Dear Reader be patient with this material for it is intense information and needs to be read carefully.
To those that do not know about the end time ministry here is the web site and here you will find complete teaching on the happenings of the end time. Irvin Baxter knows his stuff and is telling us the truth. The documents below point out some of the things that if you are a true born again Christian filled with the Holy Spirit and believe in the word of God and the Jesus is coming back for his church, then you will understand what is actually being said here. And I believe God will show you the truth of this matter. Pray that your eyes are open and that you will not be one of those who are caught in this evil movement of the antichrist.
Remember that the bible tells us that the antichrist will cause all to worship him who take the mark….be wise as serpents and as gentil as doves. I pray that you will see what I am trying to tell all of you. Come away from the harlot. May God have mercy on you. In addition, may you repent of all false religious doctrine? Read your bible and find out for yourselfs preferably the old kjv, I know that it is hard to understand at first but try anyway.
http://www.endtime.com/audio.asp
From Jack Patrick Arason
Descendant of the last Bishop of ICELAND who was a rogue bishop I suppose he could see that hypocrisies were everywhere.
ASSEMBLIES OF GOD & WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES TOGETHER by Ecumenical News
International
A recent Ecumenical News report mentioned that a World Council of Churches "continuation committee" included a "respected Pentecostal representative" from the Assemblies of God and a representative from the Roman Catholic Church. (9/21/98) The committee's objective is to form a global ecumenical forum. An inquiry to ENI as to the identity of the Pentecostal representative brought the following response:
"The World Council of Churches has informed me that the Assemblies of God member involved in talks is Dr Cecil M. Robeck. But the WCC insisted in response to my question that Dr Robeck is not officially representing either the Assemblies of God or the Pentecostal churches in these discussions."
Dr. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. is Professor of Church History and Ecumenics in the School of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. Robeck appears to be spearheading the ecumenical movement in the Pentecostal churches, having attended WCC conferences for several years. The web site of Pentecostal Charismatic Theological Inquiry International provides information on the ecumenical activities of the Pentecostals and, specifically, Dr. Robeck:
http://www.pctii.org/
In 1996, Dr Robeck led a team of Pentecostal scholars to dialogue with the apostate World Alliance of Reformed Churches, initiating a five year International Reformed-Pentecostal Dialogue.
http://www.pctii.org/press.html
The WARC now permits member denominations to dispense with the traditional requirement for clergy to affirm the central doctrine of the Christian faith - that salvation is through "Christ alone." Instead, WARC general secretary, Dr Milan Opocensky, maintains that churches and their members must be made to understand that their "salvation is at stake" if they refuse to reject unjust economic structures. (ENI 2/13/98) Based on the new paradigm, the WARC is also seeking full communion with the Lutheran World Federation, which is in the process of uniting with the
Catholic Church.
Pentecostal ministers have been meeting with the World Council of Churches since 1994. At a conference held that year, Dr. Robeck framed the discussion of Pentecostalism by taking issue with its "insensitive" approach to evangelizing (he calls it 'proselytizing') those who already profess to be Christian, especially inquiring directly of high ranking clergy if they know Jesus Christ as Savior. Dr. Robeck is also the author of "Mission and the Issue of Proselytism" a document critical of endeavors to convert Roman and Greek Catholics by Pentecostals, who assume such persons are not of the Christian faith. [I have this document on file for anyone who is interested.]
Noting the disparity in Webster's definitions of "proselytism" and "evangelism," Dr. Robeck's choice of words diminishes per se the true gospel of Jesus Christ:
Proselytism: To convert to some religion, system, opinion, or the like; to bring, or cause to come, over; to proselyte.
Evangelism: To instruct in the gospel; to preach the gospel to; to convert to Christianity; as, to evangelize the world.
Dr. Robeck has made demonstrable progress in leading Pentecostals to repentance for offending professing Christians with the Gospel. The following statement was issued by Pentecostals after attending the 1996 Costa Rica WCC meeting:
http://www.pctii.org/wcc-news.html
"In this meeting with the WCC, we have discussed and debated a number of mutual concerns. We were challenged, for instance, to consider how Pentecostals have sometimes proselytized other Christians. This has brought offense to the Gospel as well as to them."
Laying the groundwork with Dr. Robeck for ecumenical unity between Pentecostals and members of the World Council of Churches has been Juan Sepulveda, author of The Andean Highlands: An Encounter with Two Forms of Christianity (WCC Publications).
The following ENI report summarizes his plea for ecumenical unity at the 1998 Latin American Pentecostal Meeting.
Ecumenical News International ENI News Service 28 September 1998
Theologian tells Pentecostals to be less defensive and more ecumenical ENI-98-0436
Havana, 28 September (ENI)--Pentecostal churches should have the courage to overcome their traditional defensive attitude and re-adopt the vision and the practices that inspired the early years of the Pentecostal movement, according to Chilean theologian, Juan Sepulveda.
In a speech on "Pentecostalism and Ecumenism", given during a Latin American Pentecostal Meeting (EPLA-98) from 23 to 27 September in Cuba, Sepulveda said that Pentecostalism's origins were profoundly ecumenical. However, over time, the negative reaction of mainstream churches to Pentecostal campaigns had prompted Pentecostal churches to move further away from the mainstream and to think of themselves as churches separate from the rest of Christianity.
"Other churches were not willing to appreciate the positive aspects and the renewal that marked Pentecostal movements," said Sepulveda, according to the Latin American and Caribbean Communications Agency. "Everything was rejected, condemned and ridiculed [by other churches] and in many cases the Pentecostal experience was described as the work of the devil," he said.
