Three male widowers were last Sunday empowered by the men's fellowship of the Cathedral Church of St. Batholomew, Kubwa, with the sum of N3.5million to assist them in taking care of their families.

The President of the fellowship, Innocent Ekeopara, who spoke to our reporter, said the gesture is in line with the organisation's mandate to empathise with members, who are faced with financial challenges.

He said the assumption that some men who lost their wives would not find it difficult in taking up the family responsibilities might be wrong especially when the woman was the bread winner before her demise.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Nigeria • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • Women • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

All is now set for the commissioning and dedication of a new massive church building adjudged as the biggest Anglican Church in Lagos.

The new building, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Kirikiri Industrial Estate Lagos which was begun in July 2005, has cost over N400 million upon completion. It will be dedicated on Sunday, June 23, this year.

Archdeacon of cum Vicar of the church, the Venerable Levi Opara, who disclosed this in a statement made available to Sunday Mirror yesterday, said commendation must be given to the untiring efforts of the Bishop of Lagos and Dean Emeritus of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. (Dr) Ephraim Ademowo, for stirring up contributions from well-meaning Nigerians and church members.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Nigeria • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

Thousands of pilgrims from Zimbabwe and beyond are expected to gather in Harare next week to commemorate the life of Bernard Mizeki, a lay African catechist and missionary martyred in 1896.

The celebrations, between 14 – 16 June, will be the first ones held at the martyr’s shrine in more than five years. Previously Anglican pilgrims had been barred from the site by excommunicated former bishop Nolbert Kunonga.

Bishop of Harare the Rt Revd Chad Gandiya told ACNS, “After having been in exile for five years and failing to host these celebrations at the shrine, this years’ celebrations are indeed special and the theme God is faithful could not be more timely.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Zimbabwe

Watch it all, from a speech hosted by Christian Solidarity International (CSI).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Middle East • * Religion News & Commentary • Inter-Faith Relations • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Vice President Kiwanuka Ssekandi has told African churches to work with governments to ensure socio-economic transformation of Africa by placing emphasis on integration and unity of African people.

He made it clear that for the continent’s states to handle poverty, churches need to join governments in that fight.

“Government, through various interventions, is empowering every household to produce not only for subsistence, but have surplus for sale,” said the VP.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Poverty • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Kenya • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The leader of Kenya’s Anglican Church has reprimanded the country’s parliamentarians for demanding a pay increase 100 times the minimum wage.

In a statement, Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya and Bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese the Most Revd Dr Eliud Wabukala expressed his disappointment over the MPs’ demands. He said, “We are aggrieved that MPs on both sides of the house found common ground to overwhelmingly vote for the salary increment, yet positions on national priorities like security, health, education and poverty alleviation are not assured of such prompt response.

“The MPs’ move to determine their pay is unconstitutional and is a direct conflict of interest,” said the Archbishop. “We urge [them] to pursue dialogue with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission as opposed to [engaging in such] rebellious acts as attempting to repeal acts of parliament to work in their favour.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Kenya • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Kenya • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

"The church was really quite judgmental in the early part of HIV and AIDS," [the Rev. Pukuta] Mwanza explained. "It was the source of stigma and discrimination because without sufficient information about HIV and AIDS, initially it was perceived as being solely linked to promiscuity, sinful behavior and so on."

By the late 1980s, though, the church started to change its message and become "a very strong contributor to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS – caring for the people who had AIDS and for orphans," Mwanza said. "In fact, some of the best practices that have been used in this country are those that the church has been able to adopt, such as home-based care system.

"The church," he added, "...(is) now much more caring, more loving."

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Zambia • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Prayers are underway at Namugongo as thousands of Christians commemorate the day the Uganda Martyrs were killed some 127 years ago.

The martyrs who refused to reject their faith in Jesus Christ were killed on the orders of Kabaka Mwanga in 1886.

Read it all (and what a picture!).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Uganda • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Uganda

Paying for a taxi ride using your mobile phone is easier in Nairobi than it is in New York, thanks to Kenya’s world-leading mobile-money system, M-PESA. Launched in 2007 by Safaricom, the country’s largest mobile-network operator, it is now used by over 17m Kenyans, equivalent to more than two-thirds of the adult population; around 25% of the country’s gross national product flows through it. M-PESA lets people transfer cash using their phones, and is by far the most successful scheme of its type on earth. Why does Kenya lead the world in mobile money?

M-PESA was originally designed as a system to allow microfinance-loan repayments to be made by phone, reducing the costs associated with handling cash and thus making possible lower interest rates. But after pilot testing it was broadened to become a general money-transfer scheme. Once you have signed up, you pay money into the system by handing cash to one of Safaricom’s 40,000 agents (typically in a corner shop selling airtime), who credits the money to your M-PESA account. You withdraw money by visiting another agent, who checks that you have sufficient funds before debiting your account and handing over the cash. You can also transfer money to others using a menu on your phone. Cash can thus be sent one place to another more quickly, safely and easily than taking bundles of in person, or asking others to carry it for you. This is particularly useful in a country where many workers in cities send money back home to their families in rural villages. Electronic transfers save people time, freeing them to do other, more productive things instead.

Dozens of mobile-money systems have been launched, so why has Kenya’s been the most successful?

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Kenya

Nigeria's military has imposed a 24-hour curfew in parts of the north-eastern city of Maiduguri as its offensive against militants continues.

A statement named 11 areas of the city where people must remain inside their homes until further notice.

Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, has been an important base for Boko Haram Islamist militants.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

The number of Catholic priests in Africa and Asia has shot up over the past decade while decreasing in Europe, mirroring trends in the numbers of Catholic faithful that helped lead to the election of Pope Francis as the first non-European pope in over a millennium.

The Vatican on Monday released statistics on the state of the Catholic Church in the world, showing a 39.5 percent increase in the number of priests in Africa and a 32 percent hike in Asia from 2001 to 2011. The number of priests in Europe fell by 9 percent, while remaining stable in the Americas. Worldwide, priest numbers were up 2.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of Catholics overall — or those who have been baptized — rose from 1.196 billion in 2010 to 1.214 billion in 2011. Given the world's population increase, though, the overall proportion of Catholics remained essentially unchanged at 17.5 percent.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Asia • Europe • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Spring may have sprung, but not all economists are sprightly about the outlook for the global economy.

In fact, as a Toronto audience heard Wednesday morning, the risk of a recession in Canada is “higher than normal,” the U.S. is set for “unspectacular” growth, Europe is poised for another downturn and even the BRIC countries will not be the economic drivers they had been in the past decade.

Those are the views of one of the more Eeyore-ish research firms around: London-based Capital Economics, whose conference Wednesday was entitled: “Is the world on the road to recovery?” (The answer: Sort of. But it will be a “long and fairly bumpy” road, one in which Europe is in danger of veering off).

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * International News & Commentary • Africa • America/U.S.A. • Asia • Canada • England / UK • Europe

Gunmen believed to be members of the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group yesterday killed the Rev. Faye Pama Musa, secretary of the Borno state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). He was 47.

