Witnesses gather in LR for 3 days
Jehovah's Witnesses will gather for an annual convention in Little Rock at the Statehouse Convention Center from Friday to July 3.
The convention is titled "Don't Give Up!" and will emphasize the Bible's message of hope through a series of 49 presentations to be given over the three-day period, according to a news release.
The daily conference sessions, which will begin at 9:20 a.m., will include Bible-based talks, interviews and short films, and will be highlighted by a talk at 11:20 a.m. Sunday titled "Never Give Up Hope!" All convention events are free to the public.
-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Georgia church gets historical tag
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A historical marker was unveiled for a church in southeast Georgia.
The Civil Rights Trail historical marker was unveiled for Savannah's First African Baptist Church, the Savannah Morning News reported. The memorialization took place June 14 outside the church, which is one of the oldest continuously operating black churches in North America.
The church dates to 1773 and to the organization of a congregation at nearby Brampton Plantation by the Rev. George Leile. The church's current building was built in 1859, "constructed of Savannah Grey brick by congregants, both free and enslaved."
"There is such rich history at this church, and we are glad to be able to be a part of this," Mayor Eddie DeLoach said.
The church has original pews built by slaves and stained glass windows dating to 1885. A museum inside the church holds 18th-century memorabilia. Some of the noteworthy speakers to walk the halls of the church include the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and politician Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
The marker is the latest addition to the Georgia Historical Society's Georgia Civil Rights Trail, which is an initiative focused broadly on the economic, social, political, and cultural history of the Civil Rights Movement.
-- The Associated Press
Interfaith plea: Save rain forests
HELSINKI -- Religious and indigenous leaders on Monday called for an end to deforestation in the first international multifaith, multicultural plea to reduce the emissions that fuel climate change.
Participants from 21 countries gathered at a conference in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, hoping that billions of people of faith worldwide will unite to protect the Earth's rain forests. Those forests are fundamental to human life but are suffering from agricultural and industrial exploitation in South America, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Hosting the one-day meeting, Norwegian Climate and Environment Minister Vidar Helgesen said halting deforestation requires "a global, tectonic shift in values."
As one of its top priorities, Norway has invested around $3 billion to reduce tropical deforestation in the past decade, and created The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative as part of that effort.
Tropical rain forests contain most of the Earth's land-borne biodiversity, help regulate rainfall and provide food, water and income to 1.6 billion people.
"Forest communities around the world have put their lives on the line to care for the planet's tropical forests," said Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. "We are nothing without our forests. Our culture, our spirituality, our livelihoods, our incomes and our health are tied to them."
Those at the meeting included representatives of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu faiths, and indigenous leaders, including ones from Indonesia and Brazil.
-- The Associated Press
Religion on 06/24/2017