The brutal attacks on two churches in Alexandria and Tanta on Palm Sunday with more than 40 victims are not the first attacks on Christians in Egypt. In January, the so-called Islamic State declared threat on Coptic Christians and killed eight. In December 2016, a blast at the Cathedral in Cairo killed 30 people.
Though we often hear only the dark and disturbing stories coming out of the Middle East, on February 26 there was an historic moment of celebration. The Presbyterian Church in Tripoli and the National Evangelical (Presbyterian) Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL) ordained the Rev. Rola Sleiman as the first Arab woman to serve as a Minister of Word and Sacrament.
Two Orthodox Coptic churches were the subject of suicide bombings on Palm Sunday, April 9, killing 44 and wounding 126. The first attack occurred at St. George’s church in Tanta, about 50 miles north of Cairo. The second occurred at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast.
For the general overseer of the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) there is trauma and hopelessness in his country, and the only institution that can offer hope at the moment is the church.
In its commitment to provide a variety of opportunities and platforms designed to build and foster relationships with people of other religious traditions, the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s office of Interfaith Relations is continuing its new Facebook Live series, “Third Thursdays — Multifaith Conversations on Concerns of Our Time.”
Vandalism in two Jewish cemeteries in recent weeks has not only caused concern in the Jewish community, but also among interfaith partners working to confront religious-based violence. Members of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy in St. Louis and the Presbytery of Philadelphia have come alongside Jewish partners to offer support.
In an ongoing effort to engage the wider church in more intentional and open dialogue with persons of other faith traditions, the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s office of Interfaith Relations today launched its new Facebook Live series, “Third Thursdays,” on the PC(USA)’s Facebook page.
The small town of Lebanon (pop. 5,800) sits 70 miles southeast of Louisville in the heart of central Kentucky. Surrounded by lush farmland, the area is known as a hub for bluegrass music, manufacturing facilities and bourbon production. It’s also home to United Presbyterian Church, which hosted a prayer service last Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order on refugees and immigration.
In its ongoing efforts to engage the wider church in more intentional and open dialogue with persons of other faith traditions, the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s office of Interfaith Relations is launching a monthly series using Facebook Live, the live video service introduced last year by the popular social networking website.
Un grupo de líderes religiosos cristianos, judíos y musulmanes se unieron el miércoles por la tarde para expresar su oposición a las órdenes ejecutivas del Presidente Trump sobre inmigrantes y refugiados. El nuevo presidente emitió las órdenes de detener la inmigración aumentando la seguridad fronteriza y restringiendo la aceptación de refugiados de otros países como Siria, Sudán, Somalia, Irak, Irán, Libia y Yemen.
