Lutheran leaders in the United States have joined other church chiefs in condemning the killing of abortion doctor George Tiller in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas, where he served and worshipped.

As he heads to what could be a sea of controversy in Israel-Palestine, Pope Benedict XVI's Middle East trip has been marked by a strong message of reconciliation and affirmation of hard-pressed historic Christian communities in the region.

Taking the ancient religious law of proportionate response ("an eye for an eye") as an injunction for modern revenge and preemptive attack is a recipe for disaster, says Martin Marty.

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh observed that "Christianity is part of our national heritage" when general secretary of the World Council of Churches Dr Samuel Kobia called on him on at his residence in New Delhi.

The World Council of Churches' (WCC) general secretary, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia has said that "one of the greatest problems facing the world today is religious extremism" - and that all faiths must be fully engaged in tackling it.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the world's 77 million Anglicans, has endorsed a strong statement against religiously sanctioned violence by Pope Benedict at an inter-faith peace conference in Naples this weekend.

Churches will fail in their mission if violence goes unabated in strife-torn Sri Lanka, a Roman Catholic bishop in the country has warned. He also backed the World Council of Churches' work on peace-building.

Probing the possibility of emerging Christian violence