A leading regional church figure says Christians in Palestine-Israel are living in a difficult situation, with some cases of Muslim-Christian tension. But talk of 'persecution' is exaggerated and the real task is to combat injustice.

The vicious circle of violence which tormented Israel and Palestine for years has returned, says Jerusalem Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan, following the shooting attack on a Jewish seminary. Blood will not save the Holy Land, he says.

Church leaders and journalists have little idea of the pressures that each other face, according to German Lutheran Bishop Margot Kässmann, who has called for a new understanding.

The compassionate actions of human beings, not their claims against each other, reflect the will of God and the transforming power of Jesus the Prince of Peace, say the heads of the churches in Jerusalem this Christmastide.

An ecumenical Christian commemoration of the millions of Africans who died in the barbaric cruelty of the transatlantic slave trade is also highlighting the continuing oppression of their descendants around the world.

Lutherans and other churches have been urging a US House of Representatives Committee to expedite the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2007 (TVPRA), to help identify and protect child victims of trafficking.

The Mennonite Church USA has taken two significant steps forward in inter-church relations by joining an American-wide ecumenical body and receiving an official apology from Evangelical Lutherans for past persecutions of Anabaptists.

African religious leaders meeting in the Libyan capital Tripoli from 27 to 30 August 2007 have praised a more than 25-year-long dialogue between Libya and the Vatican as a positive contribution to good relations between Christianity and Islam.

The signing of a declaration between a group representing Muslims and a leading Christian body in Norway, which supports the mutual right to convert between faiths without harassment, is the first pact of its type in the world, the two bodies have announced.

An international group of theologians met recently at Luther Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota, USA, to develop critical theological responses to 'empire' in the context of a divided and unequal world.