More than 600 "justice lovers" from across the globe have gathered in Texas, USA, to celebrate practical faith in action and to renew their spirits at an international conference sponsored by The United Methodist Church.

Parallels between civil wars and the escalating crisis within American Anglicanism are now being made, says Giles Fraser. Issues of truth and justice cannot be suppressed by a false and forced kind of unity.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has set out his view of women as 'equal but different'. Savi Hensman traces the patriarchal assumptions behind this position, and questions its claims to biblical authority.

A statement by leading Muslim scholars setting out the mainstream Islamic view on peace among the religions "for the sake of the world" has been described as "a historic breakthrough" by a leading Cambridge academic working on inter-religious issues with Christians.

The Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches has launched an interactive website as part of its celebrations to mark the 500th anniversary in 2009 of the birth of Protestant reformer Jean Calvin.

A company in Monmouthshire, Wales, an area where Dr Rowan Williams used to be bishop before eventually moving on to Canterbury, has launched a line of religious mobile phone products, including a downloadable Bible for £6 and non-violent computer games.

A 100-year leap in biblical interpretation and understanding has been made with the publication of a new Persian translation of the Bible, say those involved in the project.'Today's Persian Version' of the Bible has been officially dedicated in Istanbul, Turkey.

India gained independence through nonviolence, but partition involved much brutality, says Savi Hensman. Independence means embracing peace and justice in spite of intolerant ideologies, both religious and secular.