This was one of the factors that forced Pentecostal groups within the mainstream churches to set up separate churches, he said. Then the gulf grew wider because of the "self-awareness" that Pentecostals began to acquire.
"The new Pentecostals felt that God had begun to return the church to its spiritual purity, and they began to view their church as a community of those who had also been restored by the power of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit," he said.
This perception led them to begin to judge other churches as "mere human institutions".
However, no church possessed the "complete Gospel", Sepulveda said, pointing out that this mistake had been one of the causes of Pentecostal "impoverishment". The ecumenical movement was a gift of the Holy Spirit, he added.
A return to the visions of early Pentecostalism would allow Pentecostal churches to accompany the churches that were trying to "walk together in ecumenical hope". [325 words]
All articles (c) Ecumenical News International Reproduction permitted only by media subscribers and provided ENI is acknowledged as the source.
Ecumenical News International Tel: (41-22) 791 6087/6515 Fax: (41-22)798 1346 E-Mail: eni@wcc-coe.org PO Box 2100 150 route de Ferney CH-1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland
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THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH &WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHESTOGETHER
(Original Source http://watch.pair.com/aog.html)
This article also contains the following:
AOG Theologian Tells Pentecostals to be Less Defensive and More Ecumenical
AOG Represented at 2000 Vatican Jubilee Celebration
AOG Represented at Vatican-Sponsored Assisi Peace Conference
An Ecumenical News report circulated on September 21, 1998 casually mentioned that a World Council of Churches "continuation committee" included a "respected Pentecostal representative" from the Assemblies of God and a representative from the Roman Catholic Church.
The committee's objective was to form a global ecumenical forum. An inquiry to ENI as to the identity of the Pentecostal representative brought the following response:
"The World Council of Churches has informed me that the Assemblies of God member involved in talks is Dr Cecil M. Robeck. But the WCC insisted in response to my question that Dr Robeck is not officially representing either the Assemblies of God or the Pentecostal churches in these discussions."
Dr. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. is Professor of Church History and Ecumenics in the School of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. Robeck appears to be spearheading the ecumenical movement in the Pentecostal churches, having attended WCC conferences for several years.
The web site of Pentecostal Charismatic Theological Inquiry International provides information on the ecumenical initiatives of Pentecostals and, specifically, Dr. Robeck. In 1996, Dr Robeck led a team of Pentecostal scholars to dialogue with the apostate World Alliance of Reformed Churches, initiating a five year International Reformed-Pentecostal Dialogue.
The WARC now permits member denominations to dispense with the traditional requirement for clergy to affirm the central doctrine of the Christian faith - that salvation is through "Christ alone." Instead, WARC general secretary, Dr Milan Opocensky, maintains that churches and their members must be made to understand that their "salvation is at stake" if they refuse to reject unjust economic structures. (ENI 2/13/98) Based on the newly adopted social gospel, the WARC is seeking full communion with the Lutheran World Federation, which is in the process of uniting with the Roman Catholic Church.
Pentecostal ministers have been meeting with the World Council of Churches since 1994. At a conference held that year, Dr. Robeck framed the discussion of Pentecostalism by taking issue with its "insensitive" approach to evangelizing (Robeck calls it "proselytizing") those who already profess to be Christian, and in particular by insulting high ranking clergy by inquiring if they know Jesus Christ as Savior.
Dr. Robeck is also the author of "Mission and the Issue of Proselytism" -- a document critical of efforts by Pentecostals to convert Roman and Greek Catholics under the assumption that such persons are not of the Christian faith.
Dr. Robeck's choice of words is unfortunate and diminishes the true gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a difference between proselytism and evangelism, according to Webster's Dictionary. Proselytism converts to "some religion, system, opinion, or the like" whereas evangelism preaches "the gospel":
Proselytism: To convert to some religion, system, opinion, or the like; to bring, or cause to come, over; to proselyte.
Evangelism: To instruct in the gospel; to preach the gospel to; to convert to Christianity; as, to evangelize the world.
Dr. Robeck has made demonstrable progress in leading Pentecostals to repentance for offending professors of Christianity with the gospel. The following statement was issued in 1996 by Pentecostals attending a Costa Rica World Council of Churches meeting:
"In this meeting with the WCC, we have discussed and debated a number of mutual concerns. We were challenged, for instance, to consider how Pentecostals have sometimes proselytized other Christians. This has brought offense to the Gospel as well as to them."
Laying the groundwork with Dr. Robeck for ecumenical unity between Pentecostals and members of the World Council of Churches is theologian, Juan Sepulveda, author of The Andean Highlands: An Encounter with Two Forms of Christianity (WCC Publications).
The ENI report below summarizes Sepulveda's plea for ecumenical unity at the 1998 Latin American Pentecostal Meeting.
Ecumenical News InternationalENI News Service28 September 1998
Theologian tells Pentecostals to be less defensive and more ecumenicalENI-98-0436
Havana, 28 September (ENI)--Pentecostal churches should have the courage to overcome their traditional defensive attitude and re-adopt the vision and the practices that inspired the early years of the Pentecostal movement, according to Chilean theologian, Juan Sepulveda.
In a speech on "Pentecostalism and Ecumenism", given during a Latin American Pentecostal Meeting (EPLA-98) from 23 to 27 September in Cuba, Sepulveda said that Pentecostalism's origins were profoundly ecumenical. However, over time, the negative reaction of mainstream churches to Pentecostal campaigns had prompted Pentecostal churches to move further away from the mainstream and to think of themselves as churches separate from the rest of Christianity.
