The World Council of Churches and Politics: 1975-1986

Churches today sometimes resemble political institutions more than religious ones. In particular, major ecumenical organizations like the National Council of Churches (NCC), and the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC) are becoming increasingly politicized. To be sure, they do have a long tradition of political pronouncements, but never have their statements been so controversial and so much under attack as they are today. Many people in the pew as well as many outsiders feel that current ‘church politics’ testify to biased political attitudes of a church elite that has stopped taking its critics seriously. With its more than 300 member churches, the WCC supposedly speaks for non-Catholic Christendom. Many in the WCC’s member churches, however, are critical of or indifferent to it and if afforded the chance to hear what is pronounced in their name they would, no doubt, raise their voices in strong protest. Many have already done so.