The gunmen reportedly followed the long-time Christian leader from his church building, where he was holding an evening Bible study, to his house in the Government Reservation Area in Maiduguri, and shot him dead there, said the Rev. Titus Dama Pona, chairman of CAN’s Borno chapter.

“Rev. Faye Pama was killed last light,” Pona said this morning by phone from Maiduguri, the state capital. “I am right now with his family, and they are still consulting on what next to do.”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

O God, steadfast in the midst of persecution, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: As the martyrs of the Sudan refused to abandon Christ even in the face of torture and death, and so by their sacrifice brought forth a plenteous harvest, may we, too, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan

The Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Nicholas Okoh, on Monday opposed the call for emergency rule in parts of the country affected by armed conflict.

Mr. Okoh said this in Abuja at a press conference on the forthcoming 2013 Synod session of the Abuja Diocese of the Anglican Communion.

He said that government should rather support a national dialogue by various interest groups to address the myriad of problems militating against the country's quest for socio-economic development.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Nigeria • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Set in a garden-like enclosure in a rough section of Tunis sits a really beautiful Anglican Church – St. George’s. Some of the people buried in its cemetery died more than 250 years ago, and its congregation today numbers around 300.

But don’t think this is some colonial outpost where English-speaking ex-pats sip tea or sherry after Matins. This is a vibrant congregation of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, many of whom are Arab-speaking or come from Sub-Sahara Africa. The Arab-speakers are converts – mainly young. The Africans are bank workers from nations far to the South. Services are in both English and Arabic.

On a recent visit to Charleston Archbishop Mouneer Anis waxed eloquent about his vision, and that of the people of this lonely outpost in the middle of Muslim North Africa. They are dreaming of a vibrant center of theology, community outreach and hospitality rising in the very land that produced St. Augustine in the 4th and 5th Century.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * International News & Commentary • Africa • * Theology

Responding to Carson’s testimony at a House Subcommittee on Africa hearing in July 2012, Subcommittee Chairman, U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), remonstrated that poverty alone does not drive people to violence. And in any case, Boko Haram is well funded by outside Islamists. “Heavy machine guns” and “buses and pickup trucks mounted with machine guns” are just the latest examples to show that Boko Haram is not just a motley crew of impoverished, marginalized local Muslims. In February 2013 it was revealed that hundreds of Boko Haram members had trained for months in terrorist camps in northern Mali with the local “Ansar Dine” al Qaeda of Mali. Their former chef, explained that he cooked for over 200 Nigerians who had “arrived in Timbuktu in April 2012 in about 300 cars, after al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) swept into the city.”

In its 2013 Nigeria briefing, human rights group Justice for Jos +, a project of Jubilee Campaign USA, remarked, “Ironically, in northern Nigeria, it is Christians who are totally disenfranchised politically, economically, and socially in their own states and by their own ethnic groups due to their religious identity.” This is worse than just “political marginalization,” Mr. Carson! Justice for Jos + continues, “Christians are regarded as inferior to Muslims and suffer ongoing, systematic and comprehensive discrimination even by local and (Sharia) state governments.”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The U.S. Government • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

The two men grew up on separate continents, speaking their own languages. One was not yet 20; the other was bearing down on 100.

Yet within half an hour of meeting each other this week for the first time, Henry Kabiyona and Sol Rosenkranz knew each other’s stories before the words reached their lips.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Rwanda • Europe • Poland • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Judaism

“We are all saddened by the deaths of innocent people during the recent violence that took place in Muxungue, Mozambique,” said the Bishop. “We call on all to follow in the way of peace, creating space and opportunity for all voices to be heard in a transparent process that renounces violence and serves the common good.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Mozambique

"Churches in Northern Nigeria, amd my diocese in particular, have been recording depletion in the number of faithful attending church services owing to Boko haram insurgencies," said Catholic Bishop Stephen Mamza of Yola, an area in northern Nigeria where Muslim terrorist violence has been notable. He said that an as yet undetermined number of Catholics have moved from the area out of fear of the violent Islamic sect known as Boko Haram.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations

Local government officials and a military spokesman in Nigeria agreed that security forces and Islamist militants had battled in recent days in the country's far northeast. But they offered widely varying accounts Monday of how many people, including civilians, had been killed.

Some officials said about 185 people were slain in the clashes, with some residents blaming government troops in part for the deaths. Security officials put the number lower.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

Nigeria’s iconic National Theatre rises out of the brackish swamps of Lagos near its islands, a massive concrete and marble structure that is a reminder of when the West African nation had seemingly endless oil dollars to spend.

Today, the theater and its surrounding marshlands have become known more as a good place to dump corpses than to catch the latest play.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

In Togo, the Rev. Rodolphe Folly used to conduct exuberant Sunday services for a hundred believers of all ages, who sang local gospel music and went up to him to offer what they had.

In this quiet town in Burgundy, he preaches to a more somber audience of about 40 gray-haired retirees in an unadorned 19th-century church that can accommodate up to 600 people.

“In my country, we applaud, we acclaim, we shout,” said Father Folly, a Roman Catholic priest who spoke in the living room of his modern, modest house. “Here, even when I ask people to shake hands, they say no.”

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Togo • Europe • France • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

In 2004 Sandra and I flew to the northernmost part of Uganda to visit a couple of theological seminaries in the city of Arua. The Ugandan seminary was relatively well appointed. Its faculty joyful. Its students adequately fed and eager to learn. The Sudanese seminary, across town, was a study in contrasts. Bare buildings, dirt floors, underfed students, listless faculty were all testimony to the suffering of Sudanese people who had sought refuge across the Uganda border to save their lives.

Today South Sudan is its own country, thanks to the accord in 2011, by which 8 million Sudanese – mostly African and Christian (as opposed to northern Sudanese who are Arab and Muslim) – ceded from Sudan. People like the seminarians we saw are now moving back home and rebuilding the decimated southern part of the country. When we lived in Pittsburgh we got to know many of the so-called “Lost Boys” who had come to America back in the 1980’s and ‘90’s as refugees. Beautiful young men, many of them had seen the most brutal atrocities the human mind can imagine.

These atrocities are paraded across the wide-screen in a new movie from Relativity Media called Machine Gun Preacher. Starring Gerard Butler as Sam Childers and Michelle Monagan as his longsuffering wife Lynn, the movie tells the true story of one man’s effort to help the suffering children of Sudan....

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Movies & Television • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan • --South Sudan

Since the fall of humankind, there had been a distance between man and God that could not be removed. The sacrificial death of Jesus has removed that barrier (of sin) so that we can again relate to God with a closeness that existed at the beginning. The resurrection to life of Jesus Christ means that we now have the opportunity for eternal life. The meaning behind all this is God’s love for each one of us, and for the whole of creation. What had been spoiled at the fall can now be made new, as it was in the beginning, when everything was good.