"Other churches were not willing to appreciate the positive aspects and the renewal that marked Pentecostal movements," said Sepulveda, according to the Latin American and Caribbean Communications Agency. "Everything was rejected, condemned and ridiculed [by other churches] and in many cases the Pentecostal experience was described as the work of the devil," he said.
This was one of the factors that forced Pentecostal groups within the mainstream churches to set up separate churches, he said. Then the gulf grew wider because of the "self-awareness" that Pentecostals began to acquire.
"The new Pentecostals felt that God had begun to return the church to its spiritual purity, and they began to view their church as a community of those who had also been restored by the power of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit," he said.
This perception led them to begin to judge other churches as "mere human institutions".
However, no church possessed the "complete Gospel", Sepulveda said, pointing out that this mistake had been one of the causes of Pentecostal "impoverishment". The ecumenical movement was a gift of the Holy Spirit, he added.
A return to the visions of early Pentecostalism would allow Pentecostal churches to accompany the churches that were trying to "walk together in ecumenical hope". [325 words]
All articles (c) Ecumenical News InternationalReproduction permitted only by media subscribers andprovided ENI is acknowledged as the source.
Ecumenical News InternationalTel: (41-22) 791 6087/6515 Fax: (41-22) 798 1346E-Mail: eni@wcc-coe.orgPO Box 2100 150 route de Ferney CH-1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland
UPDATE 2000Cecil Robeck, Jr. Represents Fuller/AOG at Vatican Jubilee Celebration
Excerpt from Fuller Focus, Spring 2000Robeck Meets with Church Leaders in Israel and the Vatican
Cecil M. ("Mel") Robeck, Jr. (M.Div., '73; Ph.D., '85), professor of church history and ecumenics and Fuller's "ambassador to the church worldwide," participated in two historic meetings during the Christmas and New Year holidays, one in Israel, the other at the Vatican.
As cochair of the International Roman Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue, cochair of the local Evangelical-Roman Catholic Dialogue, and consultant to the Commissions on Faith and Order of the National and World Councils of Churches, he is an apologist for all evangelicals as well as for the Pentecostal tradition.
Dr. Robeck also serves as a representative of Fuller to international church dialogues and forums. After receiving an invitation from Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on behalf of Pope John Paul II, Robeck attended the ecumenical Jubilee Celebration at the Vatican last January.
The bronze doors of Rome's four basilicas are opened once every 50 years. During a special ecumenical ceremony on January 18, the bronze doors of St. Paul's "Outside the Wall" were opened. They symbolized Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life--the Door through which all must enter for salvation. Christian leaders of various world communions were invited to participate in the event.
"The ceremony and worship service at St. Paul's Outside the Wall were very moving experiences," says Robeck. Before the doors were opened, the international church leaders knelt and prayed together, then proceeded through the doors into the basilica. The ecumenical service included Scripture reading, prayer, and readings from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Fr. Georges Florovsky. This was followed by an audience with Pope John Paul II.
"Those who participated in the celebration acknowledged that while we, as Catholics, Orthodox, evangelicals and other Protestants, may not be in full communion with one another, we desire to be on the way to having greater relationships with one another," explains Robeck. "By coming together at this event, we were saying that we would like to enter the new millennium with a renewed commitment to work with one another," he adds.
Robeck had just returned from another historic meeting that took place last December, when members of the Secretaries of Christian World Communions had audiences with the Greek, Armenian, and Latin Patriarchs, as well as the bishops of the Anglican and Lutheran churches in Jerusalem. Since Christians (most of them Palestinians) constitute only two-and-one-half percent of the population, they try to maintain relations with both Muslims and Jews.
But they often find themselves squeezed between members of these two communities...
"Fuller has always believed in making a positive contribution to the churches worldwide," continues Robeck. "We expanded that commitment in the '80s and '90s to include not simply the evangelical churches and Protestantism, but also Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism..."
UPDATE 2002Cecil Robeck Jr. Represents AOG at Vatican-sponsored Assisi Peace Conference
18-Jan-2002 -- EWTN News BriefLIST OF THOSE ATTENDING ASSISI PEACE CONFERENCE
VATICAN, (CWNews.com) - The Italian daily newspaper Avvenire has published a list of the religious leaders expected to participate in the January 24 inter-religious observance at Assisi.
The Vatican has not yet released an official list of the participants, explaining that the list will not be considered complete until all those invited have responded. An estimated 300 people are expected to be involved, representing 44 different religious bodies.
Avvenire reported that 33 cardinals are expected, led by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano; the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re; the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan; the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper; and Cardinal Etchegaray, who organized the original inter-religious ceremony in Assisi in 1986. Also present will be representatives of the episcopal conferences of Algeria, Angola, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sudan-- countries where inter-religious dialogue is particularly important.
The Orthodox churches of the world will send 11 patriarchs to Assisi, led by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. But no representative of the Moscow patriarchate is expected.
About 50 Islamic leaders will attend, coming from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, the Philippines, and Jordan. And Jewish rabbis will come from Jerusalem, France, and the United States-- along with Elio Toaff, the former chief rabbi of Rome
Protestant bodies will be represented by Konrad Kaiser, the secretary-general of the World council of Churches; Anglican Bishop Richard Garrard of Rome; Setri Nyomi of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches; George Freeman of the World Methodist Council; CECIL ROBECK OF THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH; Alvin Jackson of the Disciples of Christ; Theodor Angelou of the European Baptist Federation; and Bert Beach of the Seventh-Day Adventists.
The Vatican also expects representatives of Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and traditional African faiths.
