Report from WCC U.S. delegates confess 'shame' over country's sins; Kirkpatrick concurs By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Online Monday, February 20, 2006 PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – As the first week of the World Council of Churches 9th Assembly drew to a close, with its incessant bashing of capitalists, environmental imperialists, militarists, fundamentalists and heterosexists, a handful of U.S. delegates has cried "uncle," declaring that they are ashamed of being Americans. In an open letter to the WCC that was read to the Assembly on Saturday, the Americans, who identified themselves as "The US Committee of the World Council of Churches," acknowledged the prayers and gifts that poured into their country from churches around the world following 9/11 and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Then they donned sack cloth and ashes. They confessed that US leaders "turned a deaf ear to the voices of church leaders throughout our nation and world." They said that the US responded to the tragedy of 9/11 "by seeking to reclaim a privileged and secure place in the world, raining down terror on the truly vulnerable among our global neighbors." Specifically, they expressed their "shame" over the war in Iraq, "launched in deception and violating global norms of justice and human rights." But Iraq was only the beginning. The US delegates also confessed being "complicit in a culture of consumption that diminishes the earth." Specifically, they lamented violating rivers, oceans, lakes, rainforests, wetlands and "the air we breathe," along with leaving global warming unchecked. According to the letter, the US is also guilty of being rich while people of other nations are poor. The letter suggested that American wealth has actually caused other nations' poverty. Thus the delegates repented of US responsibility for "crushing poverty," wherever it is found, HIV/AIDS, racism and "the grim features of global economic injustice." "In the face of the earth's poverty, our wealth condemns us," they confessed. The US delegates launched the final paragraph of their confession with a thank-you note: "Sisters and brothers in the ecumenical community, we come to you in this Assembly grateful for hospitality we don't deserve, for companionship we haven't earned, for an embrace we don't merit." But gratitude soon returned to lamentation: "From a place seduced by the lure of empire we come to you in penitence, eager for grace, grace sufficient to transform spirits grown weary from the violence, degradation, and poverty our nation has sown, grace sufficient to transform spirits grown heavy with guilt, grace sufficient to transform the world. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Amen." There were no signatures on the letter, the only identification being "The US Committee on the World Council of Churches," of which Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, along with leaders of most mainline denominations in the US are members. But its supporters were far from anonymous. In a press conference following the letter's presentation, Rev. John Thomas, leader of the United Church of Christ delegation, was a primary spokesman for the group. Sharing the podium with Thomas was Michael Livingston, the president of the National Council of Churches in the United States and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Kirkpatrick did not participate in the press conference. Contacted later in the day by George Conger, reporter for the Church of England newspaper, Kirkpatrick said he had not signed the letter because no signatures were necessary since it came from a committee. In answer to a followup question, Kirkpatrick said that although he did not sign the letter, he agreed with it.

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