We may look at our world and be in danger of losing hope. However, through the events of Good Friday and Easter day we have the promise that all will be well. We are a resurrection people, and know that there is always hope. We believe in the resurrection; but we also know the reality of Good Friday. There could not be the new life, light and hope of the Resurrection without there first being the death, darkness and despair of Good Friday.

As a people of the Resurrection, we are called to live in the light of the resurrection. We are called to bring hope and light into the darkness. This may sound so daunting that it could be impossible to know where to begin. This need not be so. We do not need to feel that we have to take such action that the world will be changed in an instant. However, we do need the faith to take the first step, in the sincere belief that God, will be with us every step of the way. If we act according to the will of God, we can be assured that God will bless our efforts, and much fruit can be borne.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Province of West Africa • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Easter • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Gambia

Primate of the Church of Nigeria, (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, yesterday stated that there was an evil force behind the Boko Haram sect.

Okoh said this in his sermon, titled “Alleluia! Christ is Risen”, at the Easter Sunday service of the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp, Gwarimpa, Abuja.

He said the dreaded group is challenged to the good fortunes of Nigeria., assuring that it shall soon become history.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Nigeria • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

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Filed under: * International News & Commentary • Africa • Zimbabwe

A newly emerged militant sect in Nigeria said it killed seven foreign hostages, a claim the Greek and Italian foreign ministries confimed Sunday, as a violent campaign targeting Europeans across North and West Africa escalates.

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Filed under: * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

Gunmen kidnapped seven foreigners and killed a security guard when they stormed the compound of Lebanese construction company Setraco in northern Nigeria's Bauchi state early on Sunday, police said.

Read it all and please pray for their safe release and for peace in Nigeria.

Filed under: * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

Burkina Faso played wonderfully well with a great deal of heart.

My thanks to ESPN 3 for making it possible for me to watch my first ever Africa Cup of Nations final--KSH.

Update: There is a lot more there.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Burkina Faso • Nigeria

Senior U.S. officials are pressing to mark for the killing or capture of the self-proclaimed mastermind of last month's attack on an Algerian natural-gas facility that claimed the lives of 37 foreign hostages, including three Americans.

Adding the Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar to a U.S. targeted-killing list would represent a significant U.S. expansion into northwestern Africa, extending the reach of the U.S. program of drone strikes and other lethal counterterrorism operations, which have concentrated on Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Algeria • America/U.S.A.

A Zambian priest has challenged Christians across Africa to stand up and fight corrupt practices that are “soiling the fabric” of many countries on the continent.

The Revd John Kafwanka, currently Director of Mission at the Anglican Communion Office, was speaking following the recent arrest of Ugandan anti-corruption activist and retired Assistant Bishop of Kampala Diocese the Rt Revd Zac Niringiye.

Niringiye and eight other campaigners were arrested on Monday by the police at Uganda's Makerere University for distributing pamphlets calling for an end to high-level corruption. The group was later released on bond.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Central Africa • Church of Uganda • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Uganda • Zambia • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The destruction of the sixth-century monumental Buddha statues of Bamiyan in March 2001 by the Taliban shocked many persons concerned with the preservation of world cultural legacy. Such examples of iconoclasm were not new in Islamic history. In the name of the restoration of the purity of the faith, groups with similar persuasions have destroyed Sufi and Shiite shrines in various parts of the Arabian Peninsula during the nineteenth and twentieth century. But until very recently, few observers believed that such examples of iconoclasm will ever reach the Sahel. Although the Sahelian countries had overwhelming Muslim populations, Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa was believed to be peaceful compared to elsewhere in the Arab World. In most of the twentieth century, no armed Islamic group was to be found anywhere in the Sahel. Very few Sub-Saharans trained in Afghanistan during the Soviet Occupation or joined Al-Qaida, and suicide bombing was unheard of until a few years ago. This is not so much because intolerant Islamic groups were not to be found in the Sahel, but they had neither the sophistication nor the logistical and financial resources to challenge state power.

In recent years, a variety of jihadi groups have appeared in the Sahel, the Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahidin in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Movement for Unicity and Jihad in West Africa. Recently, these groups have linked up with AQIM which provided them with sophisticated military training and substantial financial and logistical resources....

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

Anglican Bishop of Harare the Rt Revd Chad Gandiya has said that forgiveness still remains the biggest challenge for Christians in his diocese after years of "living in exile”.

Bishop Gandiya said: “People are very happy to have returned to their churches but they are still hurting. The church needs to find new ways of teaching on healing and forgiveness.”

The Bishop was referring to the pain suffered after breakaway bishop Dr. Nobert Kunonga and his supporters grabbed church properties including churches, schools and orphanages, leaving Anglicans nowhere to worship.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Zimbabwe

The U.S. military was closely tracking a one-eyed bandit across the Sahara in 2003 when it confronted a hard choice that is still reverberating a decade later. Should it try to kill or capture the target, an Algerian jihadist named Mokhtar Belmokhtar, or let him go?

Belmokhtar had trained at camps in Afghanistan, returned home to join a bloody revolt and was about to be blacklisted by the United Nations for supporting the Taliban and al-Qaeda. But he hadn’t attacked Americans, not yet, and did not appear to pose a threat outside his nomadic range in the badlands of northern Mali and southern Algeria.

Military commanders planned to launch airstrikes against Belmokhtar and a band of Arabs they had under surveillance in the Malian desert, according to three current and former U.S. officials familiar with the episode. But the ambassador to Mali at the time said she vetoed the plan, arguing that a strike was too risky and could stir a backlash against Americans.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the international community should use "everything at its disposal" to fight terrorism, on a visit to Algeria.

The recent hostage crisis, in which some 37 foreigners died, was "a reminder that what happens in other countries affects us at home", he said.

He also defended Western intervention in the conflict in neighbouring Mali.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Algeria • England / UK

A bishop in flood-hit Mozambique has warned of greater suffering if the flooding disaster that has displaced around 70,000 people is not properly addressed.

Bishop of Lebombo Diocese in southern Mozambique, the Rt Revd Dinis Salomão Sengulane said in a recent statement sent to supporters, “The situation is dramatic and it calls for our response if we are to avoid more damages to the lives of people”.

The bishop’s plea comes after devastating floods hit Mozambique following severe rains in southern Africa during the past two weeks.

The United Nations reports that at least 36 people have died and nearly 70,000 have been displaced because of flooding in the country.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * General Interest • Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, etc. • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Mozambique

Police dogs checking for explosives at St George's Anglican Church, Tunis, on Sunday, were "a healthy reminder that we live in volatile times", the Area Bishop for North Africa, Dr Bill Musk, said on Tuesday. He spoke in the wake of an attack by Islamist terrorists in Algeria in which 37 hostages were killed, and a warning by the Prime Minister that North African states had become "a magnet for jihadists".