The Italian government will be represented in Assisi by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
All these participants are expected to be aboard a specially chartered train that will leave Rome for Assisi on the morning of January 24, returning that evening.
Values at the United Nations
50 Years After the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Conference on World Christian Mission: Pacific SouthwestAsilomar, California - July 28-31, 1995
Rev. Robert Traer
Fifty years ago the United Nations was formed. In the drafting of the Charter human rights were at first a minor concern, but the persistent lobbying of a few religious leaders changed that. The result in 1948 was a Universal Declaration of Human Rights that affirmed "faith in human rights." Today, a coalition of religious and educational groups is pressing the United Nations to affirm universal and spiritual values.
The contrast between religious activity at the UN fifty years ago and today tells us a great deal about the changes in our world.
Fifty Years Ago
In 1945 on May 4th the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that "The rights of individuals, as well as the rights of nations, will be incorporated in the San Francisco Charter [of the United Nations] it was learned today, largely as the result of the efforts of a Philadelphia clergyman." (1) Two days earlier O. Frederick Nolde, a professor for many years at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, had convinced the Secretary of State of the United States to press for more extensive provisions for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the UN Charter.
Nolde was the executive secretary of a Joint Committee on Religious Liberty, which was formed in 1943 by the Federal Council of Churches and the Foreign Missions Conference. (These two bodies later merged to become the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U. S. A.) In 1944 a statement on religious liberty was widely distributed to political and religious leaders, and in 1945 three memoranda were submitted to the Conference on International Organization held in San Francisco.
Support had also been mobilized through the International Round Table at Princeton in July 1943, involving sixty-one Christian leaders from twelve countries in North America, Europe, and Asia and from Australia and New Zealand.
And the second National Study Conference on the Churches and a Just and Durable Peace, meeting in January 1945, had recommended that the Dumbarton Proposals be amended to establish a "special commission on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms."
(2)
In 1946 Nolde became the first director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), which was established that year as a joint agency of the International Missionary Council and the emerging World Council of Churches, even as he continued to serve as the executive secretary of the Joint Committee on Religious Liberty. Under his leadership the CCIA developed a position of faith with respect to human rights and communicated that position to the UN Commission on Human Rights, which was drafting the Universal Declaration.
The CCIA acknowledged that the omission of any reference to God in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was of concern to many Christians, but affirmed that it was not the task of the UN but the calling of the churches "to bring men to faith." Moreover, the CCIA asserted that "In interpreting the Declaration, the Christian has an obligation to contend that such rights as man claims in society derive from the Christian view of man's nature and destiny, by virtue of his creation, redemption, and calling."
(3)
The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, expressed a critical view of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in an editorial asserting that "The new ethical-juridical edifice in which the man of the United Nations era is to find the security of a fortress, bears on its threshold the ancient warning: If God be not the builder of the house, its building will be in vain."
(4) In 1948 the absence of explicit language in the Universal Declaration affirming that human rights come from God was a stumbling block not only for the Vatican, but the Muslim state of Saudi Arabia, which abstained during the vote on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for that reason.
But the Papal Nuncio in Paris, Monsignor Roncalli, who had met regularly with Rene Cassin, the prime drafter of the Universal Declaration, apparently had a different view. We know now that he "played an important part in the formulation of the draft Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
(5) And when he became Pope John XXIII, he affirmed the Universal Declaration in a remarkable encyclical entitled Pacem in Terris. Moreover, through Vatican II he made human rights the cornerstone of the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
Nolde's appeal to Secretary of State Stettinius in 1945 was supported by Judge Proskauer, representing the American Jewish Committee.
(6) And the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was encouraged by representatives of other religious traditions, such as the Baha'is.
(7) But clearly, fifty years ago Protestant churches provided the key leaders among the religious non-governmental organizations lobbying for human rights protection through the United Nations.
This has changed. As the world colonized by the West has become independent and begun to recover from generations of economic and political oppression, the religious communities and organizations of Asia and Africa and the Middle East have come to play a more important role in the affairs of the United Nations.
In my book Faith in Human Rights: Support in Religious Traditions for a Global Struggle (Georgetown University Press, 1991) I document how this change has led to the development of international human rights law and to broad support for human rights among religious leaders in the world.
Today
I will not attempt to give any details about the history of the last fifty years, but instead will focus on activity among religious non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are active at the United Nations. The changes between 1945 and 1995 can be seen clearly in: the greater diversity of religious organizations represented by NGOs, the importance of "interfaith" organizations, and the activity of the recent Values Caucus formed during preparations for the Social Summit.
Presently at the United Nations an ad hoc Committee of Religious NGOs has more than one hundred members. Its chairman in 1994 was a Catholic priest working with an international interfaith organization. Its chairwoman in 1995 was a Korean Buddhist nun. There are recognized Committees on Freedom of Religion or Belief in New York and in Geneva, and the March 1995 meeting of the Committee in New York was attended by 21 persons including representatives from 5 Roman Catholic organizations, 4 Protestant organizations, 1 Jewish group, 3 interfaith organizations, and 6 non-religious groups.
(8)
The World Council of Churches has a representative at the United Nations in New York, but this person has not played a significant role at the UN for many years. Today international interfaith organizations, such as the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP), the Temple of Understanding, and the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), are far more visible in New York at the UN.
Representatives of the IARF, which is primarily a non-Christian interfaith organization, chair the Committees on Freedom of Religion or Belief in both New York and Geneva.
