| Books on faith and politics from the Ekklesia bookshop |
God's Politics: Why the American Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis here
The Subversive Manifesto: Lifting the Lid on God's Political Agenda
by Jonathan Bartley here
Faith and Politics After Christendom: The Church as a Movement for Anarchy
by Jonathan Bartley here
The Politics of Jesus (Revised Edition) by John Howard Yoder here
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| Our Partners
Ekklesia is an independent member of the Root and Branch Network which includes the following organisations |
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| Gene Stoltzfus Tour |
Pioneering Christian peace activist and organizer Gene Stoltzfus is in Britain and Ireland speaking about nonviolent intervention in situations of conflict and injustice. You can hear him at the following places:
22 January, 6:30pm - Peacemaking and Anger
St. Ethelburga's, 78, Bishopsgate, LONDON, EC2N 4AG,
Tel: 020 7496 1610
23 January, 6:30pm - Does Nonviolence Work?
Friends' Meeting House, Hill Street, COVENTRY, CV1 4AN, Tel: 024 7667 8735
24 January, 9:30am - A Peacemaking Vision: a Seminar on Realities and Risks
London Mennonite Centre, 14 Shepherds Hill, LONDON, N6 5AQ,
Tel: 0845 450 0214
25 January, 8:15pm - Case Study - Peacemakers in the Midst of War: Iraq
Cordner Hall, Cooke Centenary Church, BELFAST, BT7 2FW,
email: reconsec at tcd.ie
26 January, 7:00pm - Does Nonviolence work in this Century?
Bishop Lloyd's Palace, 51-53 Watergate Row, CHESTER, CH1 2LE,
Tel: 0759 003 1388
27 January, 7:00pm - Does Nonviolence work in this Century?
Friends' Meeting House, Dean Street, BANGOR,
email: mail at bangorpeace.co.uk
28 January, 7:00pm - Following the Call to Peacemaking: The Experience of Christian Peacemaker Teams
Evesham Methodist Church, Bridge St, WR11 4SF EVESHAM,
email: gematthews at tiscali.co.uk
29 January, 7:00pm - Case Study: Peacemakers in the Midst of War - Iraq
Quaker Meeting House Bean street, HULL, HU3 2PR,
tel: 079 5292 8829
30 January, 7:30pm - Burns' Night: Iraq, A Case Study in Peacemaking
The Christian Centre, Glebe Street, FALKIRK,
Tel: 013 2471 6231
31 January, 2:00pm - Bending Our Lives to Active Peacemaking
Bull Street Meeting House, 40 Bull Street, BIRMINGHAM, B4 6AF,
email:forbesbarbarae at yahoo.co.uk
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| Issue: # 28 |
23 January 2009 |
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It seems as if all news and comment leads back to Barack Obama at the moment! The outburst of global hope and celebration that accompanied the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States on 20 January 2009 is a sign of how desperate many people are for change - on war and terror, the economy, climate and much more. Our features this week look at Obama's potential impact: the opening up of a fresh vision based on cooperation rather than conflict, and the challenge to renew democratic possibilities from the ground-up in the face of corroded institutions and discourses. That too is the theme of the event we are promoting: February's important Convention on Modern Liberty, which Ekklesia is backing and which we will be participating in with a seminar on 'Faiths and Freedoms' featuring two of our associates and a leading Muslim commentator. Liberty is also the watchword of the British legal action group Reprieve, whose casework on Guantanamo Bay and other abuses of state power we highlight in our research focus, along with Amnesty's appeal for corroborative action from the UK. There are strong resonances in this for people of faith and good will. Our featured quotes include Barack Obama's inaugural affirmation of a society embracing a patchwork of conviction - for the first time, he mentioned non-believers and a non-Abrahamic faith, and quoted both the New Testament and Tom Paine. Meanwhile (Thinking in Action), Christian Aid is encouraging supporters to share their hopes with the new president, poet Elizabeth Alexander punctures 'business as usual' by asking, "What if the mightiest word is love?", Bishop Gene Robinson's invocation is a powerful appeal for justice, and evangelical Sri Lankan theologian discusses Subverting Global Myths in our book choice. Big thinking for a momentous week. |
| Ekklesia works on a not-for-profit basis, and deliberately maintains its independence from large institutions and their funding. If you value this bulletin please consider making a donation to keep it going and support Ekklesia's work. You can do it through PayPal here |
| Obama and a fresh dynamic in world affairs |
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By Gene Stoltzfus
As we have tragically seen in Gaza, the thinking of the past has not brought peace to the Middle East or the USA. Something new is needed says the founder and emeritus director of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), currently touring Britain and Ireland , in an open letter to the new American president. As far as people of faith are concerned, the Obama era needs to be built on hopeful prayer and action for justice. Read the full article here |
| Re-investing democracy with hope |
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By Simon Barrow
In spite of the great challenges he will face, there is something genuine about Barack Obama's desire to bring governance and the people closer together. This is something we need to emulate in Britain, where cynicism is eroding both social hope and democratic possibility.
Read the full article here |
| Quota |
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Sayings from the week and wisdom from the tradition
"[O]ur patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers."
- Barack Obama, inauguration speech.
"What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to pre-empt grievance."
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| The week that was |
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 Your sixty second roundup
It was the week of Barrack Obama's Inauguration, and churches made a number of calls on the new US President. Pope Benedict XVI was among the wide range of religious leaders sending messages of welcome and blessing, but the USA's premium cable channel expressed regret for not broadcasting an invocation by openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson for the televised Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.
