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Christians Unite for Reasons Jesus Christ Can Celebrate

  By Carman Bradley

Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne:
Hark! how the heav’nly anthem drowns all music but its own!
Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King thru all eternity...

Crown Him the Lord of heav’n: One with the Father known;
One with the Sprit thru Him giv’n from yonder glorious throne.
To Thee be endless praise, for Thou for us hast died;
Be Thou, O Lord, thru endless days adored and magnified.

Written in 1851, the hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns” exalts Jesus Christ - the matchless King, the Spirit through Him given, adored and magnified.  The hymn is based on Revelation 19:12-16, which ends with the declaration: “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

 
Christians worship and adore our matchless King, the Lamb upon His throne, and the heavenly anthem drowns out all music but its own!  Believers have praised the name and worshipped the person of Jesus Christ for two millennia.  Many have been martyred rather than deny His name.  For these people, Jesus Christ is not some character from a global cast of sages and prophets recorded in so-called “faith traditions.” He is the living Son of God.  And Holy Scripture is not some vestigial guidance of a “faith tradition” now viewed as archaic or negotiable and malleable; capable of being bent into any desired creedal pronouncement.  No the Bible is the living Word of God.  Beware – God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7).  The Book of Hebrews records:

 
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do (4:12-13).

 
Believers in the 21^st Century face a tremendous spiritual threat from within the Body and without.  Religious liberals call for interfaith ecumenism and professed Christians proselytize a dethroned Christ (see also What is in the Name Jesus Christ?).  These apostates further the secular humanist (anti-Christ) agenda in their pursuit of  solely “temporal” goals (see also  Religious Liberals Unite for Reasons only Secular Humanists Can Applaud).  Liberal ecumenicals are bent on tearing down exclusionary creedal and doctrinal barriers which have been anchored in God’s Word for the purity and unity of the Body for thousands of years.  Immersed in trendy global governance politics, following oppression ideologies, and succumbing to the utopian lure of unified (multi-faith and humanist) humanitarian aid, these professed believers are blind, if not culpable, to the unprecedented tsunami of universal spiritualism building just beyond the average believer's spiritual horizon.  Religious liberals are involved in promoting a colossal revolt against God’s will.  Can anything good come from such an act of spiritual rebellion?  Christians who recognize this threat and ardently seek their security in the authentic Jesus Christ will not be lost and carried away when the spiritually toxic wave crashes ashore in full force.  

 
Bruce Schuman, member of the Board of Directors, The Interspirit Foundation, describes the global movement he says has been emerging for 30 years or more; a movement best labelled “The Universalist Vision” or “Global Ecumenism”:

And on his Interspirit.net website are listed endless descriptors by contributors to this ominous anti-Christian spiritual tsunami:

 
"Now, in an extraordinary moment of global transformation, we will do more than just love: We will join our love and harness our love. We will pool our resources of forgiveness and imagination and grace, and in time we will collectively experience what physicists call 'phase lock', a phenomenon in which individual oscillating rhythms – here, the beats of many, many hearts around the world – fall into a deep pattern of energetic resonance. We will form a community of consciousness – a collective love – that is humanity's next step on our evolutionary journey." Everyday Grace, Having Hope, Finding Forgiveness, and Making Miracles (Marianne Williamson)

 
"The masters and mystics have tapped into the underground stream of spiritual knowledge that flows beneath the bedrock of all the great traditions, uniting them and washing away their surface differences. Through these spiritual guides, we gain access to the collective wisdom that feeds the human spirit, filtering into our psyches, souls, and biology." Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential (Caroline Myss)

 
"The conversion to Christ need not entail a conversion to the Christian religion. The word is a symbol for the Child of God within us, our true identity and a space of remembrance of all that is divine. To be His disciple is to take on the mantle of His ministry by refusing to acknowledge the ultimate reality of any walls that divide us." The Gift of Change, Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life (Marianne Williamson)

 
"The Cosmic Christ is the 'pattern that connects' and connecting is what all wisdom is about, as the philosopher Gabriel Marcel points out: 'The true function of the sage is surely the function of linking together, of bringing into harmony….the sage is truly linked with the universe.'" The Coming of the Cosmic Christ (Matthew Fox)

 
"Examine the teachings of all the great sages and seers who have appeared. You will find them essentially one, although expressed in different languages, expressed in different forms and formulations of thought appropriate to the respective ages in which each of the messengers appeared. Although clad in various garments, clothed in differing habiliments, the body of truth that they taught and teach is one." Wind of the Spirit (G. dePurucker)

