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The Presbyterian Church of Wales has reiterated its support to further powers for the Welsh Assembly.

The Presbyterian Church of Wales has reiterated its support to further powers for the Welsh Assembly.

In the Church’s annual General Assembly in Lampeter, representatives voted in favour of raising awareness of the upcoming referendum among 30,000 church members and to encourage them to vote in favour of legislative powers.

Days after the Electoral Commission said that the proposed referendum question should be re-worded, the Assembly agreed that the question should be clear and robust “so that people will feel engaged in a significant democratic step affecting the government of Wales and the lives of ordinary people.”

The Presbyterian Church of Wales has been a leading light in the pro-devolution campaign for many years.

“The Presbyterian Church of Wales is a Welsh institution with churches all over Wales and a significant role in Welsh history,” said Mervyn Phillips, Chairman of the Church’s Church and Society Department.

“We’ve spoken out in favour of devolved powers for a long time because it’s important that there is political recognition of Welsh identity, community and history. We’re part of the community and we’re concerned for the sense identity of that community. Having the functions of government nearer to the people is a vital step forward.”

The Presbyterian Church of Wales has around 30,000 members in more than 700 churches, as well as strong links with churches abroad.

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Three major Free Churches have launched a video campaign to find out what people would say if they had one minute to speak with David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

Three major Free Churches have launched a video campaign asking people what they would say if they had just one minute to speak with the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

The initiative has been launched by the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the United Reformed Church

The 'My Minute' campaign aims to give people a voice in politics and encourage engagement in public issues, say the three non-conformist Christian denominations.

Participants can communicate their message to camera however they choose – speaking, rapping, singing, praying, miming, dancing or holding up pictures or signs.

The churches are asking people to email the link to their video as soon as they have uploaded it to a video sharing site, such as YouTube or Vimeo. Videos will then be featured on the 'My Minute' website.

The Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church, commented: “Politics isn’t just for the politicians; it shouldn’t become a closed realm accessible only to the few. Like the Church, politics should be open to everyone. 'My Minute' is about enabling people’s voices to be heard.”

Human rights activist Peter Tatchell and the award-winning broadcaster and Christian environmental campaigner, Mark Dowd, are among those who have already filmed their 'My Minute' videos.

“2010 so far is the hottest year on record in terms of planetary temperatures,” declared Dowd, Director of Education and Communications at Operation Noah. “This is not a time to make cuts.”

The Rev Dr Kirsty Thorpe, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, added: “My Minute is a great way for those of us in the Churches to show we're in touch with the major issues facing people in today's world. Jesus always helped powerless people to discover their voice - let's follow his example and speak out - especially on behalf of people whose needs may not otherwise be noticed by our political leaders.”

People are being encouraged to tell others about their 'My Minute' video via Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and other social networking sites. People can also check out the latest videos by following @myminute2010 on Twitter or using the #myminute hashtag.

The three denominations say they will be contacting Number 10 Downing Street to let the Prime Minister and his Deputy know what people want to say to them.

The Rev Jonathan Edwards, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said the exercise was all about participation, rather than sitting on the sidelines.

“Our hope is that the passionate convictions of many will find expression through this campaign, and that key messages and concerns will find a response within Government,” he said.

The campaign has not just been aimed at Christians. It is open to people of all faiths and none.

The 'My Minute' website can be visited at: http://www.jointpublicissues.org.uk/myminute/

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Human Rights Watch says the Zambian government must halt police abuse of detainees, investigate violations and strengthen grievance mechanisms.

Human Rights Watch says the Zambian government needs to call an immediate halt to police abuse of detainees, investigate violations and strengthen grievance mechanisms.

Hanging suspects from the ceiling and beating them to coerce confessions is routine practice for the country's police force, says the NGO.

Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch in New York claims that Zambian police routinely engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, including torture, to extract confessions.

Along with the Prisons Care and Counselling Association, and the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, HRW interviewed prisoners at six prisons throughout Zambia's central corridor during a recent investigation.

The prisoners described to monitors what happened to them in police custody, before they were transferred to custody.

Dozens of detainees said they had been beaten with metal bars, hammers, broom handles, police batons, sticks, or even electrified rods. Many said they had been bound first and hung upside down. Female detainees reported that police officers tried to coerce sex in exchange for their release.

The government needs to call an immediate halt to police abuse, investigate violations, and strengthen grievance mechanisms," Rona Peligal.

The reports of physical abuse of men, women, and children held in police custody indicate a widespread and systematic pattern of brutality, in some cases rising to the level of torture, Human Rights Watch has declared.

Several former police detainees still bore the scars from the abuse at the time of their interviews; many reported suffering serious long-term health consequences. Inmates showed researchers their misshapen fingers - a result of being smashed by hammers and iron bats - and scars on their feet and hands resulting from beatings with police batons.

Two inmates had lost their vision as a result of blows to the head, while others complained of chronic pain and swelling resulting from repeated beatings to their legs without subsequent medical treatment.

The revelations came as part of research into the health conditions in six Zambian prisons, between September 2009 and February 2010.

Human Rights Watch said this week that it presented its findings and concerns in letters to the minister of home affairs and the inspector general of police in June and August 2010, but received no response.