The UN is now entering into contracts with WCRP to support conflict resolution programs in various parts of the world, and this spring UN staff in New York turned to the Temple of Understanding to organize an interfaith service there in October in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UN. Because the World Council of Churches and Protestant denominations, such as the Lutherans and the Presbyterians, were not consulted by the UN in the decision concerning the interfaith service and have been effectively excluded from much of the planning process, these Christian groups have decided not to participate.
There has been considerable talk among religious NGOs at the United Nations about a "spiritual agency" attached to the UN or a "United Religions" organization modeled after the UN. Bishop William Swing of the Episcopal Church in California is actively seeking to charter a United Religions Organization next summer, which he hopes would be housed at the Presidio.
He was invited to attend the 22 September 1995 meeting of the Committee of Religious NGOs in New York to present his ideas and to hear the concerns of leaders from a wide variety of the world's religious traditions.
Perhaps more illustrative of NGO activity at the UN these days was the Values Caucus, which was formed during the preparatory meetings leading up to the World Summit on Social Development held earlier this year in Denmark. The Values Caucus sought to support "spiritual and moral values" in social development. It held hearings and recommended amendments to the draft document for the Social Summit, amendments that largely consisted of inserting into the document phrases such as "shared values" and the "reorientation of values."
(9)
One amendment recommended by the Values Caucus reads: "utilize formal and informal education, the media, institutions and groups dealing with values, and social science research to create values and attitudes that support the changes needed for social development." At the eleventh hour, the Values Caucus circulated a paragraph urging that the following statement be included in the Declaration of the Summit. "We acknowledge the universal values contained in this precept:
Individuals, people and States should treat others as they would have others treat them, and should avoid treating others as they would have others avoid treating them. This precept enhances reciprocity, security, confidence building, social cohesion, solidarity, and cooperation in measurable ways and reinforces human conscience, awareness and values such as kindness and compassion which enrich human existence in ways that are beyond measurement."
(10)
The Temple of Understanding, an interfaith organization located in New York, held three roundtables on "Values and Social Development" during the preparatory meetings in January 1995 for the Social Summit. But a year earlier it had convened a Group of Reflection to write a paper, which its Chair, Fr. Luis Dolan, C.P., suggested in a cover letter attached to the final product, "was forged through a dynamic collective generative process." Seventeen persons were listed as members of the Group of Reflection. Four were from the Temple of Understanding, including two Roman Catholics, a Sufi convert of Jewish lineage, and an African chief.
Group of Reflection also included two Jews and two Muslims, none of whom represented major Jewish or Islamic international organizations, a Japanese lay Buddhist, a representative of the Office of Tibet (who was presumably a Tibetan Buddhist), a representative of the Jain mission to the UN, a Roman Catholic staff member from the World Conference on Religion and Peace, a person representing a non-religious international organization, and two persons listed as "from" the United Nations.
(11)
Not a single Protestant was involved.
The paper of the Group of Reflection begins with the following paragraph: "We are persons and institutions affirming the existence of universally recognized values rooted in and arising from an immeasurable Ultimate Reality. These values include compassion, love, tolerance, justice, peace, harmony, beauty and unity.
These values are at the very core of hum
an society and there can be no effective social development without them."
The second paragraph continues this argument: "As People of Faith, we emphasize the critical need to articulate and bring these universal values into action.
The spiritual dimension, the deeply moral dimension, needs to be included forthrightly in United Nations documents and activities, particularly those relating to social development such as the World Summit for Social Development and the United Nations Conference on Women and Development."
Thus, the paper proposed the following added dimension to the work of the UN: "the expression of full humanity based on universal values with social theory and social policy manifesting these values" (emphasis in the original).
This agenda was put before the Values Caucus by the representative of the Jain mission to the UN, P. N. "Bawa" Jain, who in addition to serving on the Group of Reflection was one of three co-chairs of the Values Caucus - and its primary spokesperson during the last "prepCom" of the World Summit for Social Development and the Summit itself. The other two co-chairs were a Korean Buddhist nun, Ven. Chung Ok Lee, and a New York psychologist representing the Center for Psychology and Social Change, Nancy B. Roof.
How far we have come from 1945. Then a Lutheran minister representing the Protestant denominations of the world led the religious movement for human rights during the formative stages of the UN. Moreover, he supported omitting explicit religious language from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, because the newly formed World Council of Churches accepted that persuading people to have faith was the job of the churches and not the UN. In 1995, however, a Jain from India claimed to speak for religious "people of faith" and non-religious people as well, who seem to believe it is the business of the UN to promote spiritual and moral values.
At the last meeting of the Values Caucus during the preparatory meeting in January 1995, Ambassador Danilo Turk of Slovenia and I made brief presentations. He described a consultation of governmental representatives sponsored by his country which had produced a paper on "the Ethical and Spiritual Dimensions of Social Progress."
(12) The paper argues that "This presence of the spirit...means that compassion, altruism, generosity and whatever is universally, if tentatively, recognized as partaking of human goodness have the power to move societies in positive directions. This is an assumption which has always been central to religions and has often been expressed in the literary works of most cultures."
But rather than simply urging the inclusion of "values" language in the Declaration of the Social Summit, the paper made several specific suggestions. For example, it recommended that words and expressions "which depersonalize relations between individuals and society and which, though unintentionally, are contrary to the concept of human dignity, be avoided.
This category includes expressions such as productive or non-productive persons or activities, human capital, human resources and the labor market." The paper also urged integrating spiritual principles into discourse about social development, drawing on "all the sources of religions and philosophies" which seek to uplift humankind.
