Queensland Synod News

An Italian Protestant theologian has questioned the point of dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church after Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed a Vatican statement about the nature of the Church that many Protestants found offensive. "If we thought that all Catholics shared the pontiff’s opinions about Protestants, we would suspend any ecumenical relationship with them. There is no sense in having ...

The seizure by Malaysian customs officials of 32 English-language Bibles from a Christian woman who was bringing them into the country for a study group has prompted an outcry from Christians in the Muslim-majority country. "The Council of Churches is flabbergasted that such acts are happening in our country with such frequency and impunity," said the Rev. Hermen Shastri, general ...

Pakistan-born Anglican Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is receiving special police protection after writing an article in Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper during January in which he asserted that parts of Britain had become "no go" areas for non-Muslims. Police are investigating phone calls threatening Nazir-Ali that he would be "sorted out" and would "not live long" if he continued to criticise Islam.  ...

Bear fruits in keeping with repentance (Luke 3:3) The Uniting Church in Australia and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) have today congratulated the Federal Government on its planned formal apology to members of the Stolen Generations. A formal apology was made to Australia’s Indigenous people by the Uniting Church more than a decade ago. The President of ...

Family First wants the Rudd Government to make Family Impact Statements public when the new Parliament sits next week, party leader Steve Fielding said today. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised Family Impact Statements for every Cabinet decision. But Senator Fielding said these statements would be useless unless they are made public so families can read them. “Family First believes these ...

Protestant leaders in Germany have welcomed a vote by Russian lawmakers to return the final sections of a collection of valuable stained glass church windows, six decades after the Soviet army took the windows to Russia as war booty. "This is an important symbolic gesture," Christoph Bruckhoff, a superintendent of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg, told Ecumenical News International on ...

South African police have raided Johannesburg’s Central Methodist Church arresting as many as 1500 homeless people there, many of them thought to be Zimbabweans, leading to strong protests from the local bishop. Bishop Paul Verryn has played a key role in the care of refugees and asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe at the church. He said he was angered at what he ...

Nearly 20 000 participants from 30 Baptist groups throughout the United States are meeting in Atlanta with hopes of promoting Christian unity and of forging an alliance for the first time since the American Civil War which ended 143 years ago. Initiated by former US president Jimmy Carter, the three-day event, titled "Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant", will focus ...

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia Reverend Gregor Henderson has today expressed shock at the latest in a series of murders of protestant pastors from the United Church of Christ (UCCP) in the Philippines. Reverend Henderson said he was shocked and appalled by the murder of Pastor Felicisimo Catambis, who had been devoted to caring for the poor ...

Mr Harry Thompson, former secretary of the Bremer Brisbane Presbytery and member of the Uniting Church congregation in Oxley, was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) Medal in the 2008 Australia Day honours list One of 473 recipients receiving awards in the Order of Australia from the Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery, Mr Thompson was commended for service to the ...