Addressing Parliament on Monday, Mr Cameron said that the "murderous violence" perpetrated by the terrorists at the remote Tigantourine gas complex in the Saharan desert last week required a "strong security response". Britain was engaged in a "generational struggle against an ideology which is an extreme distortion of the Islamic faith".

Clergy had mixed views on the implications of Mr Cameron's speech for Christians.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

A panel of African civil society leaders, including Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail, were joined today by the former UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Dr. Mukesh Kapila, in urging African political leaders to use the upcoming African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa to end the humanitarian suffering in Sudan's Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

The panel identified the January 25 Heads of State meeting on Sudan as a key test of the AU's "credibility" and urged African leaders to recognise the importance of addressing the conflict in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile for wider regional security.

Having just returned from a visit to the region, Dr Kapila called for an independent commission of enquiry into the conflict amongst warnings of "ethnic cleansing".

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan • --South Sudan • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

A Kenyan priest has appealed to Christians around the world to pray for the people of Garissa, a violence-stricken city in the North Eastern Province of Kenya.
The Revd Canon Francis Omondi's plea comes after at least five people were killed and four others wounded by Somali Islamist group al-Shabab who opened fire on guests at one of the city’s local hotels, The Dunes on 16 January.
Al-Shabab—a clan-based insurgent and terrorist group—has continued its violent insurgency in the area with Christians and security personnel being the main targets of the attacks.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Kenya • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Kenya

A week of violence in Algeria and Mali has transformed al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch into a cause celebre for militant Islamists around the globe, boosting recruitment and fundraising for the jihadists and spurring fears of further terrorist attacks in the region and beyond.

Even after suffering tactical defeats in both countries in recent days, the movement known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is being lionized in Internet chat rooms and in official statements by extremist groups, some of which are urging reprisal campaigns against Western interests....

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Algeria

A coalition of leading human rights activists and scholars has asked that Congress press the Obama administration to end the growing humanitarian crisis in the largely Christian areas of southern Sudan, saying that the administration’s response to the crisis has been non-existent.

U.S. policy toward the continuing human tragedy in Sudan is “in the worst place it’s ever been,” said Mark C. Hackett, CEO and executive director of Memphis-based Operation Broken Silence. “It’s extremely disappointing.”

Hackett and other activists — at a Jan. 11 forum organized by the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. — said that they had spent Jan. 10-11 on Capitol Hill calling for the United States to intervene to stop the systematic attacks of villagers in the Nuba Mountains of southern Sudan by the forces of President Omar al-Bashir.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Poverty • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan • --North Sudan • --South Sudan • America/U.S.A.

The Nigerian military says it has arrested a leader of the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram.

Mohammed Zangina was detained in the Government Reserved Area (GRA) of the north-eastern city of Maiduguri on Sunday afternoon, a statement said.

Mr Zangina, also known as Mallam Abdullahi and Alhaji Musa, was planning "deadly attacks" against civilians and security personnel there, it added.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

(ACNS) West Africa’s new archbishop , the Most Revd Solomon Tilewa Johnson [in an interview this week] explained that one major priority was responding to issues of “abject poverty”, which is perhaps to be expected considering the countries that comprise the Anglican Province of West Africa: Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

More surprising, however, was a priority to retain congregants who might be tempted away to non-Anglican churches by newer forms of praise and worship. “We all have our priorities and the key issues for us in West Africa as far as I can see is the threat posed to us by the new churches for example,” he said.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Province of West Africa • * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • * Culture-Watch • Poverty • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Gambia • * Theology

At a time when Indians are re-examining their society in the light of a single, horrific incident of gang rape, South Africa seems numb - unable to muster much more than a collective shrug in the face of almost unbelievably grim statistics - seemingly far worse than India's.

Here almost 60,000 rapes are reported to the police each year - more than double the number in India, in a far smaller country.

Experts believe the true figure is at least 10 times that - 600,000 attacks....

Read it all or watch the video report (recommended).

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Men • Sexuality • Violence • Women • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • South Africa • Asia • India • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology

At least 10 people were killed and several wounded in a retaliatory dawn raid Thursday in the Tana River delta region of southeast Kenya, the latest violence to flare up in an area where scores died in clashes last year, Kenya Red Cross said.

"There are 10 dead and two critically wounded, with gunshot wounds, machete cuts and burns," local Red Cross official Caleb Kilunde told AFP.
The attack came a day after nine were killed in a raid.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Kenya

For the past five years, Robert Mugabe’s government has, in effect, persecuted the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe. As I blogged previously in 2011, the ex-bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, a long-time Mugabe supporter, sought to take his diocese out of the Anglican Communion, ostensibly because of Anglican Communion support for gay rights. The church thereupon deposed him and chose a new bishop, Chad Gandiya. But, Mugabe continued to support Kunonga and a pro-Mugabe judge gave him “custody” of church property pending a high court ruling. Kunonga also ended up with a confiscated, previously white-owned, farm. Pro-government goons over the past five years have, in effect, overseen the transfer of the cathedral in Harare, Anglican schools, orphanages, and parish churches to Kunonga and his supporters. The archbishop of Canterbury protested directly to Mugabe last year....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Zimbabwe

One of the member schools in Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion (CUAC) in Africa has been affected by the fighting in Congo.

Despite being 250 miles north from the fighting in Goma, the Université Anglicane du Congo experienced its first attack since its opening two years ago. The Revd Canon Daniel Sabiti Tibafa, the university vice chancellor, has sent the following report:

"Yes, the morning night of 22 December 2013 at around 2:00 am, armed people broke the door of our house threatening to kill all of us if we did not have any money on us. They forced the door with heavy stones…and the guns to destroy the lock of the door. In the house we managed to get $200 and they forced me to take them into my office where we got another $250. They beat me on the back and on my right hand. The right hand pain is still being dealt with by our lovely nurse Miss Kiiza Kahwa.

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Barnabas Fund has transported over 2,300 Christians from Sudan since the start of its rescue mission four months ago.

The Christians are being evacuated because of increasing hostility in the majority-Muslim country.

After South Sudan gained independence in 2011, the largely Christian Southerners living in Sudan lost their citizenship rights and were ordered to leave.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan • --North Sudan • --South Sudan • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations

The Right Reverend Brighton Vitta Malasa, the Anglican Bishop of the Upper Shire Diocese has come under intense fire from his flock for being among the ‘officiating clergy’ at ‘New Year Prayers’ held at Mulli Brothers Limited Headquarters in Chigumula, Blantyre “without appropriate justification”.

There were ‘New Year Prayers’ at Mulli Brothers premises on Wednesday “to pray for blessings in 2013” and according to an Anglican Christian who attended the function, “it was all politics and not prayers.”

“It was all politics where the officiating clergy that also included former president late Bingu wa Mutharika’s advisor, Reverend Bill Gama and Reverend Misheck Nasiyaya, both of the Blantyre Synod, kept on referring to the former DPP regime in their sermons....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Latest News • Anglican Provinces • Church of Central Africa • * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Malawi

Clerics have urged Rwandans to renew their commitment to God in the New Year.

