Evangelicals respond to NCC leader's about-face By Robert P. Mills The Layman Online Friday, November 17, 2000 On Nov. 14, at a press conference in Washington, D.C., the signing of "A Christian Declaration on Marriage" was announced. Along with representatives of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals and the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, signed the document. On Nov. 17, following criticism of the document at the NCC's General Assembly, Edgar declared, "After careful review, I realized this is a mistake," adding, "I'm removing my name from that letter. I will communicate my removal to each of the members and to the press." Evangelical responses Evangelical leaders were quick to respond to the news from NCC's chief spokesman. Diane Knippers of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, who signed the Declaration said, "Edgar's withdrawing from this is an outrage." "This definition of marriage is the same definition of marriage of virtually all of the member organizations of the NCC," Knippers continued. "He has placed himself on the radical fringe of the church. He is ecumenically irrelevant. He says he wants to reach out to evangelicals and Catholics but he has not played fair. He has not been honest or fair to the evangelicals and Catholics who have been in this process." Parker T. Williamson, of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and a signer of the Declaration, said, "Knowing the proclivity of NCC staff members to sanctify sex outside of marriage, I was amazed that Mr. Edgar signed the Declaration in the first place. Now, having heard from his constituency, he has gone back on his word. "There can no longer be any question where the NCC stands on our most basic union, instituted by God and blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ," Williamson continued. "Mr. Edgar and his associates have alienated themselves from the Christian tradition." Bowing to pressure Terry Schlossberg, executive director of Presbyterians Pro-Life and also a signer of the Declaration noted, "The General Secretary now repudiates a statement on marriage that expresses the whole of the Biblical message and the historical stand of the entire Christian Church, which only yesterday he affirmed." Then Schlossberg asked, "On which day was he expressing conviction and on which was he bowing to political pressures? No matter. Today he gave millions of Presbyterians one more reason not to support the NCC."

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