Clueless: The Courtships of the NCC
Church News from Washington
by Mark Tooley
Religious pluralism and relations with non-Christian religions was a major theme of the National Council of Churches (NCC) annual General Assembly meeting in Washington, D.C. on November 13–15, 1997. “Our traditions and realities differ,” observed Margaret Thomas of the NCC’s Commission on Interfaith Relations. “We must ask who is not at the table.”
The growth of Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and other non-Christian minorities in the United States should be greeted not with alarm but with acceptance, urged NCC speakers. Harvard professor Diana Eck, a United Methodist laywoman active with the World Council of Churches, led the assembly in discussion about moving from “conflict to partnership” with other religions.
“The one we call God is ours, whether we are Christians, Jews, Muslims, or Hindus,” said Eck, who urged interfaith cooperation on issues involving the environment, economic justice, and urban renewal. “We have a multicultural America,” she announced while claiming that Muslims in the United States now outnumber Episcopalians. (According to the NCC’s own Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, there are 500,000 American Muslims and 2.5 million Episcopalians.)
“I enjoy the multiplicities of religious expression,” enthused Eck. “Christianity alone cannot provide a comprehensive way of living in the U.S.” She insisted she was not advocating “relativism” but “conversation,” so that many faiths could “water the roots of our society.”
Including Evangelicals
Newly installed NCC President Craig Anderson, an Episcopal bishop, said the NCC’s relaxed attitude to other religions had prevented more cooperation with Evangelicals, who stressed the exclusive truth claims of Christianity. “Evangelicals have been concerned about the NCC’s openness to addressing God by different names and liturgies,” Anderson recognized.
But he said there are now growing relations with groups such as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). “They came to us to apologize for not cooperating earlier,” Anderson related at a press conference. “Don Argue [NAE president] has come to us wanting to talk.”
Responding to Anderson’s remarks, Argue said there has never been an NAE apology to the NCC. “The comments of Bishop Anderson unfortunately reinforce the deep differences between evangelicals, who hold a high view of biblical authority, and those who do not.” Argue said that one reason for the NAE’s growth was the “erosion of the traditional view of biblical inspiration” within NCC denominations. “A Christian faith that does not accept the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures is spiritually bankrupt,” said Argue.
Homosexuals Too
Mark Tooley directs the United Methodist committee of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (www.ird-renew.org) in Washington, D.C.
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