US Congress more Christian than the population

THE new United States Congress is more religious than the population of the country, a new study from the Pew Research Center has found. Members of the Senate and House are “largely untouched” by the continuing decrease in the number of Americans who identify as Christian, it says, as well as the increase in those who declare no religious affiliation. Christians comprise 88 per cent of the voting members of the 118th Congress who were sworn in last week: only a slight decrease since the 1970s, when 91 per cent of members said that they were Christian. Two-thirds (63 per cent) of the US population identify as Christian: a decrease from 78 per cent in 2007. Just one member of the Congress identifies as religiously unaffiliated, and one other identifies as humanist.

Korean Churches call for peace on the peninsula

THE National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) has urged the South and North Korean authorities to seek a peaceful way to overcome the escalating threat of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula. “Even after the failure of the 2019 North Korea-United States Hanoi Summit, South and North Korea have made efforts to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula while minimizing military tensions,” the statement says. “In this current crisis, we demand that the two Koreas seek a peaceful approach to restore mutual trust through dialogue and pursue common security and coexistence.” This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement that brought about a cessation of hostilities in the Korean War. The World Council of Churches’ director of international affairs, Peter Prove, said, however, that “the war has never been officially ended. After 70 years, the lack of closure of that bloody and destructive historical conflict continues to frustrate efforts to address the current, very different, circumstances on the Peninsula.”

Captured monk to be Archbishop of Homs

A SYRIAC-CATHOLIC priest, Fr Jacques Mourad, who was held by Islamic State in Syria for five months in 2015 (News, 25 November 2016), has been elected Archbishop of Homs by the Synod of Bishops of the Church of Antioch. Pope Francis had approved the choice of Fr Mourad, aged 53, who was kidnapped on 21 May 2015 by jihadists while serving as Prior of the Mar Elian monastery in Qaryatayn. After the kidnapping, he lived in Mar Elian’s sister monasteries of Cori (Italy) and Sulaymanyah (Iraq). On returning to Syria in 2020, he served as Deputy Superior and Bursar of the Mar Elian community.