OrthodoxNet.com Blog

Ed. The seduction of the Progressive illusion.

Wall Street Opinion Journal PAUL BESTON Tuesday, February 7, 2006

On Christmas Eve 2001, I attended Mass in a suburban enclave in Michigan. With the memory of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 still fresh, it seemed that the traditional Christmas message would be timelier than ever. Yet the service was so barren of substance as to seem smug; in his homily, the priest focused mostly on festive platitudes and made jokes about high-tech gadgets that might be found under the tree. Nothing about the service felt necessary, except getting home.

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Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005 Posted: 5:20:31PM EST

Delegates to the 55th National Council of Churches (NCC) General Assembly nominated an Orthodox bishop as president-elect and reconfirmed the need to strengthen ties with Orthodox churches within the Council.

Bishop Vicken Aykazian, a Turkish-born priest who represents the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America in Washington, was nominated on Tuesday - the first day of the Nov. 8-10 General Assembly in Hunt Valley, Md. If confirmed, he will serve for two years as president-elect and be automatically confirmed as president for the next term.

Also on Tuesday, former NCC president Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky of the Orthodox Church in America encouraged members to become “better acquainted with one another to avoid misrepresentation and miscommunication.
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Subject: [OrthodoxNews] Kishkovsky calls upon NCC member communions to avoid misunderstandings by getting to know one another

2005.11.09 NCC:

Kishkovsky calls upon NCC member communions to avoid misunderstandings by getting to know one another

Hunt Valley, Md, Nov. 9, 2005 — The unexpected withdrawal last summer of the Antiochian Orthodox Church from National Council of Churches USA membership is a reminder to the remaining 35 communions that they must become “better acquainted” with one another, a former NCC president said.

The Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky of the Orthodox Church in America, chair of the Council’s Membership and Ecclesial Relations Committee, also cited the World Council of Churches improving relations with its Orthodox members and suggested the NCC study its approaches.
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Moral Equivalence Thinly Concealed

Rene writes in part 2 of Note 1. Here is the complete text of question number 2 and Rene’s answer.

Are the US soldiers in Iraq terrorists?

When speaking about war we tend to choose and use terms in a way that helps justify our actions. Usually we don’t define or describe war as it feels, looks, or is experienced by the people that we are warring against. Military recruiters may not tell potential soldiers that they will be part of ‘?a systematic use of terror, violence and intimidation’? Nevertheless, those we use these tactics against might think of soldiers (and by association all of us in the U.S.) as terrorists whether we like it or not.

Rene’s starts with the declaration that:

“When speaking about war we tend to choose and use terms in a way that helps justify our actions. “

Missourian replies: If, after careful consideration, an individual decides to support a war effort then it is natural and perfectly acceptable if he expresses hisr support for that war effort in positive terms. Ideally an adult should be able to articulate a justification for his actions and positions taken on various issues. This certainly applies to something as important as war.

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Jim Brown August 9, 2005

(AgapePress) - A spokesman for a church reform group believes the recent decision by the Antiochian Orthodox Church to leave the National Council of Churches (NCC) may prompt the larger Russian and Greek Orthodox churches to follow suit.

Late last month, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America became the first denomination in several years to quit the NCC. Antiochian Orthodox spokespersons cited concerns over the NCC’s liberal stance on homosexuality and the group’s political outspokenness as among the church’s reasons for leaving.

Mark Tooley is with the Institute on Religion and Democracy, an ecumenical alliance of Christians working to reform their churches’ witness in society. With regard to the Antiochian Orthodox Church’s departure from the NCC, Tooley says the handwriting was on the wall.

“Eastern Orthodox churches are still very traditional theologically and on moral issues,” the IRD spokesman points out. “And, interestingly, although they tend to be fairly wealthy churches, they give no money to the National Council of Churches.”
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Washington, D.C., August 9, 2005 — In remarks today at the Progressive National Baptist Convention’s (PNBC) 44th Annual Session in Detroit, theRev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, told the gathering of Baptist pastors, ministers and lay leaders that it is the priorities and commandments of Christ rather than partisan politics that leads the NCC to advocate for peace, ending poverty and protecting God’s creation.

“There are those who try to dilute our witness and mislead our friends by suggesting that the National Council of Churches is a partisan, left-leaning organization,” said Rev. Edgar. “But you know who it is that calls us to pursue peace, fight poverty and injustice, and care forthe earth. It is the Prince of Peace who each day of his life showed hisbias for the poor and prayed to the Creator who gave us this beautiful world,” he said.

The NCC has come under fire in recent months for advocating for good environmental stewardship, working to end poverty and for calling for a plan to reduce U.S. military presence in Iraq.
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Terry Mattingly email newsletter

Summer is the season for church conventions that talk about hot issues.

Last week’s 47th convention of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America passed a resolution that addressed both sexuality and the Iraqi war. But this time the lofty words led to an historic change.

The assembly voted to oppose “divisive and dangerous” positions taken by “left-wing” and “right-wing” groups. To be specific, it rejected “support for same-sex marriage, support for abortion, support for ordination of women to Holy Orders, support for the concept of war that is ‘pre-emptive’ or ‘justifiable’ and the labeling of other faiths and their leaders with hateful terminology.”

