As the WCC Enters into Decline, Ecumenism Shapeshifts Again

(Hat Tip: B.N) With the rise of  “conservative” ecumenism, liberal ecumenist groups (the “usual suspects” in the WCC and others head steeply into decline. The American Spectator noted last week that the “once prestigious and now nearly bankrupt National Council of Churches is quitting its famous New York headquarters built with largesse from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and whose cornerstone was laid by President Dwight Eisenhower. Down to a handful of staffers, the NCC will consolidate into the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.”

The Spectator article notes that since its heyday in the 1960’s, membership in a NCC-affiliated denomination has dropped from 1 on 6 Americans to 1 in 15, as well as noting the Marxist focus of the organization— reported on Sixty Minutes and other media in the 1980s.

To our readers, of course, that will come as no surprise. We’ve been documenting the movement of World Orthodox groups from “liberal” ecumenist groupings to more “conservative” ecumenist groupings such as Christian Churches Together.

While the “least common denominator” ecumenism of either liberal or conservative groups is somewhat different, the idea of union of religions, or union of Orthodox Christianity and heresy, is ably preserved by the “conservative” ecumenists. Meanwhile, the original ecumenist movements– largely financed by “philanthropists” have accomplised their goal– to water down belief in God and the Truth of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is important to note, as many have mused over the years that ecumenism is in decline. It isn’t; because its ultimate goal of confessional relativism is alive and well. To assume ecumenism is “dead” is a mistake commonly made in the hopes of  improvement in the confusing situation in Orthodoxy currently. For our part we hope to make the dividing line clear again for our readers in the coming weeks.