 
"The Cosmic Christ is the divine element, the divine 'I am', in every creature." Wrestling with the Prophets, Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life (Matthew Fox)

 
"A breeze is blowing through the human masses; one that draws us all by a sort of living affinity towards the splendid realization of some foreseen unity. Disputed, suspect and often scorned, unitary aspirations in politics, in thought, in mysticism, arise everywhere around us; and because their subject is not what is material and plural but what is spiritual and common to all in each one of us, no force of routine or egoism seems capable of arresting them; irresistibly they infiltrate and gradually dissolve old forms and false barriers." The Vision of the Past (Pierre Teilhard deChardin)

 
"As the process of transcendence and integration continues, it discloses ever higher-order unities, leading, consumately, to Unity itself." The Atman Project (Ken Wilber)

 
"The Original Christ Child of us is closer than fingers and toes, closer than breathing, waiting to be reacknowledged, called forth and rediscovered." The Child Within Us Lives!, A Synthesis of Science, Religion and Metaphysics (William Samuel)

 
"We believe that the future will be largely concerned with rediscovering and building our connectedness to each other, to nature and to the unseen spiritual realms, so that we become whole as individuals, as a species, even as a planet." Alex Walker, former Trustee, Findhorn Foundation Revelations: The Wisdom of the Ages (Paul Roland)

 
"He (Christ) termed himself the son of God, but took care to assert repeatedly that they were all the children of God….in preaching this, he repeated a doctrine taught ages earlier by Hermes, Plato, and other philosophers." Isis Unveiled (Helena P. Blavatsky)

 
"According to all great masters, humankind's greatest goal is to overcome the cosmic illusion that all forms are separate and distinct….to experience ourselves and the universe as the totality of God's Absolute Nature – the One, illumined throughout by cosmic light." Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing (Judith Cornell, Ph.D.)

 
"When new religions begin, they do not really invent new terms or ideas ex nihilo, out of nothing. Instead they typically borrow from other religions and from the culture around them, editing, adding, synthesizing ideas, and adjusting language until new creative insights emerge clearly." Introduction to Theology (Thomas P. Rausch, editor)

 
"Christ is the inner man who is reached by the path of self-knowledge, 'the kingdom of heaven within you.'" Collected Works (Carl Jung)

 
"Ultimately of course each individual is a Christ." The Garden of the Golden Flower, The Journey to Spiritual Fulfilment (Longfield Beatty)

 
"The Cosmic Christ is the 'pattern that connects' and connecting is what all wisdom is about, as the philosopher Gabriel Marcel points out: 'The true function of the sage is surely the function of linking together, of bringing into harmony….the sage is truly linked with the universe.'" The Coming of the Cosmic Christ (Matthew Fox)

 
“The whole world is much more globally connected. That means we're aware of our neighbors as being fully human just as they are, not as we think they should be. We can't go backwards from this point. We've got to move forward." Bette Edl, American Franciscan hermit Spiritual Genius, The Mastery of Life's Meaning (Winifred Gallagher)

How religious liberals, particularly “professed" Christians, intend to remain in this sea of universal spiritualism, have an indefinite swim in the toxic waters and still profess to be believers is a paradox so evident that even Hans Küng, founder of project Weltethos (Global Ethic) admits the quandary.  The Declaration Toward a Global Ethic, ratified by the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, in 1993, was drafted in advance in Tubingen, Germany, by Küng.  The Introduction to the Declaration states:

 
Earth cannot be changed for the better unless the consciousness of individuals is changed first. We pledge to increase our awareness by disciplining our minds, by meditation, by prayer, or by positive thinking. Without risk and a readiness to sacrifice there can be no fundamental change in our situation. Therefore we commit ourselves to this global ethic, to understanding one another, and to socially beneficial, peace-fostering, and nature-friendly ways of life...(p.2)

We are persons who have committed ourselves to the precepts and practices of the world’s religions. We confirm that there is already a consensus among the religions which can be the basis for a global ethic—a minimal fundamental consensus concerning binding values, irrevocable standards, and fundamental moral attitudes. (p.3)

By a global ethic we do not mean a global ideology or a single unified religion beyond all existing religions, and certainly not the domination of one religion over all others. By a global ethic we mean a fundamental consensus on binding values, irrevocable standards, and personal attitudes. Without such a fundamental consensus on an ethic, sooner or later every community will be threatened by chaos or dictatorship, and individuals will despair.(p.5)

