Tajikistan has been at peace for 10 years. After its seven-year civil war, however, bitter memories still linger in people's lives - but the country remains poor and hard pressed.

These days, it can so easily feel as if religion is an anti-democratic force in our polity, writes Giles Fraser. No one votes for Bishops in the House of Lords, for example. So it's worth remembering that in this country, as indeed in many others too, religion was the nursemaid of democracy.

Angolan authorities could be planning to forcibly evict thousands of squatters living in the capital Luanda in a Mugabe-style slum clearance over the Christmas holiday, UK-based international aid agency Christian Aid has warned.

Christianity in Iraq is staring oblivion in the face, declares a commentary in the Methodist Recorder newspaper in the UK - which focuses on the concerns of Iraqis surveying the current devastating situation in their country from the outside.

Mennonites in the Democratic Republic of Congo are relieved that their country successfully held national elections this year after decades of corrupt dictatorship and two recent wars - writes Tim Shenk.

This week I have had the great pleasure of meeting up again, for the first time since March 2006, with Jim Loney from Canada and Harmeeet Singh Sooden from New Zealand. One year ago this weekend we were companions in kidnap and held in close confinement in Baghdad where we had gone as members of a Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) delegation.

The National Council of Churches USA has said that the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group "generally resonate" with church leaders' recommendations, and has urged President Bush and the United States Congress "to understand the opportunity presented by this report."