The archdiocese — a blend of Arab-Americans and many converts — vowed to avoid groups that “promulgate these extreme positions” and renewed its commitment to seek Orthodox unity in North America.

Then the delegates cheered as Metropolitan Philip Saliba announced his decision to withdraw from the National Council of Churches USA.
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Acton Institute on Orthodox pullout from NCC:

Antiochian Orthodox to Quit NCC
Friday, July 29. 2005

The terminal politicization of the National Council of Churches has led a major Orthodox jurisdiction to throw in the towel. The Antiochian Orthodox Church, meeting for its bi-annual convention in Dearborn, Mich., has “voted overwhelmingly” to leave the ecumenical body led by Rev. Bob Edgar, a former Democrat congressman. The news has been posted on Touchstone Magazine’s Mere Comments blog, and was phoned in by a correspondent for Ancient Faith Radio who was on the scene in Dearborn.

Metropolitan Philip Saliba, hierarch of the church, has reportedly decided that any further relationship with the U.S. ecumenical body would be “fruitless.”

The Antiochians aren’t the only Orthodox jurisdiction that has acknowledged the NCC’s increasingly leftward tilt. At their own just-concluded conference in Toronto, the Orthodox Church in America also discussed the usefulness of the NCC but has not yet cut its ties. The statement that the OCA issued concerning its discussion of ecumenical relations was a collage of bureaucratic platitudes, mostly expressed in the passive voice, and no doubt indicative that the forces of the status quo were not giving up without a fight. When you read phrases such as “concerns .. were expressed” and “it was noted” and “requires careful consideration and discernment” then you can bet that someone’s digging in the heels.

But the clear-sighted action that His Eminence Philip and the Antiochians are taking is a courageous move. Let’s hope more Orthodox follow, and separate their churches from the partisan activism and — let’s face it — Bush baiting that the NCC is known for.

For an excellent resource on the ecumenical disaster that is the National Council of Churches see OrthodoxyToday.org’s NCC Resource Page.

Ancient Faith Radio is also planning to air an interview about the Antiochian pullout and its consequences with the Very Rev. Olof Scott, the newly-elected chairman of the Department of Interfaith Relationships, on Sunday, July 31, at 5 PM EDT.

Touchstone Blog

Dearborn, Michigan. July 28, 2005.

This afternoon the General Convention of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America voted overwhelmingly to leave the National Council of Churches of Christ. The General Convention is holding its annual meeting this week in Dearborn, Michigan.

The action was not a temporary “suspension” of membership, but a formal withdrawal from the NCC. The clergy unanimously approved the withdrawal, followed by a unanimous vote of the lay delegates supporting the move. An announcement of the final vote was met with thunderous applause by the Convention.

Reasons given for the withdrawal include the general liberalism of the NCC, whose General Secretary, Bob Edgar, withdrew his signature from a statement defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Metropolitan PHILIP, head of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, was reportedly outspoken in calling for the church to withdraw from the NCC, stating that the relationship had proven fruitless.

The National Council of the Churches of Christ has listed on its website “36 member communions and denominations.” It now has 35.

Note: An interview about this vote and its consequences with the Very Rev. Olof Scott, the newly-elected chairman of the Department of Interfaith Relationships, is scheduled to air on Ancient Faith Radio this coming Sunday, July 31, 2005, at 5 PM EDT.

Institute for Religion and Democracy Steve Rempe

The one million-member Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is examining a proposal to remove itself from both the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. The proposal will be reviewed by the OCA All-American Council, which meets in Toronto July 17-22.

According to the position paper Orthodox Relations, “The most advisable course for the Orthodox Church in America would be to eventually withdraw from the NCC and the WCC.” Any withdrawal would be done in consultation with those Orthodox churches that remain members of the councils.

Among the reasons cited in the report for withdrawing from the church councils are the increasingly political agendas that they pursue. “The very politically-oriented theologies of many Protestant denominations have often threatened to derail the agenda of councils away from dialogue and unity, and towards political advocacy and activism,” says the report. “. . . [T]he ecumenical organizations in which we participate, in their theological and social views, are oriented towards policies which are not in harmony with Orthodox views.”
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The Heritage Foundation Joseph Loconte

The response to the terrorist attacks in London last week suggests something about the soul of Western democracies.

Political leaders in Britain and the United States have repeated their resolve to defeat the strategic threat of radical Islam. Politicians understand the potential to wreak havoc on civilian populations with the world’s deadliest weapons. But many religious figures in the West seem reluctant to confront the ambitions of Osama bin Laden and his allies.

Of course, we expect church leaders to offer their prayers and condolences in times of suffering, and such prayers were graciously offered. Yet I can’t help thinking that we expect something more: Those who are attentive to things of the spirit should speak, with clarity and force, about the existential threat these attacks represent.