More on Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org/

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Of the 20 million people affected by the floods in Pakistan, some 85 per cent are women and children, and around 500,000 are pregnant women.

Of the nearly 20 million people affected by the floods in Pakistan, some 85 per cent are women and children, and around 500,000 are pregnant women, says the international relief agency CARE .

During assessment visits to flood-affected regions in Pakistan, the NGO's staff have observed that many pregnant women are still living without proper shelter, supplies and food.

Flood waters have damaged or destroyed more than 200 hospitals and clinics, and in some areas, female doctors and other staff are not available to provide health services to pregnant women.

With limited or no access to health facilities, women are at a greater risk of complications and death related to pregnancy and childbirth.

There is an urgent need for clean drinking water and additional nutritious food for mothers who are breastfeeding, says CARE. To help meet the specific needs of pregnant women, new mothers and children, agencies are distributing water purification tablets to provide clean water, particularly for pregnant women and children who are particularly susceptible to water-borne illness such as diarrhoea.

Mobile health teams are providing primary health care and antenatal care to pregnant women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, South Punjab and Sind. Pregnant women are also being vaccinated against tetanus.

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The National Council of Churches USA has reiterated its condemnation of plans by a Florida church to burn the Qur’an on 11 September.

The National Council of Churches USA has reiterated its condemnation of plans by a Florida church to burn the Qur’an on the 11 September anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York.

On the eve of Ramadan, the NCCUSA and its Interfaith Relations Commission called upon Christians and persons of other faiths to express respect for Muslims and Islam.

The original August 11 statement, which expressed dismay over recent outbreaks of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiments, said, in part: “We also decry the anti-Muslim actions and plans of many church leaders and members, such as those of the Dove World Outreach Center in the USA. Misguided or confused about the love of neighbour by which Christ calls us to live, leaders and members of this church and others are engaged in harassment of Muslims, and in the planning of an ‘International Burn the Qur’an Day,’ to be held on September 11th. Such open acts of hatred are not a witness to Christian faith, but a grave trespass against the ninth commandment, a bearing of false witness against our neighbour. They contradict the ministry of Christ and the witness of the church in the world.”

It continued: “We ask all Christians to promote respect and love of neighbour, and to speak and work against extremist ideas, working with Muslims as appropriate, in order to live out the commandment to love our neighbour, and to promote peace.”

The Rev Dr Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, said the council had chosen to repeat its statement in response to “many requests from persons of good will who wish to make it abundantly clear to the international community that millions of Americans reject the anti-Muslim expressions of some communities who seem to be reacting out of fear and a misunderstanding of the true nature of Islam.”

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A group of campaigners have said they were planning to attempt a citizen’s arrest of Tony Blair at his London book signing, which has now been cancelled.

A group of peace campaigners have said that they were planning to attempt a citizen’s arrest of Tony Blair at his book signing in London on Wednesday (8 September), which has now been cancelled.

Symon Hill, Chris Wood, Anna Clark and Kathleen Bright said that they had been planning to join the queue at the book signing. On arriving at the front, they would have told the former Prime Minister, "This is a citizen’s arrest for crimes against peace".

They described themselves as an informal group acting as concerned citizens, committed to nonviolence. Some of the group cite Christian faith as their motivation.

Blair had been planning to sign copies of his memoir, A Journey, in Waterstone's bookshop in Piccadilly, London. But this afternoon (6 September), he announced the cancellation of the event, following the scale of protests at his earlier book signing in Dublin.

Blair referred to fears of violence, but campaigners insist they were planning peaceful protest.

“Tony Blair’s role in the destruction and devastation in Iraq has made him so unpopular that he seems afraid to meet the public," said Symon Hill, "The vast majority of protesters at the book signing would have been peaceful".

The campaigners pointed out that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has told Parliament that the invasion of Iraq was illegal, but no charges have been brought.

Hill added, "As Christians, we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who frequently challenged the abuse of power and took direct action when he confronted the moneychangers in the Jerusalem Temple".

When Blair signed copies of his book in Dublin on Saturday (4 September), one customer, Kate O'Sullivan, attempted to make a citizen's arrest when she reached the front of the queue. She was removed from the building by security personnel.

As UK Prime Minister in 2003, Tony Blair launched an invasion of Iraq along with US President George Bush. Critics point out that no approval was given by the United Nations. Claims that the Iraqi regime owned weapons of mass destruction were found to be inaccurate.

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The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches has been presented with the Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches has been presented with the Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem.

The Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit was visiting Jerusalem as part of a WCC delegation meeting with members of the WCC member churches in the region, as well as with Jewish and Muslim leaders.

The Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is an honour awarded by the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. The name refers to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, built over the traditional site of Jesus’ tomb.

"Because of the Patriarchate's role and witness, we fully endorse the work of the World Council of Churches and of your office, especially in the struggle for peace, justice and reconciliation," Patriarch Theophilos said in a ceremony held at the offices of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

"The Patriarchate of Jerusalem is especially keen to assist you in your concern for lasting peace in the Middle East, for the well-being of all the people of the region, and for the ongoing presence of Christians in the Holy Land," he said.

Patriarch Theophilos assured Tveit of the ongoing support of the Orthodox Church for the WCC, saying the ecumenical movement is called to promote "unity without confusion" among churches.

