Free Republic

What is the likelihood that the op-ed writer, or cartoonist, or university professor who rants about the evils of Zionism is really an old-fashioned Jew-hater? Much better than most of us thought, according to a study in the August 2006 issue of The Journal of Conflict Resolution. Goebbels was right. Repeat a lie often enough, and people will believe it. This seems to be true even in regard to Jews believing lies about themselves. For decades, so many of us heard pious protestations that strongly held views about Israel had nothing to do with attitudes towards us, that we started...

Israel bears the burden of responsibility for the present crisis in the Middle East, the World Council of Churches has announced, following a meeting of its Executive Committee in Geneva from May 16-19. The Christian Left's leading ecumenical organization stated Israel's actions towards the Palestinians "cannot be justified morally, legally or even politically." The failure "to comply with international law" had "pushed the situation on the ground to a point of no return," they concluded. The WCC condemned the killing of innocent civilians by "both sides" in the conflict and called for the Palestinians to "maintain the existing one-party cease-fire...

DURHAM, N.C.—One of three Duke University lacrosse players charged with rape wants the case resolved in time for the next school year, his lawyer said in court yesterday. But the judge warned he will not fast-track the proceedings. The case "is not going to jump ahead of the line and be handled any differently," Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Stephens said at a hearing for sophomore Reade Seligmann. After the brief hearing, District Attorney Mike Nifong said he does not expect any trial to begin before next year.

The Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC), ostensibly representing 340 denominations globally, formally protested to the Israeli ambassador in Switzerland about the rock throwing of Israeli teen-age civilians. But a Palestinian suicide bomb in Tel Aviv that slaughtered nine people did not merit even a WCC news release. To be fair to the WCC, the rock throwing was aimed at the WCC’s own volunteers. A Swiss lawyer, a German social worker and a Norwegian sociologist were attacked with stones in two separate incidents on April 1 and April 20. The lawyer got seven stitches to the head, while the social...

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: Will the Ecumenical Ship Sink? Excerpts from the interview to the official website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Doesn't membership in the World Council of Churches (WCC) obligate acceptance of its fundamental principles which contradict Orthodox ecclesiology? Membership in the WCC does not require from any Church the recognition of all the other member churches of the WCC as churches in the literal sense of the word. This is stated in the foundational documents of the Council. If we call one Protestant community or another a "church," which in...

Leaders of the Christian left in Europe and the US are backing calls by the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem for the EU and the US to resume aid to Hamas. On April 11, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches [WCC] , Dr. Samuel Kobia, wrote to the chairman of the Council of the European Union, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, asking the EU to exercise "respect for the democratic mandate given" to Hamas and to allow "time for the new government to find its feet and demonstrate its intentions." The WCC warned of "of...

IT MIGHT BE no accident that the national decline in church attendance has mirrored the rise of activism by church leadership. One religious group famous for its social agenda is the National Council of Churches. Although supposedly a nonpartisan organization, for the past 40 years the NCC's politics has usually sat on the far left of the political spectrum. Since Rev. Bob Edgar took over as the NCC's general secretary in 2000, the group hasn't jettisoned its liberal ways. What is Edgar's record? For starters, he's carried on the NCC's ongoing love affair with Cuba. One of his first acts...

As angry Muslim rioters sent Christians to a martyr's death during last month's riots over cartoons depicting Muhammad, leftist-led Christian groups in the West chose to console the murderers. With sad predictability, many left-leaning church groups such as the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches responded with indignation about the Danish newspaper's publication of the cartoons -- with nary a word about their persecuted co-religionists. The National Council of Churches (NCC) of the U.S.A. reacted by standing in "solidarity" with U.S. Islamic groups, who "exercised disciplined restraint," i.e., by not rioting or killing Americans over the...

16 March 2006, 12:38 Moscow Patriarchate representative in Europe predicts a gradual severance of relations among Christians Moscow, March 16, Interfax - The Orthodox are appalled at the attempts of the Protestants to force discussion of homosexualism on the World Council of Churches (WCC), representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to the European Institutions bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria said. ‘Attempts of certain Protestant churches to force discussion of sexual minorities on the WCC have provoked a particular indignation of the Orthodox’, the hierarch said in his interview to the web-site of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. According...

Moscow, March 16, Interfax - The Orthodox are appalled at the attempts of the Protestants to force discussion of homosexualism on the World Council of Churches (WCC), representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to the European Institutions bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria said. 'Attempts of certain Protestant churches to force discussion of sexual minorities on the WCC have provoked a particular indignation of the Orthodox', the hierarch said in his interview to the web-site of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. According to him, traditional views on homosexualism as sin have been 'subjected to revision' in certain Protestant churches...

created: 3/8/2006 8:26:18 AM updated: 3/8/2006 8:29:11 AM SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- A Missouri State University professor says a new state law that limits protests at funerals is so broad that it should be overturned. MSU journalism professor Andrew Cline says a Kansas church's picketing at funerals for U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq makes him "nauseous." But Cline said Missouri's new law is so vague that it invites a legal challenge. The picketing has spawned legislation in Missouri and several other states to limit funeral protests. Last week, Governor Blunt signed into law a bill to ban the demonstrations....