At a service attended by Barack Obama after his inauguration, the president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), called on him to choose compassion, faithfulness and love over vengefulness, anger and fear. Churches for Middle East Peace asked him to fulfil his recent statements to engage in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts from day one. Poverty, violence and war were among the challenges that member churches of the World Council of Churches identified.
In the UK Amnesty called on the government to help Obama shut Guantanamo and a senior black Anglican said the Anglican Communion should grasp the climate of change signalled by Obama's ascendancy.
Following the Gaza ceasefire, work began to begin to try and repair the damage. Gaza is 'full of blood and grief' said one Anglican hospital director. UK aid agencies launched a joint appeal for the Gaza humanitarian crisis
It was the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, but leaders of the main churches in the UK said that unity was 'unrealistic' and being replaced by local action. Christian leaders and thinkers did come together though at Methodist Church House in London to talk about how the Churches could make a positive contribution to tackling the economic crisis. But the question of who the new Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church should be has produced heated debates about political and religious power.
Churches began to gear up for this year's eco-themed Education Sunday, with church youth groups and schools being encouraged to test out their green credentials - from how they travel to school to their packed lunch habits. On the international scene, theologians gathered in Brazil to tackle environmental crisis ahead of next week's World Social Forum. For more on all these and other stories our News Briefing (http://ekklesia.co.uk/content/news/news.shtml) contains the full archive of daily UK and international news, including all those above, plus features and columns. The page also tells you how you can get Ekklesia's running news on your web site in seconds.
If you value this service please support Ekklesia's news production through PayPal here |
| The week ahead |
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Next week's agenda
25 Jan - EU foreign ministers meet representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Palestinian National Authority in Brussels
25 Jan - Presidential election Bangladesh
26-29 Jan - Archbishops Council of Russian Orthodox Church meets to elect candidates for Patriarch
26 Jan - World Social Forum marks Global Call for Action
26-27 - UN, National Ministers, and experts Plan for 'Food Security for All' in Madrid
26 - EU foreign ministers discuss taking Guantanamo prisoners, in Brussels
26 Jan - Somali Parliament elects new president
27 Jan - Holocaust Memorial Day
27 Jan - International Development Select Committee takes evidence on Sustainable Development in a Changing Climate from Christian Aid and Tearfund
27 Jan - Scottish parliament's standards committee meets to discuss statements by First Minister Alex Fergusson concerning £120,000 funding of Scottish inter-faith council
28 Jan - 1st Feb - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, opened by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
28 Jan - Report on dealing with 35 years of conflict in Northern Ireland led by former Church of Ireland Primate Robin Eames, published in Belfast.
31 Jan - Peace talks between DR Congo government and Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP)
31 Jan - Iraq: Provincial elections in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces
31 Jan - Poverty & Homelessness Action Week begins
1 Feb - Homelessness Sunday
1-3 Feb - African Union Summit of heads of state and government held in Addis Ababa
1 Feb - New Patriach of Russian Orthodox church enthroned
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| Ekklesia has launched a new subscription service giving the inside track on the news agenda for the coming weeks. Suitable for church leaders, campaign groups, local government and anyone working in or with the media, it is already taken by the Times newspaper and the BBC. Find out more here |
| Research Focus |
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Guantanamo and beyond
The legal rights campaign Reprieve has undertaken in-depth research not just on Guantanamo Bay, which the Obama administration is now pledged to close, and which Amnesty argues must elicit an appropriate response from the UK. It also takes up cases of prisoners facing execution at the hands of the state in the conventional criminal justice system, or those subject to imprisonment outside the reach of the law in the 'war on terror.'
Reprieve concentrates on cases with the potential to have a wider impact on law or policy. Its public casework documentation is here |
 Sign up to Amnesty International's Stop Torture campaign here |
| Media and web debate |
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 Ekklesia in the news this week
Ekklesia's co-director Jonathan Bartley was part of the panel last Sunday on BBC 1's The Big Questions, looking at, amongst other things, the Inauguration of Barack Obama and whether there might soon be a black Prime Minister in the UK. On Sunday evening he was in Michael Portillo's Christianity: A History, on Channel 4, discussing the impact of Constantine.
Ekklesia works on a not-for-profit basis. Please support Ekklesia's work with the press and other media by donating to support its work, through PayPal here |
| Event: The Convention on Modern Liberty |
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Taking place on Saturday 28 February at the Institute of Education in London, the Convention is a large, high-profile, wide-ranging event addressing the future of basic freedoms and rights in the UK in the light of counter-terrorism measures, financial breakdown and 'the database state. Full information and registration details are here
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| Thinking in Action |
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Envisioning the Obama agenda
UK-based international development agency Christian Aid, which is involved in detailed research and advocacy, as well as relief and long-term development, is in contact with the new Obama administration in the US on three key issues: the Middle East, climate change, and corporate taxation and the poor. But it is also encouraging supporters to add to the 'wish list' and will be forwarding these comments to the White House.
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Reading Allowed |
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 Subverting Global Myths: Theology and the Public Issues Shaping Our World by Vinoth Ramachandra
In his new book, the radical evangelical Sri Lankan theologian takes issue with six areas of contemporary global discourse - terrorism, religious violence, human rights, multiculturalism, science and post-colonialism. These are areas where powerful myths energise and mobilise considerable public funding and influence contemporary debate, he says.
The book is aimed at thoughtful, critical readers who are concerned about the public issues that shape our increasingly interconnected and interdependent world.
SPCK 2008, 304pp., £12.99
For more information and to order through Ekklesia click here | |
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