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| Three Cheers for the Syrians |
| 2005-08-21 |
| LAST MONTH, FOR THE first time in years, a member denomination withdrew from the National Council of Churches (NCC). The spunky, 400,000-member communion is the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, and its decision to quit the reflexively left-wing NCC was based on a unanimous vote of clergy and lay delegates. According to one church spokesman, a recent NCC fundraising letter helped spark the departure. It asked supporters to fight "right-wing attacks" on the controversial church agency. The letter named President Bush, Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson, and the Heritage Foundation as insidious forces that must be opposed. "It got to be too much," Antiochian spokesman Rev. Thomas Zain told Ecumenical News International. The NCC, said Zain, has "lost its goal of Christian unity on a doctrinal basis. The goal seems to be including everybody and [promoting] niceties." Homosexuality, increasingly the bellwether issue that divides religious traditionalists from liberals, was also a big factor for the Antiochians. The Episcopal Church and United Church of Christ, both pillars of the NCC, have largely accepted same-sex unions and openly gay clergy. Officially, the NCC does not have a stance on homosexuality. But NCC chief Bob Edgar, a former Demo-cratic congressman and liberal Methodist seminary president, leaves little doubt that he favors same-sex unions. "We just feel we don't have much in common with the churches" in the NCC, said Rev. Zain on behalf of the Antiochians... |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #2 As a life long until recently Episcopalian I have lost faith in the church I was baptised into. So sad to bad. Father Richard our pastor sugested that I read go to the offical Epicopal Churches website and read the position paperg to better understand the church's decision. I did and after reading the positiong the church supports I'm moving on. I guess its the Catholic church next. |
| Posted by: canaveraldan 2005-08-21 19:31 |
| #1 The Episcopal Church is very split on these issues. The national leadership is leading where very few want to follow. More than a few dioceses are withholding their contributions from the national organization. The UCC is in the same boat. The "leadership" is blue, but the membership red. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-08-21 18:50 |