The day before yesterday I received the latest Berita CCM (Council of Churches of Malaysia) Oct.-Dec. 2007 from Malaysia. I would like to reproduce some contents partially from the page 23. (Lily)
ENI (Ecumenical News International) (http://www.eni.ch)
≪World Brief≫
・‘Religious leaders want Japan constitution peace clause honored’ 4 Dec. 2007
Tokyo: Religious leaders from Asia, Australia, and some Western countries have called on the Japanese government and the faith community to act to protect a war-renouncing clause of the Japanese constitution. In a statement released on Dec. 1, participants at a three-day Asia inter-religious conference warned that Japan “is now pushing to become a country that can wage war” through a revision of the clause in the document that renounces war. [ENI-07-0935]
・‘Iraq church has ‘new martyrs’, says Baghdad archbishop’ 10 Dec. 2007
Geneva: Christians fleeing Iraq and Christianity risks disappearing from the country, says a senior Baghdad archbishop, reiterating appeals made recently to Western churches to intercede with their governments about the plight of the Iraqis. “We do have the courage of faith, the outpouring of love, but because of the war, you see death and destruction, the manifestation of evil. Our people are lacking hope, and so they are leaving,” said Archbishop Avak V. Asadourlanof the Armenian Church of Iraq in an interview with Ecumenical News International. “We have new martyrs in the church in Iraq,” said Asadourian. “I know of no one incident in the last four years where priests have converted to another religion because they have been threatened,” the archbishop stated, adding the same was true for lay people. “So in Iraq the faith of your brothers and sisters in Christ is strong enough to fave martyrdom.” [ENI-07-0956]
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