Church leaders attending a workshop, Rethinking the Household of God, which was held in the Solomon Islands at the beginning of June have agreed to actively support the struggle for political independence of the people of West Papua. The call comes a week before Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono attends the Pacific Islands Development Forum Read more
Some African clergy have likened foreign criticism about gay rights on their continent to a new wave of Western colonialism. Support for government legislation criminalising homosexual acts and levying harsh penalties is widespread among Christians in Africa. A Kenyan religious scholar said homosexuality is not new in Africa, but open promotion and marketing of it Read more
A petition has been circulated at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 10th Assembly calling for West Papua to be included on the United Nations list of territories to be decolonised. Pacific church leaders from 12 countries have signed the petition which also calls on the WCC to send a fact-finding mission to the Indonesian-controlled Read more
Don’t Ever Whisper — Darlene Keju: Pacific Health Pioneer, Champion for Nuclear Survivors, the biography of Darlene Keju has just been released. It was written by Keju’s husband of 14 years, Giff Johnson. A a young woman Keju championed the cause of nuclear weapons test survivors. She took to a global stage at the World Council of Read more
Indonesian police and army units have conducted heavily armed security sweeps across Jayapura ahead of planned mass demonstrations by civil society organizations, including the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Indonesia’s annexation of West Papua. The raids began at 3am local time on April 30, after the new Papuan Governor Lukas Read more
The Uniting Church has asked for forgiveness for the divisions and pain it has caused Pacific communities in the past. In a submission presented to regional leaders at the Pacific Conference of Churches 10th General Assembly in Honiara, the Solomon Islands this week the Church acknowledged that it has had a part in damaging communities by Read more
A proposal to endorse the re-inscription of Tahiti on the United Nations Decolonization Committee’s list will be on the agenda at the Pacific Conference of Churches’ annual general assembly in Solomon Islands this week, despite opposition from France, New Zealand and Australia. PCC acting general secretary and Tahiti native, Reverend Francois Pihaate, told Radio Australia’s Pacific Read more
I’m sorry we upset the British with our antics in London on Waitangi Day. They’re not used to this sort of thing. The British are known for their abstemious ways with alcohol, and the respectful way they behave on, for example, soccer grounds. They may be known for their steady drinking at neighbourhood pubs, their Read more
Dozens of faith leaders from around the Pacific offered an interfaith, island-style challenge to APEC at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Waikiki. Hundreds of community leaders were expected to attend this event, representing a dozen denominations and Pacific Island nations. Rev. Kekapa Lee says “Our island culture requires that we welcome all visitors with Aloha, Read more
Perhaps we should not be surprised that Fiji dropped the democratic ball after the Hail Mary pass that their Colonial masters gave them at independence: a nation divided by tribal and ethnic barriers. In the course of Britain’s colonial rule so many Indians were imported to work in the cane fields, that by the time Read more