Shortly before placing the cross around Tveit's neck, the patriarch uttered this blessing: "May this cross be a reminder to you of the daily death and resurrection that is the vocation of every Christian believer, and of the way of the cross that leads to the triumph of new life."

"I receive this cross with humility and accept it as an honour intended for the World Council of Churches and our common efforts toward Christian unity," Tveit said. "The ecumenical movement is a movement of the cross, and this reminds me in a very clear way how the cross unites us in our faith and ministry."

"May we carry the cross together, and may there be hope for the peace of Jerusalem in these days," Tveit concluded.

More on the WCC: http://www.oikoumene.org/

As the row continues over an Islamic cultural centre to be sited near to Ground Zero in New York, the first US Muslim college has opened in California.

As the row continues over an Islamic cultural centre to be sited near to Ground Zero in New York, the first US Muslim college has opened in California.

Joanna Corman writes for ENI/RNS: The Brooklyn native is part of the inaugural class of what Zaytuna's founders hope will be the country's first accredited, four-year Muslim liberal arts college - a flagship of higher learning with an Islamic identity yet open to all faiths, Religion News Service reports.

Faatimah Knight's college decision came down to eight schools where she would have majored in English, or Zaytuna College, where she could study Islamic classical teachings in an environment that embraces all aspects of her Muslim faith.

Knight, 18, chose Zaytuna, she said, because she wants to grow in her faith, learn more about the religion that inspired her parents to convert from Christianity and be able to defend Islam during a time of stepped-up suspicion.

"I want to feel like I'm improving as a person. I want to feel like I'm improving in terms of my character," said Knight. "I'm almost positive that I can only get that here."

An aspiring writer, Knight is one of 15 Zaytuna students who started classes on 24 August.

Zaytuna College grew out of a pilot seminary programme at the Zaytuna Institute, which graduated a handful of students in 2008. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, an American-born convert from the San Francisco Bay Area who studied Islam abroad, started the institute in 1996, offering continuing education classes in Arabic and Islamic studies.

Yusuf began planning Zaytuna's transition to a full-fledged college two years ago with two colleagues: Imam Zaid Shakir, a Berkeley convert who studied Islam abroad; and Hatem Bazian, a professor at the University of California Berkeley and a Palestinian native who has lived in the Bay Area for nearly 27 years.

The three are among the best-known and most-respected Muslim scholars in America, said Zahra Billoo, the programmes and outreach director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations' San Francisco Bay Area chapter.

The college will seek accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and founders hope to graduate students who can work in any profession, including serving the Muslim American community as imams, non-profit managers and Islamic school teachers.

Co-founder Bazian said the college is needed because of a lack of native-born Muslim professionals with a strong understanding of their faith and the needs of US Muslims.

"We feel the college is very important in that it provides grounding for the community in its own tradition - not in a sense to create a difference with the larger society, but to actually normalise its presence within the larger society, that there is no contradiction between being an American and being Muslim," Bazian said.

While Muslims have been in the United States for centuries, most migrated here within the last 40 years, with 80 per cent of US Muslims arriving after 1980, said Farid Senzai, a member of Zaytuna's management committee and the research director at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a Michigan-based think tank focused on US Muslims.

Over several generations, Muslim Americans have built an infrastructure of mosques, schools and advocacy organisations. Now, with a population estimated to range from 2 million to as many as 8 million, and growing financial stability, they are beginning to build academic institutions, Senzai said, just as Roman Catholics and Jews did generations ago.

The college could help bridge the gap between different segments of the community, such as immigrants and native-born Muslims, said CAIR's Billoo. It could also provide ranks of home grown imams to lead the country's estimated 2000 mosques instead of foreign-born leaders who sometimes face cultural, language and generational gaps.

Zaytuna is offering two majors to start: Arabic language, and Islamic law and theology. There are plans to add advanced degrees, adult education classes and professional certificate programmes in areas such as Islamic medical ethics, Islamic finance and religious training for imams and undergraduates.

Zaytuna, which means "olive tree" in Arabic, also hopes to be a vehicle for interfaith dialogue. The college was intentionally planted in progressive Berkeley, an intellectual hub with a sizable Muslim community. The college will be housed at the American Baptist Seminary of the West for five years until founders can establish its own campus.

The college can help promote cross-cultural understanding, when visitors "see it in action", said Senzai, who also teaches political science at Santa Clara University.

"In fact, these kinds of institutions in the long term are absolutely necessary for bridging the divide that currently exists and the misunderstanding that many have about Islam and Muslims," he said.

With acknowledgments to ENI - www.eni.ch

Professor Andrew Linzey, an Oxford theologian and one of the world’s leading ethicists on animal issues, is to receive an award from the RSPCA.

Professor Andrew Linzey, an Oxford theologian and one of the world’s leading ethicists on animal issues, is to receive an award from the RSPCA.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (http://www.rspca.org.uk/) is a charity in England and Wales which promotes animal welfare. Last year it investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints, and collected and rescued 135,293 animals.

The RSPCA will give the Lord Erskine Award to Professor Linzey at a special ceremony to be held at its headquarters in Horsham, West Sussex, on Saturday 11 September 2010.

