News Items

The Forum regularly posts news articles of interest here from a variety of sources and news outlets. You can check back here or view the most recent ones from the homepage. We also archive these articles here, for those doing research, with news going back to 2006. Use the menu on the right to explore the archived articles.

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Greek Orthodox Day of Prayer on the Environment

September 1, 2009
Environment News Service

NEW YORK, New York – The General Secretary of the National Council of Churches has commemorated September 1, 2009 as the 20th anniversary of the Day of Prayer on the protection of the environment, and he urged all persons of faith to take up the prayer today.

The first environmental prayer day was instituted by the...

Your greenest Ramadan

September 1, 2009
By Shawna Ayoub
Grist Online

After my grandfather had a stroke, the doctor said he might not walk again. He also said that getting him to challenge himself—to give walking a true try—was critical to his physical and emotional recovery. My grandfather took his first steps only a week after the near total paralysis of his left side.

Catholic groups call for focus on poor in climate change debate

September 1, 2009
DPA

New York - Caritas Internationalis and an alliance of Catholic development agencies called on world governments on Tuesday to give top priority to the debate on climate change, with a focus on the poor. The two groups will send a high-ranking delegation to be headed by Britain’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien to the climate change summit at UN headquarters in New York...

India's idol rituals take toll on environment

August 31, 2009
By Liz Neisloss
CNN

PALLAVAKAM, India – South India’s sun beats down on a long line of trucks wending to the Bay of Bengal. In the back of these trucks, giant, brightly painted statues of the Hindu god Ganesha are waiting to be dropped in the nearby ocean.

All over India, Hindus recently celebrated the birthday of the elephant god and now the idols made...

Pope says global leaders must take care of environment, remember poor

August 26, 2009
By Bryon Cones
Catholic News Service

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI urged world leaders to address global environmental issues “with generous courage” and reminded them that the world’s resources are to be shared by all, including poorer countries.

The pope, speaking Aug. 26 at the summer papal residence outside Rome, addressed his...

Biofuel production 'exacerbating' climate change, says Christian Aid

August 17, 2009
By Jennifer Gold
Christian Today

Western governments are pouring billions of dollars into the production of biofuels with dubious benefits for the climate, warns Christian Aid.

In a new report out today, the aid agency said that the massive subsidies and quotas set by governments to finance biofuels had proved “disastrous”.

Eco-Islam

July 31, 2009
Living on Earth
Distributed by Public Radio International

Green is the color of the conservation movement, and the traditional color of Islam. At a recent conference in Istanbul, Islamic scholars from all over the Muslim world gathered under an especially green banner to talk about climate change. Mahmoud Akef (MAHMOOD AKEEF) organized the conference, and...

Pope cites Teilhardian vision of the cosmos as a 'living host'

July 28, 2009

Anglican and Roman Catholic leaders say the market is lacking morals

July 12, 2009
Larry B. Stammer
LA Times

In the midst of a global recession, religious leaders are looking beyond the recent regulatory fixes and bailouts aimed at repairing an ailing financial system.

They are questioning the underlying assumptions of a market economy that they say has lost its moral bearings.

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI issued an encyclical,...

Catholicism as Antidote to Turbo-Capitalism

July 12, 2009
Carter Dougherty
New York Times

MUNICH — The collapse of Communism in the East two decades ago did not provide much of an opening for the Catholic Church to influence economic policy, but perhaps the near-collapse of Western capitalism will. Two German authors — one named Marx, the other his patron in Rome — are certainly hoping so.

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