Morally Bankrupt
Sex & Money at the National Council of Churches
by Mark Tooley
The troubled National Council of Churches (NCC) is trying to recover from financial turmoil and declining membership among its mostly mainline Protestant member communions. But its latest General Assembly meeting last November illustrated that sexual politics may prevent the kind of cooperation with Evangelicals and Roman Catholics for which the NCC leadership has been pressing. This helps to ensure that money will be a preoccupation for the NCC for the foreseeable future.
In 1999, amid steep deficits and open speculation about the NCC’s possible collapse, former congressman Robert Edgar became the NCC’s new general secretary. Famed as a successful fundraiser for a Methodist seminary of which he was president, Edgar was expected to repair the NCC’s tattered finances.
With the instincts of a politician, Edgar quickly recognized that the NCC, if it is to have any future, could not rely exclusively on its declining mainline Protestant constituency. He pledged cooperation with the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), Roman Catholics, Southern Baptists, and others. He and other NCC leaders even suggested folding the NCC into a larger ecumenical umbrella that would include all these groups.
Marriage Fiasco
The NCC’s finances still remain shaky. And Edgar’s promises of increased ecumenical cooperation have run up against his open support for same-sex “marriage,” which may hinder any serious work with more conservative churches.
The week of the November 14–17, 2000 NCC General Assembly coincided with a Washington, D.C. press conference announcing a new ecumenical initiative to promote the institution of marriage among America’s churches. The chief organizer was the president of the NAE, Kevin Mannoia. Top officials of the US Catholic Conference and the Southern Baptist Convention signed on.
But the statement they signed defined marriage as the “holy union of one man and one woman.” There was some question as to whether Edgar would sign on, because he has been a public supporter of legal recognition for same-sex unions.
But having publicly touted the importance the NCC attaches to cooperation with Evangelicals and Catholics, Edgar perhaps felt obliged to sign. His name was included on the statement released at the press conference.
The statement quickly caused trouble at the NCC General Assembly. The statement was first mentioned at a breakfast of the NCC’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Caucus. Keynote speaker Welton Gaddy of the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance said he was troubled by the pro-marriage initiative. He noted that some of the signers “support the denial of rights to the gay and lesbian community.” But, Gaddy said, “I trust Bob Edgar,” by which he probably meant, “I hope Edgar will retract his endorsement.”
Mark Tooley directs the United Methodist committee of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (www.ird-renew.org) in Washington, D.C.
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