Professor Linzey is the founder and the Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford.

This is the first time that the award has been given to a theologian.

Professor Linzey responded: “This is a tremendous affirmation of the work we have been doing at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. I am happy to accept this award on behalf of all the fellows of the Centre who are pioneering ethical perspectives on animals.”

Linzey has written or edited more than 20 books including Animal Theology (1994), Animal Gospel (1999), Creatures of the Same God (2004), and The Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence (2009).

His latest book, Why Animal Suffering Matters published by Oxford University Press in 2009 has been described by Christopher Libby, writing in the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture as “a paradigmatic example of how practical ethics ought to be done”.

The award recipient is also Honorary Professor at the University of Winchester, and Special Professor at Saint Xavier University, Chicago. In addition, he is the first Henry Bergh Professor of Animal Ethics at the Graduate Theological Foundation, Indiana.

The latter post is named after Henry Bergh, the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and a pioneer in animal protection.

The RSPCA’s award is named after Lord Erskine (1750–1823) who pioneered the first anti-cruelty legislation in the United Kingdom. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (as it then was) was founded a year after his death in 1824.

The Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics was founded in 2006. It aims to pioneer ethical perspectives on animals through academic research, teaching and publication. The Centre has more than 50 Fellows drawn from a variety of academic disciplines from throughout the world.

See: www.oxfordanimalethics.com

Land rights in Brazil have fuelled conflict at every level within the country for more than 500 years, writes Pascale Palmer, exploring the issues that lie behind Brazil’s “agricultural miracle” and the struggle to feed the planet in the face of both need and greed.

In last week’s Economist, an article on Brazil’s “agricultural miracle” expounded the virtues of the emerging economy volte face from net importer of food to a model that challenges the dominance of the “big five” food exporters (America, Australia, Argentina, Canada and the EU). The piece went on to argue that the Brazilian embrace of genetically modified plants and farm sizes that put America’s plains states to shame, are the key to this success story.

It is also working on an economic level. Without huge state subsidies, Brazil, in just forty years, has become the first tropical agricultural giant. But what the article overlooks is that this “magnificent” productivity comes at a very high price.

About 30 million Brazilians live in rural areas, that is approximately 16 per cent of the population. Half of Brazil’s farms measure 10 hectares or fewer, taking up approximately two per cent of the land area, while 44 per cent of the country is owned by just one per cent of farmers, working more than 1,000 hectares each.

In Brazil, there are single farms as large as Wales. These agribusinesses employ just 26 per cent of farm workers. Small farms employ the rest.

Land rights in Brazil have fuelled conflict at every level within the country for more than 500 years, and the recent massive expansion in industrial scale agriculture to feed international market demands feels very much like the final and systematic charge towards the eradication of all dissenters. These dissenters and protesters, calling for the freedom to farm and live on their own portion of earth, are almost always the least well-off, the poorest and marginalised, and above all the indigenous peoples of Brazil.

These are the people who are pushed away from their land to make way for this so called development. In one fell swoop they can lose their livelihoods, ways of life and sacred grounds, and can no longer support themselves, their families and communities. What must not be forgotten is that 70 per cent of Brazil’s own food comes from its small farmers; the superfarm crops are grown specifically for export. This means that as Brazil loses small farmers, so food insecurity increases and food sovereignty decreases.

Of course, the environmental consequences of industrial scale farming are profound. The Economist argues that the majority of this farming revolution has taken place in the formerly barren area of the cerrado, hundreds of miles from the Amazon rainforests. But Brazil isn’t a cartoon map of distinct areas surrounded by halos of inhibition - one area seeps and leaches into another, so that the borderlands between scrub and forest are constantly eroded in favour of the superfarms.

It is no coincidence that the biggest soya-producing state, Mato Grosso, also has the highest levels of Amazon deforestation. For years, the Brazilian government has sold off portion after portion of land to large-scale farmers who then often invest in non-food agrofuel crops, creating monocultures that destroy biodiversity and depend on high levels of chemical fertilisers for productivity.

Recent research into pesticide contamination in Mato Grosso found pesticide residue in the blood and urine of several communities. Well water and rainwater were also found to be contaminated, while 11 per cent of air samples contained residues of toxic chemicals.

In an interview with the BBC, leader of the Manoki indigenous tribe, native to Mato Grosso, Alonso Iravali, said: “They’re chopping down everything. They’re destroying our forests, polluting our rivers with chemicals, and depriving us of the natural remedies that our people rely on.”

This severe and worsening inequality of land ownership, with its concomitant environmental and human destruction, is being brought into sharp focus this week as a plebiscite closes on the limitation of land ownership in the country. The plebiscite calls for a new clause in the Constitution to limit the maximum area of land owned by one individual - anything above the stipulated size would be considered public property.

This mass mobilisation, organised by the Brazilian National Forum for Agrarian Reform, and backed by rural movements, trade unions, educational institutes, and the Brazilian Bishops Conference, is an attempt to highlight the issue of unfair land access and ownership, and put pressure on the government to guarantee land ownership to all Brazilians who make their living from the earth.

