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Iran Press News: The University Student offices of Tahkeem'eh Vahdat has sent out a bulletin reiterating it's stance: "based on an all points boycott of this bogus election and the immovability and unreformability of the regime ruling over Iran; we consider this fake election to be disastrous, highly restrictive and utterly ineffective and the office of the president should be castigated for this pathetic show of force." In several parts of this bulletin, the members of Tahkeem'eh Vahdat have referred to this as a filthy stain on Khatami's departing report card and went on to say that Khatami showed once...

Pope Benedict XVI met Thursday with the leader of the World Council of Churches in another indication of his attempts to improve relations with other Christians and heal the 1,000-year-old rift with the Orthodox Church.The Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Methodist pastor and the general secretary of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches, was in Rome for a four-day visit that included talks with Benedict's top ecumenical official, Cardinal Walter Kasper.Benedict has made reaching out to other Christians, in particular the Orthodox Churches, a "fundamental commitment" of his papacy.The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of more than 300...

I am sorry to post a vanity. But FR has some of the greatest people on this planet, and we have many Veterans here. I have been battling depression ever since I got injured in Iraq. My can do's went to can nots. My injuries were broken knee, hip injured left knee, left shin, both hands,lower back and loss of consctiousness(sp?). I had been dealing well with it and the VA had prescribed me Paxil which only made me feel worse so I stopped taking it, per Doctors instructions. Last week on Thursday I had a total meltdown mentally, I...

Russian Patriarch Laments Anti-Christian Trends in Europe MOSCOW, JUNE 8, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II appealed to Catholics and Orthodox to address together the "negative anti-Christian tendencies" present in Europe. The patriarch made his plea Tuesday when meeting with Pier Ferdinando Casini, president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. In his exhortation, reported by Vatican Radio, the patriarch of Moscow and All Russia presented one of the "crucial" challenges that Catholics and Orthodox must address together: to bring Christian values back to Europe. Alexy II criticized the "absurd tolerance" that in a secular Europe virtually "impedes Christian from...

BARCELONA, Spain — At the inauguration of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, one of the largest and oldest prayer ministries announced the opening of the Office of Prayer Research, a think tank dedicated to broadening our knowledge of the scientific effects of prayer. Members of the spiritual thought movement, Unity, stressed the importance and ambition of their new prayer center, located outside Kansas City, Mo. “Throughout history, when science and religion have come together, there has typically been more clash than collaboration,” Unity President Tom Zender said, adding that at the Office of Prayer Research, “men and women of...

MOSCOW, June 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Orthodox Encyclopedia church research center (CRC) and the Roman Catholic Church are shooting a documentary series, The Pilgrimage to the Eternal City, about the first Christian martyrs, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia said on Tuesday. "This is a joint Orthodox-Catholic project. It will be shown in Europe," the patriarch said at a session of the monitoring, trustee, and public councils of the CRC. Directors and actors Krzysztof Zanussi, Vladimir Khotinenko, Nikita Mikhalkov, Vladimir Mashkov, and Yury Solomin are all taking part in making the series. Speaker of the State Duma...

BARI, Italy (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI visited the eastern port of Bari on his first papal trip Sunday and pledged to make healing the 1,000-year-old rift with the Orthodox church a "fundamental" commitment of his papacy. Benedict made the pledge in a city closely tied to the Orthodox church. Bari, on Italy's Adriatic coast, is considered a "bridge" between East and West and is home to the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-Century saint who is one of the most popular in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Benedict referred to Bari as a "land of...

WASHINGTON - The conservative faithful rallied around Tom DeLay at a Thursday night dinner in a spirited public display of support for the embattled majority leader. "It's incredibly humbling that this many people would come out on a very busy night," DeLay told the Houston Chronicle before entering the packed ballroom where he sat on the stage with a who's who of national conservative leaders. "It certainly sends a very strong message to me that they don't want me to quit because I am under pressure," he said. "And I won't." The DeLay corps gathered at the downtown Capital Hilton...

May 1, 2005 Orthodox mark Easter today amid hope for unity in church By SEAN GONSALVES STAFF WRITER Mother's Day cards have replaced Easter cards at the convenience store. The chocolate bunnies are gone. And for all but the greenest of thumbs, the lilies have wilted. But for thousands of Orthodox Christians, including hundreds on Cape Cod, Easter Sunday is today, long after the commercial trappings of the high holidays have disappeared. The theological dispute over Easter Sunday has divided Christians, but the Orthodox Church in recent years has pushed for a dialogue on the most important holiday for Catholics,...

