Posts in the ‘the World’ Category

She saw only too clearly the fragility of peace, saying that peace needs to be nurtured as carefully as an egg. Dekha found deep fulfilment in enabling others to develop their full potential as leaders for peace and justice, never seeking the limelight for herself.

Kuany shared his story of destruction, survival and redemption with a packed auditorium at the World Methodist Council at the Lake Junaluska, (N.C.) Conference and Retreat Center.

Rev. Carol Windrum. a United Methodist pastor in Nebraska, won the People of Faith award for her commitment to peacemaking.

United Methodist Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on women’s rights.

“I am concerned about the rights of women, the rights of children and, just as equally, the rights of men – because there can never be a community, there can never be a family, there can never be true freedom when any sector of humanity is not free,” she says.

In wartime, not only remote villages but peace itself seems completely out of reach. Jesus’ call to “love our enemies” seems difficult to conceive, let alone practice. Yet there are countless stories from family and friends about how Dan kept reaching out.

The Methodist Church has launched an appeal for donations to go towards communities that have suffered as a result of the civil disorder. The funds will be used to support the Church’s work in the areas of reconciliation and community rebuilding.

Guy Mande: Forgiveness, also arose as a difficult process to deal with but again necessary for reconciliation within a given community. How can those who committed several atrocities be allowed to walk freely on the streets without any sense of accountability or reparation?

Coming this Fall on PBS, will be a bold new mini-series, Women, War & Peace. The series, which begins in October 2011, challenges “the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain and to place women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security.”

Harriet Jane Olson: What would it be like if our history were shaped by the times of peace, and the wars were viewed as the interruptions? What if we trained some of our best and brightest strategists to create the conditions for peace, for dispute resolution and for investment in all of the things that help humans thrive?