Instead, we hear wishful words of sweetness and light. A coalition of churches in Britain has announced its desire “to grow together in mutual understanding.” The World Council of Churches reaffirms its “commitment to building a just and peaceful world.” Frank Griswold, bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, says we must “overcome the fears and hatreds that divide us.” And Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, challenges all religious communities “to pursue peace in a thousand ways.”

What does any of this have to do with an enemy sworn to destroying the foundations of civilized life? And where is the moral vision to defeat it?

The Acton Blog has a comment on the OCA paper recommending a pull-out from the NCC.

An Orthodox Church of America (OCA) position paper is calling for an Orthodox pull-out from the National Council Churches.

Look at page 20. http://www.oca.org/PDF/14thAAC/Orthodox%20Relations.pdf

Good to see some clear thinking going on in the OCA.

They sure like travel and press releases.

by Carol Fouke
NCC News and Information office

NEW YORK CITY - “God’s children are called to seek justice, to break down the walls that separate them, and to live side by side in peace,” declared the National Council of Churches USA’s delegation in a statement issued at the close of its Jan. 21-Feb. 4 visit to the Middle East.

The 11-member delegation asked those with whom it met: “Is there a new window of opportunity for peace?” In the statement entitled “Barriers Do Not Bring Freedom,” the delegation concludes, “A sliver of hope for peace does exist, but we feel strongly the moment must be seized now or the future will remain dim.”
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From Ecumenical Insanity:

The National Council of Churches has sent yest another “peace delegation” to the Middle East. At a blog they’ve set up just for the trip, they describe some of what they’re doing there. For instance, they’ve visited with Egyptian Grand Imam Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi of al-Azhar University in Cairo. Quoting from a news story on the meeting in the Egyptian Gazette, Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos indicates that the Grand Imam was fervent in his rejection of terrorism and aggression:

“‘Peace is fundamental to Islam, which condemns all sorts of aggression and terrorism,’ Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi, told a visiting American religious delegation yesterday.

“Sheikh Tantawi regretted that certain people attempt to associate Jihad (holy war) with terrorism.

“He told the 11-member delegation, representing the US National Council of Churches, that Islam allows Jihad in defence of one’s life, honour, property and homeland, as well as for restoring one’s usurped rights or for the sake of justice.

“However, Islam denounces terrorism because it is an aggression on human life and people’s rights and homelands, Sheikh Tantawi told the delegation.”

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), however, the Grand Imam hasn’t always overflowed with the milk of human kindness. They provide this portion of a report from an al-Azhar web site of a reception Tantawi attended in 2002:
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Baltimore (IOCC) Vlade Divac, star center for the NBA s Los Angeles Lakers and native of the former Yugoslavia, will receive the Good Samaritan Award from International Orthodox Christians Charities (IOCC) at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, for his years of distinguished service in support of IOCC s humanitarian mission.

A leader on and off the basketball court, Divac has helped IOCC, the humanitarian aid agency of Orthodox Christians, provide half a million dollars in humanitarian assistance in his homeland since 1997.
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Mark Tooley, November 10, 2004
http://www.ird-renew.org/News/News.cfm?ID=991&c=4

At a press conference organized by the pro-abortion Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), representatives of the Religious Left expressed deep angst about the recent U.S. election results. And they warned the Bush Administration not to heed the agenda of socially conservative voters.

The RCRC officials were clearly disturbed by exit polls showing “moral values” being the number one concern of a plurality of voters, ahead of the economy, terrorism and the war in Iraq. These moral values voters, motivated by issues such as abortion and same-sex “marriage,” strongly favored President Bush’s reelection.

“The leaders of the Religious Coalition are outraged at the underlying message of the election story—that religion and morals are the exclusive property of social conservatives,” exclaimed RCRC president Carlton Veazey. RCRC, founded 30 years ago, is a coalition of mostly mainline church agencies that lobby against all potential restrictions on abortion.
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Rev. Robert Edwards, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches (the institutional voice of the Christian left) weighs in on the election:

An Associated Press dispatch illustrates why liberals and Democrats have such trouble with “moral issues”:

“We need to work really hard at reclaiming some language,” said the Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the liberal-leaning National Council of Churches.
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By Jim Brown
October 28, 2004

(AgapePress) - A longtime member of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is sharply criticizing a delegation of the denomination for meeting in Lebanon with leaders of the terrorist group Hezbollah, and for other moves the church has been making that could be construed as anti-Israel actions.

This past summer the PCUSA voted overwhelmingly to divest from companies that do business with Israel. The 24-member delegation also met in Syria not long ago, and there it called on Israel to end its so-called “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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Article available for seven days only. By GREGORY J. WELBORN October 29, 2004; Page W15 Wall Street Journal

For some time now, Glen Stassen, a professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. — the nation’s largest — has been helping to circulate an open letter criticizing President Bush’s “theology of war.” Last week the letter went wide, so to speak, when it was announced that it had garnered the signatures of more than 200 theology professors from more than 30 seminaries — including those at Princeton, Duke, Wheaton, Northpark and Southern Methodist. Titled “Confessing Christ in a World of Violence,” the letter has made quite a stir in evangelical circles.
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