WCC NEWS: Indian Christians to tackle caste

[WCC media <noreply@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News

INDIAN CHRISTIANS TO TACKLE DYNAMICS OF CASTE, RELIGION AND CULTURE

For immediate release: 29 April 2011

An international colloquium on Caste, Religion and Culture will be held
in Cochin, Karala, India, 1-4 May. The event will be held at the Renewal
Centre in Cochin and is being sponsored by the World Council of Churches
(WCC), the National Council of Churches in India, the Centre for Social
Studies and Culture and the Student Christian Movement of India.

The organizers said the colloquium will provide "a Dalit critique of the
contemporary cultural practices, caste and religion that will illuminate
the debates in the main stream social sciences" while offering
encouragement to those groups "countering the forces of casteism in
India".

An opening address will be made by Bishop Dr Geevarghese Mor Coorilos,
chairperson of the Student Christian Movement of India and moderator of
the WCC's Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. The keynote address
on the first day will be delivered by Prof. Gopal Guru of Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.

“Identities and locations of people are often ignored, deliberately in
most cases, in both academic elaborations as well as humanistic
responses,” says the Rev. Dr Deenabandhu Manchala, WCC programme
executive for Just and Inclusive Communities. “This colloquium will
attempt to address the dynamics of the combined factors caste, religion
and culture in keeping the Dalits and other victims of the caste system
where they are – even after decades of affirmative action.”

During the four-day event nearly 24 presentations will be made by church
leaders, scholars, academics, activists and writers. The subject matters
to be covered include combating caste, the meaning of being marginalized
in a globalized world, the plight of Dalits within the church in India
today, the interplay of caste and gender, identities in the context of
human rights and caste, aesthetics and media representations.

The organizers plan to release a publication featuring the various
presentations from the event.

Brochure of the colloquium (pdf, 425 KB) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cc7ca9ba94a3e5ecab51
)

WCC work in solidarity with Dalits (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ca0da6b981762fce5e23 )

Website of the National Council of Churches in India (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=33dbe861f3ee0ffab776 )

Website of the Student Christian Movement of India (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4f68e0e2681a90b974d1 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



You receive this information as a subscriber of our media list. You are 
registered as Worldwide with the address wfn-editors@wfn.org.
Click here to unsubscribe or change your distribution settings 
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f04b901281393cba7cf0 ).