 
We know that religions cannot solve the environmental, economic, political, and social problems of Earth. However they can provide what obviously cannot be attained by economic plans, political programs, or legal regulations alone: A change in the inner orientation, the whole mentality, the “hearts” of people, and a conversion from a false path to a new orientation for life. Humankind urgently needs social and ecological reforms, but it needs spiritual renewal just as urgently. As religious or spiritual persons we commit ourselves to this task. The spiritual powers of the religions can offer a fundamental sense of trust, a ground of meaning, ultimate standards, and a spiritual home. Of course religions are credible only when they eliminate those conflicts which spring from the religions themselves, dismantling mutual arrogance, mistrust, prejudice, and even hostile images, and thus demonstrate respect for the traditions, holy places, feasts, and rituals of people who believe differently.(p.6)

These texts reveal a number of very troubling issues.  First, when politicians (and this document is a political statement more than a divinely anointed decree) focus heavily on what their proposal is not, this invariably should be taken as “it will be” a global ideology or a single unified religion beyond all existing religions, dominant over all others.  Second, look at the intolerant language used.  Once this new consciousness is arrived at by a majority of the population or by the powerful, the agreement will be enforced with fundamentalist zeal as binding and irrevocable laws; and where the values and standards do not mesh with one’s religious convictions, a change in inner orientation will take place (your attitude will be dismantled), a conversion from the false path to the new (true) orientation will be undertaken.  Third, how can unique and exclusive religious identities, like Islam and Christianity, remain authentic in the midst of a global ethic of standardization away from diversity.  How can orthodoxy remain in a sweeping global trend; as Interspiritualist, Bruce Schuman dreamt, of "alliances and partnerships, new approaches to collaboration, building a unity of understanding and a unity of spirit." 

There appears to be little common ground between the liberal and orthodox.  The divide broadens as the liberal-minded move “in the name of Christianity” to non-sectarian activism.  However you might wish to name the political and social motivation for the Global Ethic, advocacy for the declaration is done at the cost of purity and integrity of the Gospel witness.  What "Christian" activism can be justified, when the desired actions can only be implemented by denying the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  For example, The United Church of Canada, under the title “Mending the World,” put the matter of Christ’s divinity and purpose as follows:

 
While the Church has gathered around titles and creeds, it has resisted attempts to combine everything into a single narrative, preferring instead to struggle with multiple presentations of Jesus, each with its own particular emphases, and to learn from the creative tension among them...

 
The nature of a representative is to face two ways-to be capable of mediating the concern of one party to the other, and vice versa. While Jesus' humanity serves to instruct, guide and motivate, it is Jesus, representative of God, to whom the Church looks first for hope. The tradition of the church affirms the divinity of Christ. Jesus is not only the proclaimer of the reign of God, or the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, but is, before all things, the One in whom we have faith. He is the one that neither the crowds, nor the soldiers, nor even the grave, could hold. Jesus is the one affirmed as God's child, the one through whom the world has been reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:19).

 
We believe that in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ none other than God was incarnate, overcoming alienation and bringing about the reconciliation of the world to the divine love and purpose. Out of this reconciliation comes the world's hope for redemption, and its restoration to the order and beauty intended by God. As we await this redemption, we share with all creatures a longing for renewal and fulfillment, confident that God's own Spirit joins us in our sighs and our hopes.

 
The Church is united in its affirmation that God has reconciled the world. When we ask how this has been done, tradition responds by saying that Jesus died to save us from our sins. Just how his death and subsequent resurrection achieve this is a matter of significant discussion and debate.

 
The "Christus victor" tradition sees Jesus' suffering as a necessary prelude to triumph over evil. In his victory is the promise and guarantee of our own. Our suffering is to be considered temporary.

 
The "Satisfaction" tradition argues that Jesus' suffering and death was a payment for our sin, a sacrifice that met the requirements of God's holiness and had the effect of negating the anger of God.

 
The "Moral" tradition sees Jesus' suffering, not as payment for sin, nor as precursor to victory, but as an expression of the love of God towards humankind. Only such an act of self-sacrifice could soften the hardened hearts of those who had turned their backs on God.

