Germany's Protestant churches are distributing thousands of postcards in 16 languages to schools and bars as part of a new campaign to encourage young people to get involved in projects to promote social tolerance and non-violence - writes Frauke Brauns from Bielefeld, Germany, for Ecumenical News International (ENI).

Middle East Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan has urged Palestinians to "use brains, sanity, dialogue and non-violence and not arms to deal with differences".

Over the weekend Zimbabwean police arrested nine church leaders, including a blind pastor, for allegedly holding a meeting in Kadoma without first seeking approval from the police - report human rights activists in Zimbabwe. They also confiscated nonviolence manuals

The new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA celebrated the life of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King in her first official service in the Diocese of New York this week - at St Ann's Church in the Bronx, on 15 January 2007. She stressed the difficult call to radical non-violence as a key Christian vocation arising from his legacy.

More than 100 US urban youth and members of local Anabaptist churches came together earlier this month (November 2006) for Packing the Peace of Christ, a conference focused on a Christian response to handgun homicide, which takes an average of one life per day here - write Justin Shenk and Shannon Burgess.

Following a tradition of Christian non-violent resistance to oppression, a senior Church leader in Zimbabwe has openly called for a peaceful uprising against President Robert Mugabe.