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United Nations

Will Ukraine work with the UN on Draft Law 8371?

By Webmaster on November 20, 2023 Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On November 17, Ilze Brands Kehris, who is the United Nations’ Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, made a presentation at a session of the Security Council which was discussing the issue of freedom of religion in Ukraine. The complete text of her presentation can be read in English at (link). Aside from the High Commissioner and the Deputy High Commissioner, Ms. Brands Kehris is the highest official of the United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). (link) In her presentation, Ms Brands Kehris was highly critical of certain actions by Russia against churches in the…

People gather in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. Russia is pressing its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital after unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Bradley Nassif, Orthodox theologian, on why Americans should care about Ukraine

By Webmaster on February 25, 2022 Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Religion News Service The Orthodox theologian who once taught at an evangelical school warns that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should worry Americans who care about religious freedom. By Bob Smietana (RNS) — The news that Russian troops had invaded Ukraine was of deep concern for Bradley Nassif, a theologian and expert on Orthodox-evangelical dialogue who spent years as a tenured professor of religion at an evangelical university. The status of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has long been a source of tension. While Ukraine is home to millions of Orthodox Christians, they are divided in loyalties, with ties to rival leaders in…

Assembly of Bishops Signs on to Amicus Brief Supporting the Freedom of Religion in the USA

By Webmaster on September 21, 2021 Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America agrees with longstanding United States Supreme Court precedent that the government should not: (a) interfere with the operations and decisions of churches; or (b) attempt to interpret the internal rules and practices of churches. Along with other Christian groups, the Assembly of Bishops has joined an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case of Trustees of The New Life in Christ Church v. City of Fredericksburg, Virginia. In this case, a city…

The Day of Mourning: Grieving the Conversion of Hagia Sophia (VIDEO)

By Webmaster on July 24, 2020 Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago Hagia Sophia & Religious Freedom: A Panel Discussion On this Day of Mourning over the decision by the Turkish Government to convert the Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque, let us remember and remain resolved. Please find time to watch a panel discussion organized by the Metropolis of Chicago that ranges from the history of the Hagia Sophia, religious freedom in Turkey and what you can do to make a difference. PANELISTS INCLUDE Dr. Aykan Erdemir Former member of the Turkish parliament and senior director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation…

U.S. Ambassador for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback with His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. (Photo by Ecumenical Patriarchate/ Nikos Manginas)

U.S. Ambassador for Religious Freedom Visits Patriarch Bartholomew

By Webmaster on January 23, 2020 Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: The National Herald CONSTANTINOPLE – United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback visited the seat of Ecumenical Patriarchate and met with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Ambassador Sam Brownback, who had visited earlier the Holy Trinity Monastery, which houses the historic Theological School of Halki discussed with the Ecumenical Patriarch issues regarding the ministry of the Mother Church of Constantinople, both locally and internationally, the Greek Diaspora, and the status of Christians in Turkey. The Ecumenical Patriarch, in turn, made reference to his future visit to the United States this coming May and his planned meeting with…

Fate of Ukrainian Church in Istanbul meeting between Kirill and Bartholomew

By Webmaster on August 29, 2018 Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: Asia News by Vladimir Rozanskij The subject is the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and that of Macedonia. But uncertainties remain that the meeting will take place after contradictory signals from the Moscow Patriarchate. Moscow (AsiaNews) – The Orthodox world is waiting with bated breath for confirmation of the announced visit of the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundjaev) to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew (Archontonis), scheduled for August 31 in Istanbul. The meeting should clarify the question of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which will be officially discussed at the Synod of the Church of…

European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN GREECE?

By Webmaster on June 5, 2018 Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: Public Orthodoxy Originally published on May 10, 2018. by Effie Fokas The Western Thrace region of Greece exists as an anomaly in Europe for the prevalence of sharia courts over secular courts on matters related to family law. This anomaly is left over from a population exchange between Greece and Turkey and the terms set out in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The governance of sharia in the region (specifically, for interference in the selection of Muftis) has been the subject of several cases against the state of Greece in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), cases in which…

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ADVOCATES CALL FOR RELEASE OF ERITREAN ORTHODOX PATRIARCH, HOSING DOWN REPORTS OF RECONCILIATION

By Webmaster on August 12, 2016 Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: SIGHT Magazine David Adams The continued detention of Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church Patriarch Abune Antonios is a “clear indictation” of the Eritrean Government’s “obsessive determination to monitor, suppress and control every religious community”, according to the chief executive of UK-based religious freedom advocacy Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Calling for his “unconditional release and reinstatement”, Mervyn Thomas this week hosed down reports that patriarch, who has been held incommunicado under house arrest since January, 2006, had apologised to the church synod and spoken positively of the government’s role in reconciling him with members of the church synod which had forced him from…

E.J. Dionne: Questioning our questions[What holiness needs to look like in the 21st century]

By Webmaster on December 31, 2014 Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: The Washington Post By E.J. Dionne Jr. Opinion writer It is a mark of our pluralistic moment that I learned of an old joke among rabbis from the writings of a great Christian scholar, Jaroslav Pelikan. In his book “Jesus Through the Centuries,” Pelikan tells the story of a rabbi who is challenged by one of his pupils: “Why is it that you rabbis so often put your teaching in the form of a question?” To which the rabbi replies: “So what’s wrong with a question?” Trying to imagine what will matter in a new year is daunting, but…

Prince Charles tells Armenian church of his heartbreak over attacks on Middle Eastern Christians

By Webmaster on November 21, 2014 Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: The Tablet by James Roberts The Prince of Wales this week followed up his impassioned plea for religious freedom at the 4 November launch of an Aid to the Church in the Need report on persecution, with a visit to St Yeghichè’s Armenian church in South Kensington, London. April next year marks the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the genocide by the Ottoman Government against the Armenian population, in which 1.5 million were killed. Some of those who escaped fled to Syria, and the visit by the Prince of Wales comes as the descendants of those who fled…

Statement on 2014 U.S. Commission’s Report on International Religious Freedom – Report Designates Turkey to a “Tier Two” Country

By Webmaster on May 8, 2014 Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories

Source: American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association WASHINGTON, DC – Anthony Kouzounis, supreme president of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA), the largest and oldest membership-based association for the nation’s millions of American citizens of Greek heritage and Philhellenes, issued the following statement on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s release of its 2014 Annual Report on April 30: “The return of Turkey’s designation to ‘Tier Two’ country status rectifies to some extent the Commission’s egregious and disappointing designation last year that significantly upgraded Turkey to a country that simply needed to be ‘monitored.’ “The Commission’s 2014 report properly documents many…

U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf

Pledge of Solidarity for Egyptian, Iraqi, and Syrian Christians and Other Small Religious Communities

By Webmaster on May 7, 2014 Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories, Uncategorized

Source: Congressman Frank Wolf UPDATED MEDIA ADVISORY AMERICAN CHRISTIAN LEADERS “PLEDGE” TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH IMPERILED CHRISTIAN AND OTHER RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN EGYPT, SYRIA AND IRAQ Press Conference 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 7, 2014 234 Cannon House Office Building Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), co-chairs of the bipartisan Religious Minorities in the Middle East Caucus, will host a press conference at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 7 on Capitol Hill featuring several prominent American Christian leaders who will be releasing a Pledge of Solidarity & Call to Action on behalf of Christians and other religious…

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Browsing: religious freedom