Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'world council of churches'

Mandela’s Vision for Ecumenical Economic Engagement

Here’s a key section from a speech given by Nelson Mandela in 1998 at the World Council of Churches: At the end of a century that has taught that peace is the greatest weapon in development, we cannot afford to spare any effort to bring about a peaceful resolution of such conflicts. Continue Reading...

Orthodox Bishops Assembly Silent on Moral Issues

Update, Feb. 2: the Assembly of Bishops issued a press release to “adamantly protest” the HHS mandate. On the Observer blog of the American Orthodox Institute, I look at the non-reaction of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America to the recent Obama administration mandate that forces most employers and insurers to provide contraceptives, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs free of charge. Continue Reading...

Commentary: Humility, Prudence, and Earth Day

My contribution to this week’s Acton News & Commentary. Earth Day is Friday. Sign up for Acton’s free weekly email newsletter here. Humility, Prudence, and Earth Day By John Couretas At a World Council of Churches conference last year on the French-Swiss border, much was made of the “likelihood of mass population displacement” driven by climate change and the mass migration of people fleeing zones inundated by rising seas. Continue Reading...

Talking About Babel

Two more thoughtful reviews of Jordan Ballor’s Ecumenical Babel: Confusing Economic Ideology and the Church’s Social Witness are in. Ross Emmett says that, “those concerned about the role of the church in the world today can learn a lot by reading and reflecting on Ballor’s excellent critique of the ecumenical movement’s political economy.” Continue Reading...

Ecumenical-Industrial Complex at Work?

I assert the existence of the “ecumenical-industrial complex” in my book Ecumenical Babel. On that point, this bears watching: “Ecumenical news agency suspended, editors removed.” From the piece: Earlier this year the WCC, which has been ENI’s main funder and in whose headquarters the agency was based, said it was reducing its financial support for 2011 by over 50 percent. Continue Reading...

ENI: WCC Head Addresses Lausanne Congress

World churches’ leader’s speech reaches to evangelical Christians By Munyaradzi Makoni Cape Town, 18 October (ENI)–The head of the World Council of Churches has reached out to a global gathering of Evangelicals saying Christians of different traditions need to learn from each other to participate together in God’s mission. Continue Reading...

Paul Ramsey on the Church and the Magistrate

One of the inspirations for my little book, Ecumenical Babel: Confusing Economic Ideology and the Church’s Social Witness, was the incisive and insightful critique of the ecumenical movement from the Princeton theological ethicist Paul Ramsey. Continue Reading...

Re: Embracing the Tormentors

Time to set the record straight. Some of the comments on my original posting of Faith McDonnell’s article Embracing the Tormentors are representative of the sort of egregious moral relativism, spin doctoring, and outright falsification, that have for so long characterized the “social justice” programs of lefty ecumenical groups like the WCC and NCC. Continue Reading...