 World ecumenical group elects Kirkpatrick, condemns capitalism By John H. Adams The Layman Online Friday, August 13, 2004 The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has condemned capitalism and elected Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), as its new president.
Ten U.S. denominations are members of the council, and most are generally regarded as conservative or moderate, with the PCUSA being the most liberal of the 10. But the majority of the delegates worldwide have reflected a liberal and anti-American bias. "I invite every one of our churches to support WARC and one another in points of needs; to be a community that truly covenants for justice in the economy and the earth; to be a community that works in our churches all over the world for gender justice, for full participation of youth in all our activities," Kirkpatrick told Ecumenical News International, an agency that is funded by the alliance and the World Council of Churches. A reporter for the alliance said the debate over the anti-capitalism resolution was "heated and at times fractious." Nonetheless, the delegates approved a statement calling capitalism an "immoral economic system defended by empire … In biblical terms such a system of wealth accumulation at the expense of the poor is seen as unfaithful to God and responsible for preventable human suffering." The statement added, "Global economic justice is essential to the integrity of our faith in God and our discipleship as Christians. We believe that the integrity of the Gospel is at stake in the face of the current system of neoliberal economic globalization." In 1998, the alliance was considering a similar economic statement that condemned capitalism in which the language was even more explicit. Referring to the 1998 statement, Dr. Milan Opocensky, then the WARC's general secretary, said churches and their members must be made to understand that their "salvation is at stake" if they refuse to reject unjust economic structures. "We want to start a process by which people are challenged," Opocensky said. "The church in general and Reformed Christians in particular are very much linked to the present economic system." Kirkpatrick has been a leader in two other ecumenical movements – the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. He currently serves on the central and executive committees of both groups. With Kirkpatrick's leverage, the PCUSA gives millions of dollars a year to the WCC, the NCC and the alliance – proportionately higher than any other U.S. denomination. All three groups have had sharp declines in revenue because of their constituents' waning confidence in their direction. Also representing the Presbyterian Church (USA) at the alliance meeting in Ghana was Anna Case-Winters, associate professor of theology at McCormick Theological Seminary. She has been prominent in the movement to repeal the PCUSA's constitutional "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard. A Covenant Network conference speaker in 2002, she and another theologian declared that the atoning death of Christ was an outdated doctrine. Instead of Jesus' death as atonement for sins, Case-Winters argued that salvation came through Jesus' incarnation. Besides the Presbyterian Church (USA), the U.S. denominations that affiliate with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches are: Christian Reformed Church in North America; Cumberland Presbyterian Church; Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America; Evangelical Presbyterian Church; Hungarian Reformed Church in America; Lithuanian Evangelical Reformed Church; Reformed Church in America; The Korean Presbyterian Church in America; and the United Church of Christ. |
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