As a concrete step in this direction, Ambassador Turk proposed that the Declaration of the Social Summit include the following statement of confession: "We recognize that inaction and mistakes made in the past contributed to situations in which many policies pursued hitherto have not produced the expected results. We pledge not to create obstacles to the efforts by the people in pursuit of social development and to act in accordance with the principle that individuals, peoples and states should treat others as they would have others treat them."
(13)
It was interesting that none of the sixty or so participants in the Values Caucus that afternoon supported this statement although, like the recommended amendment of the Values Caucus, the statement affirmed the Golden Rule. The difference, of course, was the call for confession. One person in the Values Caucus argued that nations were not capable of admitting their failures. I spoke in favor of the Ambassador's efforts, and in my own comments I urged that moral leadership in politics be sought by expecting high standards of personal conduct as well as accountability ensuring that neither officials nor governments are "above the law."
(14)
I also resisted the tendency of the Values Caucus to identify universal principles with language (such as "values"), which is presented as transcending particular cultural and religious traditions. There is no language that is universal. The phrase "shared values" tells us nothing, until we say more clearly what we mean. Moreover, whatever is "spiritual" or "transcendent" or "universal" must also take a material, immanent, particular form. Not all that is particular is universal, but all that is universal is particular.
Nothing is to be gained by repeating the word "values" over and over again, as if it were a magical incantation. In fact, the spiritual dimension of life is expressed more powerfully by the stories of our religious traditions, than by abstract concepts like "values." Without the stories of our faith communities, the Golden Rule may only mean enlightened self-interest.
And what do peace, compassion, forgiveness, and justice mean? The story of Jesus accepting an unjust death for the sake of his friends tells us more about what this might mean than the phrase "shared values." And the gospel stories of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the Last Judgment illustrate what these virtues might really mean - helping an enemy, forgiving someone who has wronged and rejected you, caring for the sick and the poor and the oppressed without any expectation of remuneration or recognition.
These higher moral standards cannot be prescribed by law, but can only be encouraged by communities that tell such stories and value self-giving moral conduct.
Governments, which seek to foster social development, cannot be expected to foster more than enlightened self-interest. But in doing so, they have a responsibility to guarantee the fundamental freedoms and human rights that are necessary for the freedom of religious communities. For only when there is religious freedom will there be a spiritual flourishing through social development.
Thus, the task of moral and spiritual renewal in our societies is not the work of the United Nations, but belongs to us all. If we are "people of faith," we are responsible for living our faith in a way that enables others to work together for a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. We are responsible for giving life to our stories of faith, so the values that are shared among the religious peoples of the world include more than merely enlightened self-interest.
Conclusion
What conclusions can we draw from the changes in the role of religious non-governmental organizations at the UN over the last fifty years? And what strategy with respect to the UN should Protestant Christians now support?
We must accept that our church representatives at the UN are now in the minority among religious non-governmental organizations. To be effective, therefore, Christians will have to work in coalitions with representatives of other faith communities. There are ample opportunities for such joint efforts. Thus, we should support interfaith cooperation at the UN and elsewhere - in the struggle for justice, peace and the integrity of creation.
But experience shows that such interfaith coalitions are likely to support quite general and abstract language about issues of justice and human rights - in an effort to preserve unity among different religious communities. Thus, although it is important to work with interfaith coalitions whenever we can, we must not expect that they will embrace the prophetic voices of our Protestant heritage. The call to confession and repentance, for instance, is likely to be seen by interfaith coalitions as too tied to the language and stories of Christian faith to qualify as "shared values."
Therefore, we must speak and act clearly on the basis of our biblical faith and not hesitate to take unilateral positions, as Christians, on critical public issues. We must assert that confession and repentance are essential for moral and spiritual renewal, and not merely parochial practices within churches. And we must affirm, through our deeds as well as our words, that the gospel is not only a matter of belief among Christians but good news for the whole world.
In a world where countries and religious communities that were oppressed half a century ago are now active in international affairs, it is right that Christian voices not dominate moral discourse at the United Nation. But it is important that Christians speak out strongly and clearly in dialogue with those of other faith traditions.
Christian faith offers hope through repentance. And encouraging such repentance, by Christians as well as other people of faith, may well be our major contribution today at the United Nations.
Notes
1) Archives of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, "Human Rights Varia 1945-1968," 428.3.25, World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland.
2) O. Frederick Nolde, Free and Equal: Human Rights in Ecumenical Perspective (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1968), 20.
3) O. Frederick Nolde, "The United Nations Acts for Human Rights," release by the American Committee for the World Council of Churches, in the Michigan Advocate, December 30, 1948, CCIA Archives, "UN International Bill of Human Rights, 1947-1948," 428.3.24, World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland.
4) "Vatican Hits U. N. Group," subtitled "Assails Omission of God's Name in Human Rights Draft," October 31, 1948, CCIA Archives, "Human Rights Varia 1945-65," 428.3.25, World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland.
5) Sean MacBride, "The Universal Declaration - Thirty Years After," in Understanding Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary and Interfaith Study, ed. Alan D. Falconer (Dublin: Irish School of Ecumenics, 1980), 9.
6) See Joseph M. Proskauer, A Segment of My Times (New York: Farrar and Straus, 1950).
7) In 1947 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States submitted "A Baha'i Declaration of Human Obligations and Rights." Mary Ellen Togtman-Wood, "Prerequisites to Human Rights: A Baha'i Perspective," Breakthrough 10:2-3 (winter/spring 1989): 41-42.
8) Minutes, NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief (March 1, 1995).
9) "Suggested Changes to WSSD Document A/Conf/166/PC/l.22," The Values Caucus (January 6, 1995).