The Economist calls Brazil’s response to the global need for more food and more agrofuels a model with “decisive boldness”, while branding those like the Brazilian National Forum for Agrarian Reform and its supporters worldwide, “agro-pessimists”.

Voicing concern over an aggressive agricultural policy that can damage the environment and displace thousands of rural workers and indigenous communities, is not pessimism - it is the manifestation of the polar opposite. This plebiscite, which closes on 7 September 2020, shows that hundreds of thousands of people feel there is a solution-led alternative to the steamrollering of big business and greedy government across swathes of land and lives. At the very least this is motivated by the belief in good sense. To me, it looks a lot like action fuelled by passionate optimism.

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© Pascale Palmer is media advocacy adviser for CAFOD, the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, in Britain. www.cafod.org.uk/

If you've ever campaigned for political change you've probably had someone tell you to “live in the real world”. But witnessing to the truth that Jesus taught involves acting in accordance with the realities our society denies.

If you've ever campaigned for political change you've probably had someone tell you to “live in the real world”. People say it to me all the time, meaning I should accept the world as it is and not try to change anything.

It is arrogant, as well as absurd, to look at society in our own place, time and culture and say that only this is “real”. Supporters of capitalism tell me I am unrealistic in wanting a different economic system. But the banking crisis of 2008 was caused by the unrealistic lending of bankers who seemed to live in a fantasy world of endless money. “Real world” enthusiasts say that nonviolence “doesn't work”. They then defend violence, which has been spectacularly not working for centuries.

As Christians, we are called to a vision of the Kingdom of God which is mindbendingly eternal and yet thoroughly grounded in the challenges of everyday life. Jesus' teachings are realistic. They are radical and – to put it mildly – not always easy to follow. But they are realistic.

Jesus has been a profound embarrassment to Christianity. The later portions of the New Testament reveal a gradual move away from the radicalism of a messiah who socialised with outcasts and denounced the powerful. Slavery and sexism are justified in Ephesians and 1st Timothy (which carry Paul's name, although most scholars believe he didn't write them). In the fourth century, the Roman Empire domesticated Christianity, beginning centuries of Christendom in which the church was allied with political and cultural power. Arguments appeared to excuse Christians from following the Sermon on the Mount – it was claimed that Jesus' ethical teachings apply only to priests, that they relate to private life but not politics or that Jesus deliberately gave instructions we could not live up to as a way of showing our sinfulness.

As Christendom fades in our multifaith society, we have a great opportunity to look again at Jesus, without being so compromised by wealth and power. This does not mean Jesus' teachings are straightforward or easy. We have to wrestle with them thoughtfully and prayerfully.

Take Jesus' teaching, “If anyone hits you on the right cheek, turn the other also” (Matthew 5,39).

Outrageously, victims of domestic abuse have been told to endure it on the grounds of this passage. Slaves were taught to accept beatings because of it. At the same time, Christian politicians have justified war by saying that Jesus was speaking about private relations, not political ones. These interpretations condone oppression while encouraging its victims to accept it.

If I thought that Jesus had taught such things, I would never follow him.

But who was Jesus speaking to? To hit someone on the right cheek (with the right hand) requires a backhanded slap. Backhanding in Jesus' time was the way people disciplined supposed inferiors. Slaves were backhanded by their “owners”, wives by husbands and Jewish civilians by Roman soldiers. When backhanded, these people could cower in submission, perhaps eventually hating themselves as well as their oppressors. Or they could resort to violence. Instead, Jesus encourages people to assert their dignity and equality by calmly facing the aggressor and making clear that the attempt to humiliate them has failed.

The message of Jesus does not conform to our society's expectations. We are used to a choice between violence and passivity, yet Jesus promotes a third option of nonviolent resistance. We are familiar with hero-worship, but Christ says that the greatest among us will be our servants. In a world that says we must be “successful”, Jesus calls us to leave behind the self that is defined in terms of a hierarchical system, so that we might find our real self fulfilled in God's kingdom.

Witnessing to truth involves acting in accordance with the realities our society denies. If we treat all people as our equals, we testify to the truth of human equality. When we manage to live nonviolently, we demonstrate the truth that nonviolence can work. Acts of repentance and forgiveness witness to the possibility of meaningful change, in people and in the world.

These truths are far more real than a reliance on violence, the worship of markets and the ephemeral moral preferences of our own culture. As Christians, we have no choice but to stand against society's priorities and seek God's help as we work for change. This is because the dominant values around are not only morally abhorrent but also contrary to the reality to which Jesus calls us. And I for one want to live in the real world.

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© Symon Hill is associate director of Ekklesia. This article was orginally published in the autumn 2010 issue of Movement magazine, for which Symon writes a regular column. See http://www.movement.org.uk/movement-magazine.

Kate O'Sullivan, a customer at Tony Blair's book signing in Dublin, attempted to make a citizen's arrest for war crimes in relation to the invasion of Iraq.

A customer at Tony Blair's book signing in Dublin yesterday (4 September) attempted to arrest him for war crimes. Kate O'Sullivan told the UK's former Prime Minister that she was making a citizen's arrest over his role in the invasion of Iraq.

O'Sullivan, 24, who lives in Cork, was then forcibly removed from the room. She is reported to have been detained by police for twenty minutes before being removed from Eason's bookshop in Dublin's O'Connell Street.

