Queensland Synod News

A pastor of Japan’s largest Protestant denomination says he will refuse an ultimatum from church leaders to resign if he does not stop allowing unbaptised people to receive Holy Communion. "I will ignore or refuse the recommendation," the Rev. Jiro Kitamura, a pastor of the United Church of Christ in Japan, told Ecumenical News International. The denomination’s executive, of which ...

The Uniting Church in Australia is one of an unprecedented alliance of groups representing nearly every sector of Australian society which has issued a statement calling on all political parties to rise to the challenge of tackling climate change. The statement brings together churches; business;  farmers; doctors; community, consumer and development groups; miners and environmentalists. The statement, run as prominent ...

Asia and Africa may become the centre of gravity for 21st century Christianity, says World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev. Samuel Kobia, who has challenged Philippine church leaders to prepare for this shift. "Christianity is declining in Europe but growing in Asia and Africa," Kobia, a Methodist from Kenya, told bishops and other church leaders on 19 November ...

The (Lutheran) Church of Norway has agreed that living in a registered same-sex partnership should no longer be a barrier to someone serving as a priest, deacon or catechist. "At last, the feeling of holding a second class membership in the church is gone," Arne Groenningsaeter, himself a homosexual and a member of Oslo’s diocesan council, was quoted as saying ...

Nobel Peace Laureate and South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says that Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams should be tackling homophobia in the church and making it a welcoming place for lesbian and gay people. In a BBC radio interview to be broadcast next Tuesday, 27 November 2007, Archbishop Tutu says that he is depressed by the Church’s "obsession" ...

President of the National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia Rev. Gregor Henderson today called on Australians to reflect carefully on their vote next Saturday. “In the lead up to this important occasion for the future of our nation, I urge each Australian to reflect deeply on the policies outlined by each of the parties and candidates at this ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has circulated letters for concerned Australians to send to their Federal Government representatives and candidates, expressing concern about the intervention into Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. An initiative of a Task Group set up in August by the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) in direct response to the intervention, the letters urge ...

Social justice advocate and National Director of UnitingCare Australia Ms Lin Hatfield Dodds was tonight named the ACT’s winner in the Australian of the Year Awards by Chief Minister Jon Stanhope. Ms Hatfield Dodds will now compete with other State and Territory winners for the title of Australian of the Year, which is announced in January. Ms Hatfield Dodds is ...

The Centre for an Ethical Society (CES) has analysed replies from political parties to its 16 point questionnaire on key issues of social justice and rated them on a “good Samaritan” index. The Democrats scored the highest with 77 [of 80], followed by the Greens, 74 & the ALP 66. The Coalition failed the “Good Samaritan” test scoring 37. The ...

On the eve of Remembrance Sunday, 11 November 2007, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams described the Western-backed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a tragic mess which failed to conform to the principles of ‘just war’ theory and brought great suffering. The remarks came over the weekend as the head of the Church of England continued his visit to ...