ROME, APRIL 30, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A key theme in the first public pronouncements of the new Pope is the need for greater unity between believers. Benedict XVI's determination to improve ecumenical and interreligious relations was evident in his message to the cardinals at a Mass the day after his election. "Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel stimulated to tend to that full unity that Christ so ardently desired in the Cenacle," the Holy Father stated. He declared his intention, "as a primary commitment, to work without sparing energies for the reconstitution of the full and visible...

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday pledged to work to unify all Christians, reach out to other religions and continue implementing reforms from the Second Vatican Council as he outlined his goals and made clear his pontificate would closely follow the trajectory of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. AP Photo Reuters Slideshow: Ratzinger Named Pope Benedict XVI Complete Coverage • News & Analysis • Photos & Slideshows Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, listed top priorities of his papacy in a message read in Latin to cardinals gathered in the Sistine...

LONDON, APRIL 21, 2005 (Zenit.org).- For the first time since the Reformation, the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury plans to attend the solemn start of a pontificate -- that of Benedict XVI this Sunday in Rome. Lambeth Palace's press office revealed that Rowan Williams plans to attend the inauguration in St. Peter's Square. It said that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity indicated its "great delight" that he will be attending. The Anglican archbishop indicated that he will again be wearing the ring presented to his predecessor, Michael Ramsey, by Pope Paul VI and a pectoral cross presented to him...

The party who returned Elián to Cuba on Good Friday spent weeks in public session slandering whatever aspects of Ashcroft, Rice, Gonzales... lives they could. Now they are joined by the moderates. Remember, "If we are going to conform with the moderates and liberals, why stand up for our values"?

Assimilation, once the goal of every American immigrant, need not be a thing of the past. Our national motto, E Pluribus Unum (From Many, One), was the brainchild of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin in 1776 to complement the unity of colonies into a nation, later the United States of America. E Pluribus Unum still appears on every US coin. Once upon a time, the national motto was also appropriate for America’s immigration policy. We even referred to America as the ‘Great Melting Pot.’ From many immigrants, came many American citizens. That was then, this in now. Not...

By Jeffrey Donovan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Prague, Czech Republic A key ambition of Pope John Paul II, especially in the years just before his death, was to reunite Christianity’s divided churches. As the first Slavic pope, John Paul was concerned above all with the Orthodox -- the Eastern churches that split with Roman Catholicism in 1054. But while progress was made in Catholic-Orthodox relations, the Russian Orthodox Church never allowed Pope John Paul to fulfill his cherished dream of visiting Russia. Today, relations between Catholicism and Russian Orthodoxy remain strained, with Moscow accusing Rome of aggressively proselytizing in...

A new UN report, written by Arab scholars, notes "the acute deficit of freedom and good governance" in the Arab world. But, as one author says, "The Arabs, according to international surveys, have the greatest thirst for freedom and are the most appreciative of democracy out of all people of the world."

In light of current developments, this joint manifesto needs a new impetus. Beginning in September 1992 a consultation of Evangelical Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians began discussions regarding the "Christian Mission in the Third Millennium." In 1994, the Consultation published a joint statement outlining Evangelical-Protestant and Roman Catholics on a variety of issues of common concern in the journal First Things. The list of participants and endorsers is quite impressive, and includes many notable Catholic and Evangelical Christians. This is my favorite quote from the Joint Statement:We Contend Together...In this country, too, freedom of religion cannot be taken for granted...

Pope John Paul II and President Bush during their first meeting at the Pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, in July 2001. (AP Photo / Arturo Mari) No one would mistake John Paul II for an evangelical Protestant. But he contributed to a dramatic warming of relations between evangelicals and Catholics that may mark a turning point not only in American politics but in the history of Christianity. DURING THE 1960 presidential campaign, leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals - including Harold John Ockenga of Boston's historic Park Street Church - joined other Protestants in warning the nation...

Over more than ten years, this group of Evangelicals and Catholics, speaking as individuals committed to their respective communities but without any official mandate, has explored important areas of agreement and disagreement among us. In our first round of conversations and in the resulting statement of 1994, “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium,” we were able to recognize one another as brothers and sisters in Christ and to affirm the positive value of the witness to the gospel rendered by our several communities, notwithstanding differences and disagreements. In 1997, we were able to issue a...

SHANGHAI, China - Flower-bedecked portraits of Pope John Paul II decorate the St. Ignatius Cathedral — Shanghai's main Roman Catholic church, but one run by a state-sanctioned body that rejects ties with Rome. On Saturday, thousands of mourners were expected at a government-approved memorial Mass, even though Beijing avoided sending an envoy to John Paul's funeral in a spat over the Vatican's relations with rival Taiwan. John Paul's death united China's Catholics in mourning, at least temporarily blurring the line between official and underground churches and fueling hopes that Beijing might ease its rejection of any ties between believers and...