This is thought to be the third attempt to make a citizen's arrest of Tony Blair since he left office in 2007.

"I queued up and went in," explained O'Sullivan, "We were given a copy of the book and we paid for it. We went through a metal detector and were led up to the third floor. We were brought in four at a time.”

She said 'Mr Blair, I'm here to make a citizen's arrest for the war crimes that you've committed'. She says that Blair looked taken aback and that she was then dragged away by five security personnel.

Around 200 people protested against Tony Blair as he signed his book, A Journey, which was released last week. The majority of the protesters were peaceful, although a minority were supporters of the Continuity IRA. Eggs and shoes were thrown but did not hit Blair. The police arrested four people.

As UK Prime Minister in 2003, Tony Blair launched an invasion of Iraq along with US President George Bush.

Their critics say that they broke international law because no approval was given by the United Nations and claims that the Iraqi regime owned weapons of mass destruction were found to be inaccurate. Blair's criticisms of the oppressive nature of the Iraqi regime were undermined by his friendship with other dictatorships, notably the government of Saudi Arabia.

In July, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg described the invasion of Iraq as “illegal” while standing in for David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions. He later said that he was expressing a “personal” view rather than a government opinion, although the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, appeared to be nodding as he spoke.

Further protests are expected on Wednesday (8 September), when Blair will sign copies of his book at Waterstone's bookshop in Piccadilly, London.

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Amnesty International has welcomed the police action leading to the rescue of a number of suspected victims of trafficking, after raids on Belfast brothels.

Amnesty International has welcomed the police action that has led to the rescue of a number of suspected victims of trafficking, after raids on a number of Belfast brothels.

Amnesty International's Northern Ireland Programme Director, Patrick Corrigan, said:

"We hope these women can be properly identified as trafficking victims and receive the support, temporary accommodation and medical attention they may need.

“Based on recent cases, though, there’s a risk that they could instead be treated not as victims but as illegal immigrants, and could even end up being forcibly removed from the country, perhaps going straight back into the hands of the traffickers.

"The police should be commended for helping to free women from this modern-day slavery, but there needs to be for more effort made to crack the trafficking gangs and bring criminals to justice.

"According to figures we published in June, between April 2009 and April 2010 a total of 25 people were identified as presumed trafficked persons in Northern Ireland, yet there hasn’t been a single successful trafficking prosecution as a result.

"We need better implementation of the European Convention against Trafficking - only then will it be possible to treat victims of trafficking compassionately, and properly prosecute the criminals behind this horrible human rights abuse", he concluded.

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A bid to reverse the coalition government’s refusal to abolish the Act of Settlement has been mounted by an SNP MP ahead of the Pope's visit.

A bid to reverse the coalition government’s refusal to include abolition of the Act of Settlement within the Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill has been mounted by an SNP MP ahead of the visit by Pope Benedict XVI later this month.

The Scottish Nationalist MP for the Western Isles, Angus MacNeil, rounded on the Deputy Prime Minister after receiving a parliamentary answer advising that the coalition had no plans to end the discriminatory rules of succession.

Now, by building on the public consultation over the Freedom Bill, which was launched by Deputy Prime Minister and appealed for nomination of “laws you would like to remove or change because they restrict your civil liberties”, Mr MacNeil hopes that the government can be made to think again.

Mr MacNeil declared: “The Act of Settlement represents clear institutional discrimination against millions of our fellow citizens, and the coalition government’s refusal to consider its repeal is lamentable.

He continued: “Nick Clegg has lauded the Freedom Bill, and fancies himself as a great reformer, but his words are not matched by actions or even intentions. There is no better example of an outdated law that should be removed from the statute book and, with Pope Benedict visiting in juts a few weeks, we need to put this on the agenda.

“This is an issue of cross-party and cross-faith concern. The Act is state sectarianism and has no place in a modern society.

“The Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government and Catholic church in Scotland have long called for this institutional discrimination to come to an end to send a signal to society as a whole that religious discrimination of any kind and at any level is unacceptable.

“Changing the Act of Settlement allows us to deal with a fundamental issue of discrimination; it enables us to state clearly that discrimination is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in a modern country.

“The UK Government must act to bring forward real reforms and end institutional discrimination however high up it is,” concluded the MP.

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A group of Catholic bishops have lead a "green pilgrimage" reflecting a theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for the 2010 World Day of Peace.

The financial and economic crisis experienced by many societies could bring about a powerful change to "sustainable environmental development", says Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople.

Istanbul-based Bartholomeos was marking the Day for Creation, 1 September, as a group of Roman Catholic bishops were leading a "green" pilgrimage reflecting a theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for the 2010 World Day of Peace: "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation."

Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erd, the archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and president of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), began the pilgrimage at the Esztergom Basilica on 1 September 2010 in its trek through three countries in the heart of the continent, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. It ends on 5 September.

"Concern for creation has always been part of the bishops' conference's work," said CCEE's General Secretary, the Rev Duarte da Cunha.

In his statement, the Ecumenical Patriarch, considered one of the world's most influential Orthodox leaders said, "It is important to note that the current grievous financial crisis may spark the much-reported and absolutely essential shift to environmentally viable development … and not unbridled financial gain."