They delivered the message at different churches during prayers to usher in the New Year.

During the church service at St Etienne Anglican Cathedral in Giporoso yesterday, Pastor Antoine Rutayisire urged Christians to walk with God this year and to make it a priority among their commitments.

He said this was the only way that would save them from many of life's troubles.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Rwanda • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Rwanda

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry says an explosion at an Egyptian Coptic church in Libya’s third largest city, Misrata, has killed two people and wounded two others.

The statement by the Foreign Ministry says Sunday’s explosion killed two Egyptian citizens working at the church in preparation for traditional New Year’s Eve mass.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Libya • Middle East • Egypt • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Coptic Church

Recently [in Nigeria] a new line of inhumanity was crossed. In October, armed attackers, presumed to be members of Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group with links to al Qaeda, invaded the Tudun Wada Wuro Patuje area, entering the off-campus housing of the Federal Polytechnic State University.

The attackers called students out of their rooms and asked for their names. Those with Christian names were shot dead or killed with knives. Students with traditionally Muslim names were told to quote Islamic scripture. The selektion completed, at least 26 bodies were left in lines outside the buildings.

The attack was a pogrom, the victims of which were African Christians, not European Jews. To be sure, it lacked the scale and scope of Hitler's total war against the entire Jewish people. The Boko Haram seem content to burn churches and to maim and murder those—including other Muslims, but especially Christians, by the scores—who would stop the spread of their version of Shariah law in Nigeria alone.

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Archbishop Nolbert Kunonga of the Anglican Church of the Province of Zimbabwe says he has surrendered all property belonging to the Church of the Province of Central Africa and that he would abide by the Supreme Court ruling.

Speaking at a Press conference in Harare yesterday through his provincial diocese secretary, Reverend Admire Chisango, Dr Kunonga said he would forge ahead with his spiritual work despite the setback.

Dr Kunonga who was breaking his silence since the Supreme Court ruling said he would respect the court ruling that conferred ownership rights to his rival CPCA, ending a five-year legal battle.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Central Africa • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Zimbabwe

A delegation of Nigerian Christians visited the Washington, DC offices of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) this past Wednesday, December 12, 2012. Led by Dr. Musa Asake, the general secretary of the ecumenical Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Nigerians were in the American capital in order to discuss persecution of Nigerian Christians by the Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram (BH, translated as “Western education is sin”). The delegation presented chilling accounts of life for Christians amidst Islamist terror and called for action lest the violence only grow, engulfing Nigeria.

Asake described BH’s murderous attacks on Christians in northern Nigeria, with the initial goal of eradicating a Christian presence there. The historic long-term Islamification of the once Christian Maghreb, meanwhile, shows just how far BH’s ambitions could reach. BH uses silent nighttime killings with knives as well as firearms to massacre Christians. Asake expressed the fear that “you cannot sleep with your eyes closed” in northern Nigeria. Churches there must now surround themselves with barriers in order to prevent vehicle-borne attacks. Moreover, now northern Nigeria’s “children see dead bodies,” a troubling assault on their innocence.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations

Military counterterrorism officials are seeking more capability to pursue extremist groups in Africa and elsewhere that they believe threaten the U.S., and the Obama administration is considering asking Congress to approve expanded authority to do it.

The move, according to administration and congressional officials, would be aimed at allowing U.S. military operations in Mali, Nigeria, Libya and possibly other countries where militants have loose or nonexistent ties to al Qaeda's Pakistan headquarters. Depending on the request, congressional authorization could cover the use of armed drones and special operations teams across a region larger than Iraq and Afghanistan combined, the officials said.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

In a spooky, dare I say, godly coincidence, two of the world's important religions obtained new leaders in the past fortnight. What makes the coincidence seem so like divine providence is that both leaders started their vocational life not fired by the sacred but as industrialists.

The Coptic Church is now led by Pope Tawadros (Theodore) II, who ran a pharmaceutical factory until he saw the light. Former oil industry executive Justin Welby, meanwhile, was selected to be enthroned in March as the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Anglican Communion.

Both had late onset religious conversions....


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/godless-gross/a-tale-of-two-leaders-20121203-2apyg.html#ixzz2EbKcRdl9

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • Middle East • Egypt • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Coptic Church • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations

Watch the whole video (just under 7 1/2 minutes).

To find Mundri on a map of South Sudan, go here. Then find Uganda and the part of South Sudan that borders Uganda. About in the middle and slight up to the left from the border you will see the major city of Juba. Now head northwest (follow yellowish line) to the next city on the map which is Mundri (Town)

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Missions • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Poverty • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan • --North Sudan • --South Sudan • * Theology

The humanitarian crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was top of Pope Benedict XVI’s concerns this Wednesday as he began his greetings in Italian with another appeal for aid for the people of the nation, the scene of armed clashes and violence. Emer McCarthy reports:

“A large part of the population lacks the primary means of subsistence” said the Pope, adding that “thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes to seek refuge elsewhere”.

Read and listen to it all and there is more here.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Dieting/Food/Nutrition • Poverty • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Republic of Congo • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

The Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) yesterday said it had taken over most of the properties from defrocked Bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, following a recent Supreme Court ruling.

The court, a fortnight ago ruled that Bishop Chad Gandiya's faction was the rightful owner of the properties which Kunonga had grabbed.

Gandiya's press officer, Precious Shumba, said although the CPCA had faced resistance in some of the parishes, most of the buildings had been taken by midday yesterday.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Central Africa • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Housing/Real Estate Market • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Zimbabwe

Writing to supporters around the Anglican Communion, Bp Chad Gandiya said that, despite a Supreme Court order recognising the cathedral as belonging to CPCA's Diocese of Harare, excommunicated bishop, Nolbert Kunonga "did not leave willingly."
"Yesterday Kunonga was evicted from the Diocesan Offices and Cathedral yesterday," he wrote. "He refused to handover three diocesan cars in his possession. He came back later with thugs with chains who started chasing people beating some (some of the guards we had hired were beaten).
"When our people reported it to the police they were shunted from one office to the other because the police said, "they were too junior to deal with the Anglican matter". Eventually they were served and riot police were sent who arrested some of the thugs and we are grateful for that.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Zimbabwe

We, Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Bishop Presidents of National Caritas in Africa, coming from thirty four countries of the continent, gathered in a Conference on the identity and mission of Caritas in Kinshasa from November 20th to 22nd, 2012, express deep concern and solidarity with the Congolese people. We are outraged and shocked by the escalating armed violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo which is causing again a major human tragedy.

Thousands of men, women and children, the victims of this war which is imposed on them, are displaced and abandoned in destitution in Goma and its surroundings. They are exposed to the bad weather, hunger, rape and all kinds of abuses, including recruiting of children into the army. This constitutes an offence to their dignity as human beings and children of God.