AMERICAN CHURCH OFFICIALS pleaded for forgiveness for the sins of the United States last week--from the Iraq War, to Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Accord, to the racism exposed by Hurricane Katrina, to economic exploitation, and for the more general American sin of idolatry. The clerics were representing 34 Protestant and Orthodox denominations in America at the Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil. "Our leaders turned a deaf ear to the voices of church leaders throughout our nation and the world, entering into imperial projects that seek to dominate and control for the...

AMERICAN CHURCH OFFICIALS pleaded for forgiveness for the sins of the United States last week--from the Iraq War, to Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Accord, to the racism exposed by Hurricane Katrina, to economic exploitation, and for the more general American sin of idolatry. The clerics were representing 34 Protestant and Orthodox denominations in America at the Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil. "Our leaders turned a deaf ear to the voices of church leaders throughout our nation and the world, entering into imperial projects that seek to dominate and control for the...

A letter to Presbyweb concerning their coverage of the recent (leftist) World Council of Churches Assembly (emphasis mine): I am deeply grateful for the excellent balanced coverage you have given to the just concluded 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches. Unfortunately, it is difficult also to be grateful for many of messages that have come out of that Assembly. For example, while some declarations called for increased evangelical and Pentecostal involvement in the WCC as crucial to the future health of the ecumenical movement, at the same time WCC General Secretary Samuel Kobia condemned American megachurches as promoting...

WCC assembly demonstrates ‘spirit of antichrist,’ prof says Feb 28, 2006 By David Roach Baptist Press PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (BP)--Recognizing the Holy Spirit in other religions, tolerating homosexual marriage and denouncing the U.S. war on terror were among the views advocated at the 9th World Council of Churches Assembly Feb. 14-23 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Founded in 1948, the WCC describes itself as “the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is Christian unity,” according to the group’s website. The WCC has 347 member denominations in more than 120...

27 February 2006 The World Council of Churches - where is its place in the new world? The 9th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches has marked a certain turn in the policy of this world largest Christian international organization. ‘Ecumenical prayers’ have become more moderate; anti-Western rhetoric has abated. The principal vector however has remained the same: the WCC continues to be a predominantly left-wing liberal forum critical of the WMF and the World Bank, supportive of the ‘Third World’ in its opposition to the United States and fearful of the consequences the globalization’ and the ‘war...

The anti-Israel, mainline denominations (the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Episcopal Church USA, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Church of Christ) have 18 million members and are declining. The pro-Israel evangelicals have twice as many members and are growing. Some would say this fact alone is worth noting. Some would say those who bless Israel are blessed, and those who curse Israel - even if they convince themselves that they are not really cursing Israel, but acting out of a noble desire to be pro-Palestinian, even if that means enabling a little terror...

Conservative Christian group rejects censure of Washington Ecumenical News Internationals Letter apologizing for U.S. ‘terror’ called ‘abuse of the sacred Christian rite of confession’ by Chris Herlinger Ecumenical News International NEW YORK — A conservative U.S. Christian group has criticized a statement from U.S. church leaders attending the Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) that seeks forgiveness because the church hasn’t done enough to protest against what they called sins committed through U.S. foreign and domestic policies. The Feb. 18 declaration by the U.S. church leaders was written as a letter and read during a media conference at...

THE head of the World Council of Churches has expressed concern about the spread of megachurches around the world, such as Hillsong in Sydney, saying they could lead to a Christianity that is "two miles long and one inch deep". The WCC General Secretary Samuel Kobia said megachurches - huge Protestant churches with charismatic pastors, lively music and other services - mostly ran on a business model to make worshippers feel good and were shallow in their theology. Megachurches, which pack in thousands for rousing Sunday worship services, are popular in suburbs in the United States. Most are evangelical or...

Remember that old adage: “when all else fails, read the manual”? Well, Arab enemies of Israel have turned that concept into a reality. Thanks to a “Divestment Manual”, recently published on an Arab website (see footnote #5), we can now read a step-by-step instruction booklet educating divestment supporters as to how they can literally franchise divestment movements across the USA and abroad. And that is exactly what divestment supporters seem to have done. Acting as a hitherto unrecognized fifth column, insinuating themselves deeply into our society, divestment activists have initiated a series of divestment movements that pretend to be grassroots...