Christians to avoid any provocation of Muslim fundamentalists by debating military options. "Whatever may be one's convictions, we need to be extremely careful these days," he said. An attack would be regarded by many as an insult to Islam, said church leaders, and Christianity would be regarded as a symbol of the West.
Gillespie receives Cross of St. Augustine from archbishop of Canterbury
(ENS) Judith Gillespie, former executive for world missions at the Episcopal Church Center and grants officer at Trinity Church Wall Street, received the Cross of St. Augustine from Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey on September 24.
"Each year I award the cross to a small number of individuals who have given long and exceptionally distinguished service to the Church of England or have contributed conspicuously to advancing relations with the churches of the Anglican Communion," said Carey in his citation.
Carey said that Gillespie's contribution to the global outreach of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion "cannot be exaggerated." He said that over the years Gillespie "built a solid reputation for reliability and mutual accountability amongst international partners." Through a series of consultations with international partners, "she became an apostle of transparency, helping churches to put all their business on the table so as to be able to collaboratively plan and take counsel for the future."
Carey concluded his citation by telling Gillespie that "your leadership by forthright example has strengthened the bonds that make up so much of our global family."