The Jordan River is the central location for many sacred stories of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Modern Christians in particular are known to journey to the site some consider to be the religion’s actual starting point. Says Rustom Mkhjian, assistant director of the Jordan River baptism site: “We know this is the spot where Jesus was baptized and Christianity started.” More →

May 29, 2015

Pope Francis visited sacred sites recognized by Muslims, Christians, and Jews, including the Western Wall. He met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and a range of other religious leaders, made unexpected stops at a terror memorial and at the separation wall that surrounds the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and he inserted himself into the peace process with a surprise invitation to a prayer summit at the Vatican. More →

May 30, 2014

“We are the ones who inherited this birthplace of Christianity. I think we are agents to carry this as witnesses to the whole world,” says Father Nabil Haddad, a priest in the ancient Melkite Catholic Church who lives in Amman. More →

February 14, 2014

Gidon Bromberg of Friends of the Earth Middle East says the Jordan River, holy to half of humanity, has become a mixture of sewage water and agricultural runoff unsafe for the pilgrims who come to be baptized in it. More →

October 8, 2010