10) "Draft Proposal," The Values Caucus (January 27, 1995). This amendment was not included in the final declaration of the Social Summit.
11) "Toward Deeper Values and Fuller Development: A Plea to the World Summit on Social Development," Group of Reflection convened by The Temple of Understanding (January 1995).
12) "Seminar on the Ethical and Spiritual Dimensions of Social Progress," A/Conf/166/PC/27 (December 28, 1994).
13) Circulated at the Values Caucus meeting (January 27, 1995).
14) Robert Traer, "Creating an Earth Community: Suggestions for the Values Caucus," (January 27, 1995).
From the web site below:
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Encyclopedia of Religion and SocietyWilliam H. Swatos, Jr. Editor
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Table of Contents Cover Page Editors Contributors Introduction Web Version
ECUMENISM
Ecumenics developed into an academic discipline in the 1960s after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) when Catholic and Protestant universities in Europe began to appoint ecumenical specialists. The World Council of Churches (WCC) founded an Ecumenical Institute in 1946 (affiliated to University of Geneva, 1952). Disciplinary institutionalization is lower in Britain and North America than continental Europe, so ecumenics is often combined with theology (occasionally sociology).
Ecumenists tend to be recruited from history, dogmatics, and biblical studies, which explains why sociology of ecumenism is still underrepresented in the academy. Neither the catalogues of the WCC nor Lossky's Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement (Eerdmans 1991) has entries on "sociology of ecumenism."
Currie's sociological study Methodism Divided (Faber 1968) appears under "Methodist positions in the Ecumenical Movement," Wilson's Religion in Secular Society (Watts 1966) under "Social Theology," Berger's "market model" (1963) is not even mentioned. Sociology of ecumenism is still a blind spot, although Towler (1974:165) argues that "an ideology as strong and persuasive as ecumenism deserves careful study."
The first scholar to examine the sociological aspects of denominationalism and ecumenicalism was H. Richard Niebuhr. In The Social Sources of Denominationalism (Holt 1929), he identified such "sociological factors" as race and social class in explaining the tendency toward schism and the persistence of denominationalism—hence the report "The Non-theological Factors in the Making and Unmaking of Church Unity" presented to the Conference on Faith and Order in 1937. F&O reopened the discussion in 1952 after C. H. Dodd sent a letter on "Unavowed Motives" to the Central Committee. Ehrenström and Muelder's report (1963) is the only sociological analysis commissioned by the WCC.
It is a moot point whether Niebuhr's Social Sources is full-fledged sociology of religion (although it is often excerpted in sociological readers). He treated nontheological factors as the independent variable in 1929 and "the power of theology" in The Kingdom of God in America (Harper) in 1937. So it is still not clear what the independent variable is in the complex ecumenical equation (a problem now compounded by the division of labor that relegates theological factors to theologians and nontheological factors to sociologists). Mixed motivations are not uncommon. The Winnipeg Call to Union of 1902 preceding the Canadian union of 1925 is a good example. Theological statements can be used to legitimate nontheological motivations such as the quest for greater economic efficiency (see Lee 1960, Thompson 1978).
Turner (1972:242) noted that ecumenists do not define their concepts consistently. It is not always clear what they mean when they use terms such as ecumenism, ecumenicalism, ecumenicity, ecumenicality , the ecumene , the Ecumenical Movement , and Ecumenics. Ecumenism and ecumenics are often treated as synonyms, whereas the Ecumenical Movement or the ecumene are treated as blanket terms to cover the whole of the ecumenical enterprise. "Ecumenism" and "ecumenicalism" are best treated as an "ideology." Its basic form is the ideal "that all should be one" (John 17).
It is elaborated in the form of Models of Unity: Organic Unity, Federal Unity, Reconciled Diversity, a Communion of Communions, Conciliar Ecumenism, Secular Ecumenism, and Spiritual Ecumenism (Lossky 1991). "Ecumenicity" is an "attitude": that is, the "affective" dimension of the processes of ecumenical dedifferentiation. It (1) denotes positive perceptions of other Christian denominations and their members and (2) presupposes commitment to ecumenical goals.
Durkheimians might object that we are dealing with psychology (i.e., the attitudes of individuals ); in practice, however, much sociology of ecumenism consists of surveys of the ecumenical and antiecumenical attitudes of affiliates, the clergy, and denominational leaders (examples in Black 1983:94 ff.; Ranson et al. 1977:76 ff.). "Ecumenism" (an ideology) presupposes "ecumenicity" (an attitude). "Ecumenics" denotes an academic discipline. It should ideally be based on the best that historical, sociological, and theological scholarship have to offer. It should also avoid the extremes of sociological and theological "reductionism." Ecumenics (like the law and medicine) is also a practical discipline, because it is relevant to the task of uniting Christian denominations.
The "ecumenical elite" is distributed over such sites as (1) ecumenical bureaucracies in the network of Councils of Churches, (2) denominational "boards," (3) ecumenical negotiations, (4) universities and ecumenical institutes. (These are analytical distinctions because ecumenists often work in two or more of these sites.) Its main tasks are (1) to produce and evaluate "consensus texts" (the "diplomatic dialogue of experts"; Willaime 1989:15); and (2) to describe and explain processes of "denominational differentiation" and "ecumenical dedifferentiation" (Staples 1992). Ecumenics should not be reduced to studies of texts produced by the elite.
The "Ecumenical Movement" denotes nonofficial groups of Christians that organized themselves in the nineteenth century into "social movements" to propagate ecumenism and pursue ecumenical goals. They recruited mostly from the ranks of like-minded Protestants such as Anglo-Saxon Evangelicals and Lutheran Pietists (together with liberals) and joined forces to provide education, to found interdenominational missionary societies, to provide services for young people (YMCA and YWCA) and college students e.g., the Student Christian Movements affiliated to the World's Student Christian Fellowship in 1895), and to struggle for peace and social justice.