We are convinced that the time is no longer for war or conquest, but rather to promote cooperation between peoples and that the territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo must be protected and respected by all.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Republic of Congo • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Amid what is being termed as "genocide" of Christians by Boko Haram suicide bombers in Nigeria, Christians from this West African nation living in the U.S. have intensified their calls for the designation of the Islamist group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the State Department.

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In a handful of majority-Muslim countries atheists can live safely, if quietly; Turkey is one example, Lebanon another. None makes atheism a specific crime. But none gives atheists legal protection or recognition. Indonesia, for example, demands that people declare themselves as one of six religions; atheism and agnosticism do not count. Egypt’s draft constitution makes room for only three faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Sharia law, which covers only Muslims unless incorporated into national law, assumes people are born into their parents’ religion. Thus ex-Muslim atheists are guilty of apostasy—a hudud crime against God, like adultery and drinking alcohol. Potential sanctions can be severe: eight states, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Sudan have the death penalty on their statute books for such offences.

In reality such punishments are rarely meted out. Most atheists are prosecuted for blasphemy or for inciting hatred....

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In Ghana, where deeply held religious beliefs unite much of the population, a new group has formed around a shared disbelief in religion.

The Humanist Association of Ghana practices a philosophy that is mostly unheard-of in Ghana, which a recent survey ranked as the most religious country in the world. Nonetheless, the group has already made waves in West Africa.

Last weekend, the association hosted humanists from across the region for a conference in the capital of Accra, where attendees listened as speakers discussed the impact humanists could make on West African society. Lecturers talked about how humanists can stand up for gay and lesbian rights and against traditional practices like witch hunts. One talk dealt with whether humanism is compatible with belief in God.

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Two bomb attacks have hit a church inside a military barracks in Kaduna state in northern Nigeria, killing and injuring several people, officials say.

A military spokesman told the BBC two vehicles were driven into the barracks in Jaji in what he described as "surprising and an embarrassment".

It is not clear how many casualties there were or who was responsible.

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Nigeria’s military is offering about $1.8 million in rewards for information leading to the arrest of top members of a radical Islamist sect that has killed hundreds of people in the country this year alone.

Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said in a statement Friday the bounty for Boko Haram sect leader Abubakar Shekau is $312,500.

The statement says information on four other named top sect officials would earn the informant $156,000 each. It then listed 14 “commanders” and each had a $62,500 bounty.

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In a sustained follow-up operations on Wednesday afternoon, the combined troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Restore Order, 333 Air Defence Regiment, the Department of State Security, supported by armoured personnel carriers (APCs) with helicopters conducted a major offensive operations, killing a high profile Boko Haram commander, Ibn Saleh Ibrahim.

Spokesman of the JTF, Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa, in a statement on Wednesday, said the offensive operation against the insurgent terrorist took place at Nganaram, Bulabulin and Bayan Quarters areas of Maiduguri, Borno State.

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The Zimbabwe Supreme Court has handed the breakaway bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga a surprise loss and ordered he turn over the diocese’s churches to the lawful bishop, Dr. Chad Gandiya.

The decision caps five years of legal battles between Dr. Kunonga and the Church of the Province of Central Africa and its bishops of Harare, Dr. Sebastian Bakare and Dr. Gandiya. It has also been marked by violent intimidation of Anglicans loyal to the province – estimated to be over 90 per cent of its members – with the security services and police intervening on behalf of Dr. Kunonga to drive Anglicans out of their churches.

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According to reports, one of the issues raised by the government team was that one of the mediators had taken contrary position against the government-funded Joint Task Force (JTF), while another was said to have a son fighting alongside the Al-Qaeda in Islamic Magreb (AQIM) in Mali. Another member was said to have only recently been forgiven by the sect after an accusation of financial impropriety.

While such reports were still taken with a pinch of salt by many with the belief that the government and the sect would find a way through, the announcement by General Buhari last week appeared a huge stake. Buhari, while speaking at the Board of Trustees meeting of his party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) said he could not mediate for the sect.

The General said: “How can I represent people I do not know, that I do not believe in whatever their cause is? How can I work for a government that has failed to do the most important thing of protecting lives and property with all the military, with all the resources available? How do I work for them?”

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Dr Welby, currently the Bishop of Durham, was ordained in 1992 after a successful career as an oil industry executive.
He was working in the small Warwickshire town of Southam when he was headhunted for his role on church peace missions, which set him on the road to Lambeth Palace.
Canon Andrew White, who led the International Centre for Reconciliation at nearby Coventry Cathedral, talent-spotted Welby after visiting him at his vicarage.
Canon White, who is now based in Baghdad, said: ‘It was obvious that he was of a different calibre from everyone else. He was a man who could make things happen.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * International News & Commentary • Africa

The Anglican Bishop of Enugu North Diocese, [the] Rt Rev Sosthenes Eze has said high level of corruption in Nigeria is cause of the general instability in the country.

Addressing the church's annual diocesan synod in Olo, Enugu State recently, the bishop noted that corruption has led to serious breakdown of law and order and lack of peaceful co-existence among Nigerians.

He advocated setting up of a National Solemn Assembly and repentance meetings across the nation as a way of dealing with corruption.

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Dozens of young men have been shot dead in Nigeria by the military in Maiduguri, residents in the north-eastern city have told the BBC.

An imam told the BBC about 11 youths from his street alone were killed, including four of his own sons.

The alleged extrajudicial executions happened as Amnesty International accused the security forces of abuses in its crackdown on Islamist militants.

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[Archbishop Nicholas] Okoh, who a fierce critic of the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, described the selection process for the new church leader as “politicised”.
The cleric said, “The Prime minister of Britain will have to appoint (the Archbishop of Canterbury), whether he is a member of the Church or not.
“When you consider the political involvement, you can see the point we are trying to make.
“In other words, we are trying to say the Anglican Communion should be separated from the politics of Great Britain.’’

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There is nothing moderate or democratic about the Islamists. They played the moderate and democratic game to gain power. Now, in office, they keep postponing elections to entrench themselves in the fabric of government and judiciary by brute force.

The year voters granted them is up. The time for manipulative political Islam is over. It has lost legitimacy. It has failed to improve lives, preserve the few rights we had, or uphold the rule of law.

We must say “no” again — until we get it right. Democracy is a process, an evolution.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Tunisia

Iranian warships have arrived in Port Sudan in an apparent show of support for the government in Khartoum, one week after it accused Israel of bombing an arms factory in the Sudanese capital.

Iran's state news agency confirmed yesterday that two vessels, a destroyer and a helicopter carrier have docked in Sudan's main port on the Red Sea and their commanders will be meeting Sudanese officials.

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At least seven people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide bombing during Mass at a Catholic church in northern Nigeria, officials say.

An explosive-laden vehicle drove into the church and detonated its load, ripping a hole in the wall and roof.

The attack happened in Kaduna, which has been targeted by Islamist militant group Boko Haram in the recent past.

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The ex-communicated Anglican Bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, has lost the latest round in his controversial campaign to take over Anglican Church properties from the main church (CPCA).

