Former US President Jimmy Carter, who left the 15 million strong Southern Baptist denomination because of its exclusivism, has enthusiastically backed a three day convention seeking reconciliation among the wider US Baptist community.

European Baptists are renewing their efforts to press for the release of an imprisoned peace pastor, Zaur Balaev, after an Azerbaijan court last week rejected his appeal against a two-year prison sentence for illegal religious activity and violence.

After two churches banned yoga classes, causing comment and puzzlement in the United Kingdom, a Catholic priest and school principal in India has declared that British clergy who describe yoga as a “sham,” a “false philosophy” and “un-Christian” are uninformed about the practice.

American evangelical social activist Jim Wallis has made a stirring plea for a ‘justice revival’ among the churches in the UK and beyond - saying that Christians and those of goodwill must help Gordon Brown keep his promises.

Baptists in Britain are supporting a new initiative to highlight the scandal of global people trafficking, with a particular emphasis on the situation in Albania.

Three major Christian denominations have produced an election briefing which urges Christians to vote for the common good and against those promoting racism and xenophobia.

Churches in Australia are at the centre of controversy for erecting signs declaring that "Jesus Loves Osama".