Press Release: IPC REJECTS IRD'S POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED ATTACK ON THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

For Immediate Release

IPC REJECTS IRD'S POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED ATTACK ON THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
Vision of Inclusion, Tolerance, and Respect Challenges IRD

Washington, DC February 6, 2007 Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC) Director Stephen Rockwell calls the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest publication Strange Yokefellows, "nothing more than a purely politically- motivated attack upon the National Council of Churches (NCC)."

IPC Director Mark Farr added, "The book documents supposedly "leftist" motivations inside the NCC. Although the IRD claims to hold the timeless truths of the Christian faith at its heart, its new book displays in ever-clearer relief the real reason for the existence of the IRD: to warp and destroy the progressive Christian message of many mainstream Protestant denominations and replace it with a patently unchristian message of an unrestrained and discredited conservativism and global hegemony."

Using pie charts and other graphics, the IRD claims to have discovered a bias in NCC activity. In fact, the very graphics they use often serve to contradict the points the IRD is seeking to make. For example, in Chart 3 outlines NCC program expenses, including the three largest: communication (22%), research planning and Bible translation (13%) and perhaps the most controversial, justice and advocacy, just 39%. Is work towards justice something the IRD sees as a bad idea? Is Bible translation?
Strange Yokefellows also asks why the NCC also has no programs in the area of evangelism, in the sense of "inviting non-believers to place their faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ." However, as Rockwell duly observed, "The NCC is not a Christian Church but a movement of existing Christians towards unity.' Farr further noted, "Though the IPC affirms the value of evangelism, as does the NCC, it is not mandatory for every Christian organization to have an evangelism department."

The IRD accusations are in fact the height of hypocrisy. With its own strong ties to the neoconservative Project For a New American Century, it—and not the NCC—is the true perpetrator of using the sheep's clothing of faith to further a very secular agenda such as pre-emptive war. A simple review of both its membership and funding sources will reveal the extraordinary overlap between the two organizations. The IRD is a smear organization. It follows the now well-known path of many radical right organizations not to live with difference, but to destroy opposition. As IPC Director Frank L. Cocozzelli observed, "Having little to say about the Golden Rule, it is as if the IRD were working to render God unto Caesar."

For the record, IPC has no official connection to the NCC and takes no money from them. However, IPC, as an institution working to lift up progressive Christian voices, is compelled to respond to this scurrilous attack.

America is founded on the acceptance of diversity. 1 Corinthians 12:26-28 calls Christians to ‘Build up the Body of Christ.’ The IPC seeks to put positive views forward in a confident way, and it accepts and seeks respectful dialogue with those with whom it disagrees. However, it rejects organizations of any stripe that fraudulently appear to have one purpose, when they in fact have another, and spend their time in destructive activities about another part of the Body of Christ.

The IPC therefore appeals to the IRD to cease its attempts to injure the Body of Christ and instead turn towards positive output that, from whatever its viewpoint, builds up the Body. This kind of attack has no place in the fullness of Christ’s Church.

About The Institute for Progressive Christianity

The Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC) is a research institute committed to producing work firmly rooted in scripture and the diverse Christian values represented in Progressive Christianity. Powerful arguments will be developed to recast the Christian image into one of tolerance, diversity and reason. The IPC will champion the separation of Church and State and design innovative policy proposals that embody the kind of compassion and integrity that resonates with all people of character.

http://instituteforprogressivechristianity.org/joomla/
CrossLeft

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http://www.crossleft.org

Institute for Progressive Christianity
Mark Farr
Director
email: mark@crossleft.org
phone: 202-422-8303

The Institute for Progressive Christianity
Frank Cocozzelli
Director
email: frank@crossleft.org
phone: 516-435-3800

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