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed five appeals that had been lodged by the Kunonga faction, as well as two others launched by his Manicaland counterpart and supporter, Bishop Elson Jakazi.

The appeals were struck off the court's register after Kunonga's lawyers made a u-turn and claimed he was still the CPCA's legitimate Bishop of Harare. This is despite the fact that Kunonga formed his own Church Province of Zimbabwe and appointed himself Bishop of Harare.

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Several Nigerian soldiers have been killed by suspected Islamist militants in the north-eastern town of Potiskum, an army source has told the BBC.

The town has seen days of violence, with 31 reported killed and hundreds of residents fleeing since Thursday.

Meanwhile, China has a diplomatic protest against the killing of a Chinese construction worker in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.

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[Lamin] Sanneh acknowledges a debt to the missionary schools that unintentionally introduced him to a desiccated version of Christian faith, and he tells how as an earnest young man he wandered from pastor to pastor, desperately seeking baptism, only to be deflected by missionaries who had compromised mission in their uneasy accommodation to Islamic culture. The story would almost be humorous if it were not so sad. Yet even the account of the missionaries’ rebuff is less painful to read than the account of what he received at the hands of liberal, mainline North American pastors who had long before enmeshed themselves in their culture by reducing their ministry to caregiving rather than conversion. As for many frustrated would-be converts in our age, it was easier for Sanneh to find Christ than for him to find Christian community. Eventually he became a Catholic while at Yale.

--Will Willimon in a review of Lamin Sanneh's new Summoned From the Margin (Eerdmans, 2012), Christian Century, the October 17th, 2012 issue, page 53 (emphasis mine)

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The Nigerian army says it has arrested a senior commander of Boko Haram, as attacks by suspected members of the Islamist group continue.

Shuaibu Muhammed Bama was detained at the home of a serving senator in the city of Maiduguri, the army said.

The senator - who has not been named - denies the army's claim, which has fuelled suspicions that some politicians are helping the militants.

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A controversial Tanzanian Muslim cleric has been arrested for stoking religious hatred, police have said.

Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda's arrest comes after Muslim protesters vandalised and torched five churches in the main city, Dar es Salaam, last week.

The violence followed rumours that a Christian boy urinated on a Koran.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Tanzania • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

Nomadic Muslim herdsmen attacked a Christian village in central Nigeria over long-running land disputes, killing at least 30 people in their latest assault, police said Wednesday.

The attack in Benue state comes as a bomb exploded Wednesday in northeast Nigeria, apparently killing a police officer and sparking reprisal attacks by the military in the region, residents said.

In Benue state, the attack Sunday targeted a rural village of Christian Tiv people called Yogbo in the state, police spokesman Daniel Ezeala said. After the attack, those living there fled, community leader Daniel Tsenghul said.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations

Archbishop John Oneikan of Abuja in Nigeria, whose brother lives in the Diocese of Tucson, offered today’s reflection to begin our full day of interventions. He reflected on an experience of his early episcopacy when he went to visit death-row prisoners living in wretched situations, He saw many wearing a rosary around their necks, which bewildered him since half of Nigerians are Muslim. He asked them what led them to Jesus.

They said that when they saw Christians living alongside of them in awful conditions, less than human circumstances and heard the joy of their singing and how they were able to retain hope amid despairing situations, they said they wanted to become Christians to share in that joy. This is a powerful example of evangelization. He inspired all of us, reminding us of the power of witness to change hearts.

Nigeria, like too many places around the world today, has experienced much violence in places like the city of Jos, where religious tensions and conflicts have surfaced. During our discussions bishops have expressed some of the struggles, persecution, tensions and turmoil happening in their communities. Listening to one another from all over the world gathered in the synod makes all of us more deeply aware of some of these challenges being experienced in many parts of the world. We can share in those sufferings and pain. We can stand in solidarity with those being persecuted, living amid violence. We can join hands, standing up against injustice and advocating for peace.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Poverty • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

Widespread and systematic murder and persecution by Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group in northern Nigeria, likely amount to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Government security forces have also engaged in numerous abuses, including extrajudicial killings, Human Rights Watch said.

The 98-page report, “Spiraling Violence: Boko Haram Attacks and Security Force Abuses in Nigeria,” catalogues atrocities for which Boko Haram has claimed responsibility. It also explores the role of Nigeria’s security forces, whose own alleged abuses contravene international human rights law and might also constitute crimes against humanity. The violence, which first erupted in 2009, has claimed more than 2,800 lives.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Yida, the largest refugee camp in South Sudan, stretches for miles. It is home to more than 64,000 of the 206,000 refugees from the Republic of Sudan who have fled the bombing and violent attacks against civilians by the Khartoum government since June 2011. Yida camp itself was bombed Nov. 10, 2011, killing 12 refugees.

Only 20 kilometers from the volatile border between Sudan and South Sudan, Yida camp sees a constant stream of nearly 200 new refugees a day, coming from the Nuba Mountains region (South Kordofan State) in Sudan. Rebel groups in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile states have united against the Khartoum government’s army, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which indiscriminately attacks rebels and civilians in those areas.

“They kill everybody, Christians and Muslims. They burn houses, churches, and schools. They kill people. They drop bombs. Just two days ago soldiers came to my area [in the Nuba Mountains] and killed one person and burned houses,” said the Rev. Ameka Yousif, a pastor who has lived in Yida camp since February. “[In the Nuba Mountains] when people see the planes, they run and hide. Bombing is happening almost every day.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Episcopal Church of the Sudan • * Culture-Watch • Poverty • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan • --North Sudan • --South Sudan

I was recently struck by some photos and reports I saw on the al-Arabiya network, the most respected news outlet in the Middle East. There was a starving child in Yemen, a burnt-out ancient souk in Aleppo, Syria, car bombs in Iraq and destroyed buildings in Libya.

What links all these images is that the destruction and the atrocities were not perpetrated by an outside enemy. The starvation, the killings and the destruction in these Arab countries were carried out by the same hands that are supposed to protect and build the unity of these countries and safeguard their people. Who, therefore, is the real enemy of the Arab world?

Many Arabs would say it is Israel — their sworn enemy, an enemy whose existence they have never recognised. From 1948 to today there have been three full-scale wars and many confrontations. But what was the real cost of these wars to the Arab world and its people? The harder question that no Arab wants to ask is: what was the real cost of not recognising Israel in 1948 and why didn’t the Arab states spend their assets on education, healthcare and infrastructure instead of wars? But the very hardest question of all is whether Israel is the real enemy of the Arab world and the Arab people.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Poverty • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Libya • Middle East • Egypt • Israel • Jordan • Lebanon • Qatar • Saudi Arabia • Syria • The Palestinian/Israeli Struggle • UAE (United Arab Emirates)

Speaking after a meeting with the Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail, Bishop of Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains, the Archbishop urged attention to be given to the plight of the affected population of these areas, both Muslim and Christian alike.

