WCC grant in 1978 caused dismay even among liberals Reprinted from The Presbyterian Layman October-November, 1978 An $85,000 grant to a Rhodesian liberation movement by the World Council of Churches Program to Combat Racism has stirred widespread criticism, even from the individuals and organizations that have traditionally supported the program in the past. The grant to the Patriotic Front of Zimbabwe, made up of two groups headed respectively by Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe [current president of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia], has produced dismay among many "liberal" church people because it is seen as a political decision. Since the Rhodesian Executive Council, formed as a part of the "internal settlement" announced in March includes three black leaders, many observers feel the WCC has made a political decision to side with one group against another. UMTALI, Rhodesia, June 29, 1978 – Shown are the caskets of eight missionaries and four young children, battered to death by nationalist guerrillas. The killings of the Penetecostal missionaries and their children aroused world-wide anger against the World Council of Churches which in August announced an $85,000 grant to the guerrilla-terrorist groups fighting against a peaceful settlement in Rhodesia. Grants from the anti-racism program to liberation movements have drawn fire over the years from more conservative Christians who claim they are actually used to support terrorism. Some supporters of the program who have rejected this argument in the past are now expressing doubts about the recent grant to the Patriotic Front in light of alleged involvement in the murders of missionaries in late June. [Eyewitnesses who managed to escape described the massacre in detail as reported in Time magazine on Sept. 18, 1978, and in other press dispatches from Rhodesia.] The grant for Rhodesia was originally voted by officers of the WCC Fund to Combat Racism in August 1997, but it was frozen "because of the unclear situation," according to WCC officials. United Methodist Bishop Ralph T. Alton of Indiana, a member of the WCC's Central Committee, protested that the World Council violated its own policies in making the grant. In a letter to WCC General Secretary Philip A. Potter, he wrote that the grant was "not according to the policies established by the World Council of Churches in situations of political conflict where church leadership was involved on both sides." Bishop Alton noted that the WCC remained neutral in the Cyprus conflict in 1974 rather than siding with either the Greeks or Turks, but offered assistance to victims of the conflict on either side. The Salvation Army suspended its membership in the World Council because of the grant, saying it objected to the use of violence. But officials of the Army indicated that the suspension was likely to be only temporary, pending further inquiries. Two Protestant leaders and long-time supporters of the WCC have asked for clarification of the reasoning behind the grant - William P. Thompson, stated clerk of the United Presbyterian Church and president of the National Council of Churches in the USA, and Dr. Avery D. Post, president of the United Church of Christ. The Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops was meeting in England when the grant was announced. After a stormy debate, the bishops adopted a resolution supporting the World Council of Churches on its 30th anniversary, but added clauses which asked the WCC to "recognize complicity with violence in its many forms" and "take with the utmost seriousness the questions which the teaching of Jesus places against all violence in human relationships." In announcing this grant, as with similar allocations in the past, the WCC specified that the money was given for food, health, social and educational programs. The organization also referred to a 1971 statement adopted by its Central Committee, which said it could not pass judgment on victims of racism "who were driven to violence as the only way left to them to redress their grievances." Aside from the political implications of the grant to the Patriotic Front, the World Council continues to be involved in controversy over its examination of a "just revolution" and whether violence is a legitimate tactic to use against a corrupt or oppressive government. In a paper submitted to a recent United Nations conference on racism in Geneva, the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs said, "It is necessary to ask those non-pacifists who question the legitimacy of the armed struggle of the oppressed to define violence with an accuracy which matches the vehemence of their condemnation of it, and to state clearly why they deny others the right to use a means which they regard as legitimate in their own hands (e.g. the war against Fascism) for which many racially oppressed people gave their lives." In a brief statement, a spokesman for the World Council recently said the ecumenical organization "deeply deplores the reported shooting down of a civilian aircraft in Rhodesia." Joshua Nkomo, a leader of the Patriotic Front, said his forces were responsible for shooting down the craft. But he denied that they murdered 10 of the survivors of the crash, a charge which was not referred to by the WCC official. Even while making the criticism of the Patriotic Front, the WCC spokesman added that "this latest action not only reinforces the WCC's earlier stated position which supports efforts to achieve a just and peaceful settlement through negotiations involving all parties concerned and in the interests of them all."

Recent reports on the World Council of Churches and daily coverage of the 50th Jubilee assembly in Harare News From Around the Church News Updates Home, · Archives, · The Presbyterian Layman, History of the Lay Committee, · Letters & Editorials, Book Reviews, · Resources, ·Links