He noted, "If ecosystems deteriorate and disappear, natural sources become depleted, and landscapes suffer destruction, and climate change produces unpredictable weather conditions, on what basis will the financial future of these countries and the planet as a whole depend?"

The statement by Bartholomeos follows in the tradition of his predecessor as Ecumenical Patriarch, Demitrios I, who proclaimed 1 September, the first day of the Orthodox church year, as a day of prayer for the environment

The same date is now known to many Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians as the beginning of the Time for Creation, as 40 days during which churches and congregations are called to pay special attention to the human responsibility for the earth.

In 2010, the Geneva-based World Council of Churches has proposed to extend the Time for Creation until 10 October, so as to join a global civil society movement (www.350.org) that is celebrating climate solutions around the world on that date.

Catholic bishops' pilgrimage: www.ccee.ch/index.php?&na=4,1,0,0,e,125193,0,0,

Ecumenical Patriarch: www.ec-patr.org/docdisplay.php?lang=en&id=1223&tla=en

World Council of Churches: www.oikoumene.org/

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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The Anglican Archbishop of York has said that the government is not responding effectively to new pan-European attempts to tackle sex trafficking.

The Anglican Archbishop of York has said that the government is not responding effectively to new pan-European attempts to tackle sex trafficking.

Describing the practice of forcing women and children into prostitution as “modern-day slavery”, Dr John Sentamu said he was "shocked" that the UK coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had opted out of a European Union directive aimed at encouraging nations to join forces against the trade.

He called on the Government to rethink its “seriously flawed” position and “make the UK a more hostile environment for traffickers”.

“This is women being exploited, degraded and subjected to horrific risks solely for the gratification and economic greed of others," said the Archbishop, who is number two in the Church of England,

“I am stunned to learn the Government are opting out of an EU directive designed to tackle sex trafficking," he continued. “This seems to be a common-sense directive designed to co-ordinate European efforts to combat the trade in sex slaves. What we need are tough cross-border solutions to international problems."

“We need to join with our European brothers and sisters and put an end to this evil trade," concluded Dr Sentamu.

According to the International Labour Organisation, 43 per cent of the 2.45 million individuals across the world currently being trafficked are forced into the sex trade, most of them women or young girls.

“Britain should get involved now and be part of improving the situation, not sitting on the sidelines offering wise words once the match is over,” the Archbishop declared.

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Germany is remembering the "father of Protestant media" on the centenary of his birth and paying tribute to his strong belief in journalistic independence.

Germany is remembering the man known as the "father of Protestant media" on the centenary of his birth and paying tribute to his unswerving belief in the need for journalistic independence write Peter Kenny and Stephen Brown.

Born on 1 September 1910, Robert Geisendörfer was appointed director of the Bavarian Protestant Press Association in 1947. His task was to rebuild church media work after the Nazi dictatorship of Adolf Hitler and the Second World War.

A tribute published on the OVB online news site (http://ovb-online.de) recalled his motto: "The task of Protestant journalism is to make something public, practise advocacy, demonstrate compassion, and be a voice for the voiceless."

After his stint at the Bavarian press association, Geisendörfer became the broadcasting commissioner of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the country's main Protestant umbrella. Later he was director of the Protestant Press Association of Germany, then responsible for the German Protestant news agency, the Evangelischer Pressedienst (epd).

Geisendörfer went on to found the Frankfurt-based Association for Protestant Media (GEP) as a centre for German Protestant communications work. This took over responsibility for epd, Germany's oldest news agency, founded in the year of Geisendörfer's birth.

At the time there were concerns that epd's journalistic independence might be affected by being part of GEP, but these were quickly dissipated.

Instead there were protests from some church officials against EKD subsidies for epd's independent journalism as set down in its charter. Such church officials believed that epd should only report on what was "beneficial" to the church.

A tribute published by epd recalled Geisendörfer's belief that Protestant journalism could exercise its role only in journalistic freedom.

"Geisendörfer doggedly and unflinchingly stood up for such freedom against the demands of the leadership of the church," the tribute recalled of Geisendörfer, who died in 1976 aged 65.

Earlier in 2010, epd marked its own 100th anniversary, with a celebration in Berlin at which the keynote speaker was Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in a church milieu due to her father being a Lutheran pastor in the former East Germany.

In front of 300 guests from Church, media, politics and society, Merkel praised the role of epd as an important sentinel helping to ensure that "political and social institutions are controlled, criticised, and made transparent".

In her speech at the 3 February ceremony, Merkel noted it is not always comfortable for churches or their leaders to read news about them that is critical.

"Which pastor or bishop likes to read about certain drawbacks or deficiencies they may have? This may be a normal situation for politicians, but in church institutions, respect and dignity is maybe still understood differently," said Merkel. "In this regard one can certainly expect a tense relationship with the churches."

Still, Bishop Ulrich Fischer, who heads the EKD's media committee, said in his congratulations to the agency, "Sometimes news from epd is uncomfortable, even for a bishop. But in the final analysis, such critical support also helps one to get one's own statements right."

The agency now reaches about two-thirds of the daily newspapers in Germany. It says it serves a combined total of 37 million readers, as well as public broadcasters and online clients.