“Food and basic essentials are urgently needed by the displaced population. The international community needs to wake up to the gravity of the situation. All parties need to work together to find practical ways to get help to those most in need.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Rowan Williams • * Culture-Watch • Dieting/Food/Nutrition • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan • --North Sudan • --South Sudan

The Most Reverend Dr Justice O. Akrofi, Primate and Archbishop of the Church of the Province of West Africa, Anglican Church, has asked the judiciary to uphold justice and truth at all times, especially in their adjudication in the election year.

“The learned society needs justice. Truth is also ever so sacred that it cannot be negotiated-not the same as playing fast and loose with it. The role of justice for instance is very relevant in ensuring peace at this year’s election”, Rev Akrofi said in a sermon to open the 55th Legal Year of the Judicial Service.

The legal year is marked annually in October with a church service after members of the bench and bar return from their two months vacation.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Province of West Africa • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Ghana • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

...[this past Wednesday] evening saw the launch of an exhibition in Bradford Cathedral of fantastic photographs. The gallery includes black and white as well as colour pictures of scenes from the street in Durban, South Africa, and Burundi. They illustrate the reality of young lives blighted by homelessness, hopelessness and hunger – hunger for love, security and friendship. The are also examples of simple joy, playfulness and humour. So far, so good.

Then, as you hear the stories of those portrayed, you realise some of them are already dead.

Streetaction is a small charity working with slim resources to work with partners to offer some street children hope of a future.

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Street Action Exhibition--An exhibition by professional photographers of children on the street of Burundi, South Africa and Kenya. Street Action works in partnership with local organisations to tackle the complex needs of children living on the streets with no parental or adult care.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Children • Poverty • Teens / Youth • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Burundi • Kenya • South Africa

Nairobi’s police commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu reported that an examination of the crime scene indicated a limpet mine or an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) containing nails, ball-bearings and other pieces of shrapnel was electronically detonated alongside the wall of the Christian education building of St Cyprian’s Anglican Church at approximately 10:30 local time. Shrapnel from the blast killed an eight year old boy and wounded several children attending a Bible study. Six children were taken in serious condition to the capital’s Kenyatta National Hospital for treatment.

Popular sentiment in Nairobi lays the blast on al Shabaab...the Somali terror group....

However, the use of an IED might have been a copycat attack designed to drive the church off its land....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Kenya • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Housing/Real Estate Market • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Kenya

After decades of conflict and displacement, returnees from Sudan to South Sudan are facing huge difficulties to restart their lives. According to the United Nation Office for the Organisation of Humanitarian Affairs, around 123.000 people have returned this year (Humanitarian Bulletin 3 – 9 September).

Despite the raising of hopes for going back home, the situation for people arriving is very complicated. The relief and development coordinator of the Diocese of Rejaf, Episcopal Church of Sudan, Mr Bullen Pitya, explains how returnees could not bring along their things, as they were flown from Sudan to Juba with minimum personal belongings.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Culture-Watch • Poverty • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Sudan • --South Sudan

Following the explosive attack at Anglican Church of Kenya St. Polycarp Parish on Juja Road in Nairobi yesterday, Archbishop Dr. Eliud Wabukala joined other religious leaders in condemning the explosive attack.

Earlier in the day, Archbishop Wabukala, and Bishop Joel Waweru of Nairobi Diocese visited and prayed with four of the six children still admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital, Children’s Ward.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Kenya • * Culture-Watch • Children • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Kenya

The Anglican Church of the Province of West Africa yesterday elected the Rt Revd Dr Solomon Johnson as its ninth Archbishop and Primate.

Dr Johnson, who is currently the Bishop of Gambia, was elected to be the next Primate for the province at a special synod held at Cuttington University, Suacoco, Bong Country, Liberia, between 25 to 28 September.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Province of West Africa • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Gambia

Nigeria's "robust" approach to neutralizing a threat posed by Islamist sect Boko Haram using military force, holding indirect talks with the group and improving education in the north is paying off, the Nigerian president said on Wednesday.

Boko Haram, which wants to carve out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has been blamed for more than 1,000 deaths since its insurgency intensified in 2010. The United States has designated three of Boko Haram's senior members as terrorists.

In an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders, President Goodluck Jonathan also played down the significance of the government forces' killing of the sect's spokesman, Abu Qaqa, in a gun battle in Kano on September 16.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Police/Fire • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria

The 14-minute trailer on YouTube enraged Muslims worldwide with its depiction of Muhammad as a womanizer, religious fraud and child molester. Most Egyptian Christians in the U.S. have rejected the movie and say the man and the nonprofit tied to the film are fringe players who are not well-known in the Coptic Orthodox Church, the church for the vast majority of Coptic Christians in America.

A tiny minority of U.S. Copts, however, have used their adopted nation’s free speech protections to speak out against Islam in a way that would not be tolerated in their native Egypt. The few who engage in this anti-Muslim, evangelical activism _ including those behind the movie trailer _ are fueled by that history, said Eliot Dickinson, an associate professor of political science at Western Oregon University who has written a book on U.S. Copts.

“Whoever made this film is such an outlier in their community that it’s completely unrepresentative,” Dickinson said. “But what it does is, it taps into this frustration of always being persecuted back in Egypt and let’s not downplay that. To be a Copt in Egypt now is a very, very difficult life because, especially after the Arab Spring, it’s open season.”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Movies & Television • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • America/U.S.A. • Middle East • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Coptic Church • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations

While addressing over 50 religious leaders at the Democracy and Peace Week dialogue, Rwaje said some members of the public shun going to church due to disappointment of messages relayed.

"Religious leadership is a calling from God and it is about teaching the word of God, but not looking for money from the faithful. There are biblical principles urging churchgoers to give offerings and tithes, but it should not be used as a platform to squeeze money out of believers," Rwaje advised.

He added: "Religious leaders are allowed to have their personal business ventures besides performing their church duties; therefore, they should act faithfully and please God by keeping the two positions independent of each other. They must separate God's work from their personal work".

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Rwanda • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Rwanda • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

A suicide car bomber blew himself up outside a Roman Catholic church in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing himself and at least two other people and wounding 46, police said.

Police cordoned off the area around St. John's church after the blast, which caused minimal damage to the building but killed at least two people in a market area of Bauchi city.

A Reuters journalist saw emergency services bring out three bodies in the area, called Wunti, and police identified one as the occupant of the car that blew up.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations • * Theology

But during the conference, sponsored by the USCCB and Catholic Relief Services, ...[Cardinal Timothy Dolan] also called on Catholics to deepen their knowledge of this issue and register their concerns with their elected representatives.

"Americans generally, and our Catholic brothers and sisters especially, need to become better informed of the systematic challenges to the fundamental right of religious freedom in far too many countries," the cardinal urged.

The first freedom, which we too often take for granted in our own nation, even as we are vigilant in its defense, is under often violent attack.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Hunger/Malnutrition • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Libya