No wonder the liberal churches are empty. With an agenda that is more Democrat than Decalogue, true believers have gone elsewhere while the banal and backsliding figure they might as well stay home and watch TV.A new report says the National Council of Churches (NCC) is being propped up financially by secular foundations and other non-church organizations. At least two members of the clergy who were present at a news conference touting that report suggest that may be one reason why the NCC appears to have abandoned its original mission.
The report -- titled "Strange Yokefellows: The National Council of Churches and its Growing Non-Church Constituency" -- released by the Washington, DC-based Institute on Religion and Democracy highlights the National Council of Churches' growing dependence on liberal groups for funding and support. At a news conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday, IRD spokesman John Lomperis noted the NCC receives large amounts of funding from non-church entities that promote liberal social and political causes, such as same-sex "marriage."
Lomperis, co-author of the report, shared his observations of NCC board meetings he has attended over the last three years. At those meetings, he says, he was "surprised" to hear talk of the Council receiving and pursuing grants from such entities as MoveOn.org, the National Education Association, the Ford Foundation, and the philanthropies of billionaires George Soros and Ted Turner -- both of whom, he pointed out, are avowed atheists.
"At the NCC's Spring 2004 board meeting," Lomperis added, "no one expressed any disagreement or even words of caution when one board member exhorted the Council to actually alter its programming in order to appeal to such non-church benefactors."
Lomperis says the NCC behaves far more like a partisan political group than a church group that purports to promote Christian unity. Report co-author and IRD vice president Alan Wisdom concurred, saying instead of seeking Christian unity, the NCC under general secretary Bob Edgar has chosen to focus on political advocacy. He accuses the NCC of alienating much of its constituency and other U.S. Christians by receiving and seeking funding from liberal groups that have been described as part of the "shadow Democratic Party..."
Too bad the Institute wants $35 for a copy of the report. But at least you can read the entirety of this Agape Press news story right here.
