Christianity Now

Islam at the Universities of Europe. Religious
Education and Education about Religion.

Seminar under the priority area “Religion in the 21st century”, University of Copenhagen, November 8th 2005.

The educational background for imams and Muslim spiritual leaders in Europe has been attracting considerable political attention during the last couple of years. It has among other things been stated that the number of imams from abroad is a problem for the integration of Muslim citizens into European societies, as they do not know the language, the law or the culture of the societies in which they work.

Read all the papers online

Paper are by: Jørgen S. Nielsen, Johan Meuleman, Johannes Lähnemann, Jürgen Wallner, Nedzad Grabus.

"Prior to the recent opening of the new Disney movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, New York Divinity School President Dr. Paul de Vries gave a few examples of how the popular story is rooted in sound theology."
Read the whole Christian Post article

"C. S. Lewis Superstar
How a reserved British intellectual with a checkered pedigree became a rock star for evangelicals."
Read article from Christianity Today

"THE CHRONICLES of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes to movie theatres December 9, and when it does, many Christians will be watching it eagerly to see if director Andrew Adamson (or "son of Adam!") has respected the story's Christian elements.

Some of us, however, will be watching just as closely to see if the film has preserved those bits in C.S. Lewis's book that are a little more, shall we say, pagan. Presumably, the centaurs and fauns will look more or less like the mythological creatures depicted in ancient Greco-Roman art. But will, say, Mr Tumnus regale Lucy with stories of how the Roman god Bacchus filled the streams with wine when he feasted with the forest people?"
Read the Canadian Christianity article

The three issues of the Contact magazine published this year are now available online at http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/news/contact.html .
These are:

No. 181 October-December 2005: Making access to essential medicines possible
No. 180 Diciembre 2005: II Asamblea mundial de la salud de los pueblos ( in Spanish)
No. 179 January 2005: Special issue on Children

These have been published in a participatory manner with key sister organizations who have deep understanding of the subjects that are being dealt with.

The Contact is a publication of the World Council of Churches.

A debate is going on in the Catholic Church on how to interpret the 2. Vatican Council's statements on the church.

Another indication that the "continuity" reading of Vatican II is gaining ground came in the Monday-Tuesday edition of L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper. It carried a front-page commentary from Jesuit Fr. Karl Becker on perhaps the most-debated bit of verbiage from the council, the famous formula in Lumen Gentium 8 that the church of Christ "subsists in" rather than "is" the Roman Catholic church.

Read John L. Allan's commentary in the Word From Rome

The question of what happen to children who die before they are baptized has been a point of discussion in theology almost since the beginning.

In the Catholic church there is a teaching that unbaptized children enters a location called "limbo" where they experience eternal bliss, but does not have the vision of God. This place is different from purgatory.

The concept of limbo theology is now being examined by a Vatican Theology Commission.

Read an article about latest developments here

John Hooper, Guardian Unlimited, on lastest limbo news

Read the Wikipedia definition of limbo here

"The Catechism of the Catholic Church entrusts the fate of infants and the unborn to the mercy of God:

CCC #1261 states:
As regards children who have died without baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God, who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children, which caused him to say, 'Let the children come to me, do not hinder them' [Mark 10:14, cf. 1 Tim. 2:4], allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy baptism."

Christianity Today weblog entry on Limbo

The free dictionary defines the word "limbo" in this manner:

"1. often Limbo Roman Catholic Church The abode of unbaptized but innocent or righteous souls, as those of infants or virtuous individuals who lived before the coming of Christ.
2. A region or condition of oblivion or neglect: Management kept her promotion in limbo for months.
3. A state or place of confinement.
4. An intermediate place or state."

Dante writes about limbo:

"Great grief seized on my own heart when this I heard, because some people of much worthiness I knew, who in limbo were suspended."

A new report has revealed a significant increase in the number of people who now see themselves as having no religion.
In the report entitled 'Driven to disaffection: Religious independents in Northern Ireland', by the University of Ulster and Queen's University, it is claimed that current trends will see those with no religion forming the second or third largest group in Northern Ireland by 2011.

Read the full article here

Or read the research report here

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences(CCEE) announced today the winner of the competition to design the logo for the next Third European Ecumenical Assembly (EEA3) on the theme “The light of Christ shines upon all. Hope for renewal and unity in Europe”.

The winner is Gabriele Riva, an Italian graphic designer from Belluno, Italy.