Eight regional services are linked with each other and to the central editorial office in Frankfurt/Main. More than 80 journalists are employed for epd in more than 30 German towns and cities.

ENInews and epd also have a news exchange agreement and the German agency provides text and photos for the areas of church and religion, media and education, society, social affairs, and development issues.

The Rev Olav Fykse Tveit, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, a founder member of ENInews, said in an anniversary message, "Without the central and important role played by Church and church-related news agencies such as epd, the voice of the Church in society cannot be heard."

Tveit noted, "That this voice is able to be heard in a credible and professional fashion is not just a question of using the best tools and structures, but depends crucially on the credibility and competence of staff and management."

He added, "The independent and critical position of epd thereby corresponds to the essential criteria for the task of news agencies in democratic societies."

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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Christian International education charity Feed the Minds (FTM) has announced the launch of a new initiative to mark International Literacy Day.

The Christian international education charity, Feed the Minds (FTM) has announced the launch of a new initiative to mark International Literacy Day on 8 September 2010. They aim to raise money to support international literacy and education projects.

The Lunches for Life campaign asks supporters to host a lunch for friends, families, colleagues or schoolmates, who are invited to make a contribution to their meal. The funds will be put towards FTM’s Education for Change programme, which helps vulnerable and disadvantaged people across the developing world.

FTM says that “scores of fundraisers” are already signed up to the initiative, with events scheduled across the UK, including Perth, Salisbury, Norfolk, York and London.

As part of the campaign launch, one of the beneficiaries of a Feed the Minds literacy programme will be visiting the UK to officially endorse the initiative. 35-year-old Sierra Leonean Josephine Sifoe is a victim of the vicious civil war in her country.

Sifoe has experienced profound personal tragedy and until three years ago was illiterate. Thanks to a FTM literacy and education programme, she can now read and write, is numerate and as a result has been able to turn her life and the life of her family around.

“As well as feeding friends and family, Lunches for Life will help feed the minds of marginalised people from across the globe,” said FTM’s Adam Sach.

FTM have launched a dedicated website for the Lunches for Life initiative, providing a range of fundraising resources designed to support anyone considering getting involved. They describe it as “packed full of tips, recipes, downloadable invitations and posters”.

Sach added, “We hope that this new scheme will become an annual event and will enable us to deliver more education projects, while also raising awareness of how education can make a world of difference.”

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With cuts in civil legal aid due to hit asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups, the Methodist Church has urged the government to rethink.

With cuts in civil legal aid due to hit asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups, the Methodist Church has urged the government to rethink.

Last week the Legal Services Commission announced it is to reduce the number of firms able to offer social, welfare and family legal aid from about 2,400 to 1,300, in a move condemned by the Refugee Council and other welfare groups.

Methodist spokesperson Rachel Lampard, who is Leader and Policy Adviser for the Joint Public Issues Team of the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and the Baptists, commented: "Cutting the legal aid budget puts already vulnerable people at greater risk of being returned to dangerous situations."

She continued: "We recognise that the Government wants to make budget savings in this area, but this should only be done once we are confident that people will not be denied justice as a result. The quality of initial decision-making in asylum cases must first be improved – it is estimated that as many as a quarter of initial decisions are currently overturned on appeal."

"Sound and timely legal representation is vital if correct decisions are to be made in the first place, and incorrect decisions overturned. People who have few resources of their own must be able to access legal aid to ensure that they receive justice," concluded Lampard.

Meanwhile, the Refugee Council's CEO, Donna Covey said: "Slashing funding for legal aid and restricting the number of law firms that can provide it means asylum-seekers will either be forced to pay for legal services themselves or, more likely, to go without."

She continued: "This will result in people who deserve protection here being wrongly refused asylum and returned to countries where their lives are in danger. This is unacceptable.

"People who have fled human rights abuses and are now seeking safety in our country must have legal representation to ensure they are given a fair hearing and can be recognised as genuine refugees. As asylum-seekers are not allowed to work, they have no choice but to rely on publicly funded legal advice," declared Ms Covey.

Desmond Hudson, CEO of the Law Society, the official body for solicitors, called on the Legal Services Commission to publish in full the findings of its recent review.

He said: "The fall-out from the recent tendering process will see almost 50 per cent of firms previously doing legal aid work removed in a matter of a few weeks."

"The effect of such a massive reduction in the number of firms is that tens of thousands of clients around England and Wales are likely to be forced to find a new family solicitor all at the same time in October 2010," said Hudson.

"This will impact heavily on families and vulnerable people, preventing them [gaining] access to vital legal services when they need them most. As important, is the glaring evidence that the allocation and distribution of contracts will leave significant problems for access to justice," he concluded.

As part of its cuts in public spending, the Ministry of Justice is looking to axe 25 per cent from its £6 billion a year budget, and legal assistance to vulnerable groups is in the firing line.

Legal aid assists two million people every year in cases ranging from child custody to asylum application. But the bulk of the savings will come from the £900 million a year spent on civil legal aid rather than on criminal cases.

Under a new tendering system, many of the nation's oldest legal aid firms, as well as key specialists, will no longer be able to provide the service to those most in need.

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