Ethics · Society · Theology · Mission · Sociology of Religions
I recently visited Desmond Tutu's former home in Soweto. The 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Horn is, alongside Nelson Mandela, a symbolic figure of dismantling apartheid in his country.
As every year, the Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom and International President of the International Society for Human Rights presented the two German Yearbooks on Religious Freedom (Jahrbuch Religionsfreiheit 2017) and the Yearbook on the Persecution and Discrimination of Christians (Jahrbuch Verfolgung und Diskriminierung von Christen 2017) to Pope Francis personally.
Bp Efraim M. Tendero, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, together with Bp Thomas Schirrmacher, Associate Secretary General for Theological Concerns, paid a visit to His Excellency Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, President of the Republic of Macedonia.
At the Seat of the Holy Synod in Tirana, the Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania, His Beatitude Anastasios hosted a delegation of distinguished personalities from Lebanon, of the Ghazanide prominent royal family, since the time of the Byzantine Empire until the 18th century, consisting of Sheikh Selim El Chemor, Beirut, Lebanon, Prince Gharios El-Chemor of Ghassan, Aman, Jordan, Mr. John Domonkos, and Dr. Elie Gharios.
Together with Dr Uziel Santana, law professor from Brazil and Director of the Latin American Office of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF), and Dr Gonzalo Ramirez, President of the National Congress of Costa Rica, Thomas Schirrmacher praised Regent’s Park College of Oxford University for its achievements in the last 60 years. In a small ceremony remembering, that the college was licensed by Oxford University 60 years ago, they donated a large plate, which now hangs at the main hall of the college.
Last month, members of the Ghassanid Royal Family and also board members of the Royal House of Ghassan have visited the world leader of the Bektashi Orderof Sufi Islam at their world headquarters in Tirana, Albania.
The director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF) has given a guest lecture on the philosophy of religious freedom at Oxford University. He urged the academic community to make “FoRB” (Freedom of Religion and Belief) an important topic in several academic disciplines, like law, sociology, history, and religious studies.