The International Missionary Council (1921), the Life and Work Movement (1925), and the Faith and Order Movement (1927) became departments of the WCC in 1961 and 1948. All were founded by charismatic leaders or "ecumenical pioneers" (Willaime 1989:15) who emerged from the ranks of the earlier social movements.
The Ecumenical Movement is a complex cluster of "social movements" that was gradually "officialized" in the form of a network of councils of churches from the local to the global level as denominations obtained the right to appoint official delegations to the classical ecumenical conferences and to the assemblies and "boards" of the WCC (from 1948).
Like the United Nations, multinational corporations, and the world economic system, it is now a "global" phenomenon; so ecumenical studies must be inserted into globalization studies. The "ecumenical process" is a sociohistorical phenomenon that subsumes all those features denoted by terms such as ecumenism, ecumenicity , and the Ecumenical Movement and also subsumes the individual and concerted actions of "ecumenicals" and "antiecumenicals" (and interactions between them) in the interlocking processes of "denominational differentiation" and "ecumenical dedifferentiation." The ecumenical process could now be treated as a "living laboratory" in which to describe, explain, and theorize a number of macro-to-micro linkages from the local to the global level such as "processes of reception" (Rusch 1988).
If theologians, historians, and sociologists can learn to work together in one "interdiscipline," it could also be used as a laboratory in which to test theories that link "ideas," individual and concerted ecumenical actions ("agency"), and processes of ecumenical "structuration" (described by Giddens [1984] as that which both "enables" and "constrains"; for inherent "constraints" in the ecumenical process, see Staples 1995, Black 1993).
The "ecumene" (oikoumene ) means the "inhabited world" in Greek. It can now be analytically divided into the "little ecumene" (Christian denominations) and the "great ecumene" (all the world's religions and the interfaith dialogue among them).
This raises the question of whether their members perceive each other in ways that are positive, negative, or hostile. The full range of reactions runs from religious wars and persecutions to syncretism and mergers with "peaceful coexistence," "mutual cooperation," and "federal constructions" as the middle terms (see Turner 1972:242 f). Ecumenical dialogue is the means for shifting the balance toward the positive end of the spectrum. In the "little ecumene," one aim of dialogue is to correct misperceptions.
Attitude surveys, identity studies, and inculturation studies (Lossky 1991:506 f) shed light on such perceptions. Attitudes of Jews, Christians, Muslims to each other are regularly featured in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies . The applicability of Mol's account of religious identity is limited because he did not ask how religionists with the same denominational identity interact with others in the ecumenical process. His claim that only "invasion from outer space" can unite divided denominations (Mol 1976:85) explains neither "Objective Progress" toward Christian unity nor the network of councils of churches, while he prefers group identities with firm identity boundaries buttressed by "prejudice" (1976:86 ff).
A better understanding of "we-feeling" can be found in Gilbert's essay On Social Facts (Princeton University Press 1992
Mol also overlooks the possible emergence of "a powerful cultural consensus" (Turner calls this "homogenization," 1972:239 ff). A good example is Protestantism in nineteenth-century Canada (Westfall 1989). This explains why union efforts did not fail in Canada, even if they failed in the United States (Finke and Stark 1992; but they did not always fail in the United States, see Douglass 1937).
—Peter Staples
References
P. Berger, "A Market Model for the Analysis of Ecumenicity," Social Research 30(1963): 77-93
A. W. Black "Ironies of Ecumenism," Ecumenical Review 45(1993):469-481
A. W. Black, "The Sociology of Ecumenism," in Practice and Belief , ed. A. W. Black and P. E. Glasner (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1983): 86-107
H. P. Douglass, A Decade of Objective Progress in Church Unity 1927-1936 (New York: Harper, 1937)
N. Ehrenström and W. G. Muelder, Institutionalism and Church Unity (New York: Association, 1963)
R. Finke and R. Stark, The Churching of America 1776-1990 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1992)
A. Giddens, The Constitution of Society (Cambridge: Polity, 1984)
R. Lee, The Social Sources of Church Unity (New York: Abingdon, 1960)
N. Lossky (ed.), Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1991)
H. Mol, Identity and the Sacred (Oxford: Blackwell, 1976)
S. Ranson et al. (eds.) Clergy, Ministers and Priests (London: Routledge, 1977)
W. G. Rusch, Reception (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988)
P. Staples, "Theory and Method in Ecumenical Science," pp. 139-173 in Ekumeniken och forskningen , ed. Sigurd Bergmann et al. (Uppsala: Nordiska Ekumeniska Rådet, 1992)
P. Staples, "Ultimates as Paradoxical Limits in Christian Ecumenical Science," URAM Journal 18(1995): 139-150
D. M. Thompson, "Theological and Sociological Approaches to the Motivation of the Ecumenical Movement," in Religious Motivation , ed. D. Baker (Oxford: Blackwell, 1978): 467-479
R. Towler, Homo Religiosus (London: Constable, 1974)
B. S. Turner, "The Sociological Expla- nation of Ecumenicalism," pp. 231-245 in The Social Sciences and the Churches , ed. C. L. Mitton (Edinburgh: Clark, 1972): 231-245
W. Westfall, Two Worlds (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1989)
J. Willaime (ed.), Vers de nouveaux oecuménismes (Latour-Maubourg: Cerf, 1989).
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