Towards One World Religion

[SoftTouch]

From Email New Alert – Understanding The Times – Roger Oakland’s Ministry


July 13 - Young Christians, Muslims, Jews Explore Unity in Diversity

Article: One World Religion

Young Christian, Jewish and Muslim adults have gathered from around the world to explore inter-faith relations and unity in diversity during a summer seminar at the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

The July seminar has brought together 21 participants from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas to take a closer look at the question, 'How can we affirm our identity as Muslims, Jews and Christians not in separation or against each other but in relation to one another?'

The participants will also speculate on what the future holds as the traditional "one nation, one culture and one religion" gives way to greater cultural and religious diversity.

The one-month programme "Building an Interfaith Community" is designed to "prepare the future generation of leaders in churches, other faith communities and society at large for the challenges of living peacefully in a world of religious plurality", the WCC said.

Each day starts with a moment of shared prayer and spirituality, prepared alternately by the Christian, the Jewish and the Muslim participants.

Read More Here (An Article From Christian Today: July 13, 2007)

[SoftTouch]

From an Email Alert – Understanding The Times – Roger Oaklands Ministry:


July 24 - Hundreds Celebrate Movement to 'Be Christian Together'

Article: Ecumenical Movement - Protestants Uniting With Roman Catholics

A new generation of Christians has advanced itself into a 50-year- old ecumenical movement and is learning just how diverse faith groups are "being Christian together."

A hundred college students joined hundreds of participants from 80 Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal, Anglican, and Evangelical denominations and organizations over the past several days to discuss the progress of Christian unity and its future.

"I think it's very good to see this fresh new wave of young scholars interested in talking with each other about what they find in common and what distinctives they bring to the understanding of Christian faith," commented Wesley M. Pattilo, associate general secretary for Communication at the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) - a network of 35 various faith groups that constitute 45 million members across the nation.

Noted church historian and Lutheran pastor Dr. Martin Marty addressed the growing number of constituents in the ecumenical dialogue over the last half century. Participants highlighted the progress between Protestant groups and the Roman Catholic Church.

His Eminence Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., theologian and author, praised the work of bilateral dialogues since the Second Vatican Council. He said decades of conversation between Roman Catholic and Orthodox, Anglican and Orthodox, Lutheran and Roman Catholic, just to name a few, "have been of immense value for dispelling past prejudices, for identifying real but hitherto unrecognized agreements, and for enabling parties to see that they can say more together than they previously deemed possible."

Just last summer at the 19th World Methodist Conference, Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Methodists signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification - a 1999 document that articulates a common understanding of justification by God's grace through faith in Christ - marking a major achievement in ecumenical dialogue.

"We are becoming Christian together," Marty suggested in his address last week at the Faith and Order conference, according to the NCC News Service.

Read More Here

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The days draw closer to the One World church.