 
The "Return" tradition sees Jesus, like the prophets, as the teacher of return to the Reigning of God (see the story of the prodigal son), and as the "pioneer and perfecter" (Heb.12:2) of human return to God in the Way of the Cross. Followers of Jesus take up their cross and share in Christ's sufferings, as Christ calls them to do (Matt. 10:38; 16:24, Mk. 8:34, Lk. 9:23; 14:27), being reconciled to God and others as Christ lives in them and they live in Christ.

 
Each tradition, or "theory of atonement" as it is called, has its strengths and liabilities.  The challenge before us is to find how the traditions that move us most, move us also to live out what J.W. Grant has said:

 
'In an interrelated world and an increasingly multicultural nation, it is vital that we should do our utmost to understand and learn from one another. One can go further to speak of a genuine ecumenism based on the unity of the human race that calls for the greatest possible cooperation among people of good will belonging to all faith communities and none, an ecumenism that demands especially high priority in view of growing threats to the very survival of humanity. Christians who find in Jesus the great agent of reconciliation have all the more reason to commit themselves to this ecumenism.'[ii]

 
Now the United Church, Canada’s prime example of manifest liberalism, is entitled to hold whatever number of theories (traditions) about the divinity and purpose of Jesus Christ they want and they may proselytize whatever beliefs they wish; however, the problem comes when they claim at the same time to be “practicing Christians” and “Canada’s largest Protestant mainline Christian denomination.”  For all intents and purposes, this is how those in other religions and the secular humanist world perceive them.  When they give voice to their ideas, the uninformed assume they speak the Gospel truth.  And this situation amounts to deception.

 
Consider the UCC argument that Canada is an interrelated, multicultural nation, which demands a new liberal and Christian ecumenical response.  Is the Christian experience today radically different than for the Early Church?  Was first century Rome significantly less multi-cultural, less religiously diverse than Toronto is today?  Historian Henry Chadwick records that Christian missionaries well into the third century were not operating in a metaphysical vacuum.  And church leaders were constantly challenged to set the orthodox boundaries for censure of prohibited intellectual deviation. Chadwick described the era:

 
The moment they moved outside of the ambit of synagogues of the Jewish dispersion and their loosely attached Gentile adherents, the missionaries were in a twilight world of pagan syncretism, magic, and astrology. The pagan world was quite accustomed to myths of great heroes elevated to divine rank. Nonetheless they were amazed at the extraordinary claim that the divine redeemer of the Christian story had lately been born of a woman in Judea, had been crucified under Pontius Pilate, had risen again, and at last would judge the world.[iii]

 
Indeed, orthodoxy, the English equivalent of Greek orthodoxia (from orthos, “right,” and doxia, “opinion”) means right belief, as opposed to heresy or heterodoxy.  The word expresses the idea that certain statements accurately embody the revealed truth content of Christianity, and are therefore in their own nature normative for the universal church.  This idea is rooted in the New Testament insistence that the Gospel has a specific factual and theological content and that no fellowship exists between those who accept the apostolic standard of Christological teaching and those who deny it. The idea of orthodoxy became important in the Church in and after the second century, through conflict with Paganism and most important the threat from Gnosticism.  The Apostle Paul, for example, wrote:

 
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain (1 Corinthians 15:1-2).

 
As much as global ecumenists wish everyone to believe that our so-called “global village” with its contemporary tribulations urgently demands an ecumenical imperative, this is neither scripturally or historically acceptable.  As the "multi-cultural center" for Europe and regions of Africa and the Middle East, Rome at the time of the Early Church cried out for righting injustice, reducing violence, feeding and housing the poor, and cleaning-up the filthy ecological conditions of the city.  Not unlike ecumenical liberalism today, the Romans had a pragmatic attitude to religion, which explains why they had difficulty taking to the idea of a single, all-seeing, all-powerful god in Jesus Christ.  In so far as the Romans had a religion of their own, it was not based on any central belief, but on a mixture of fragmented rituals, taboos, superstitions, and traditions which they collected over the years from a number of sources.  To the Romans, religion was less a spiritual experience than a contractual relationship between mankind and the forces which were believed to control people's existence and well-being.  The result was a state cult exercising significant influence on political and military events, and a private affair, in which the head of the family oversaw the domestic rituals and prayers in the same way as the representatives of the people performed the public ceremonials.[iv]

 
Given the similar living circumstances of the Early Church, why didn't this result in a Christian inter-faith  ecumenical movement?  A poignant answer lies in examining the writings of the third century Christian apologist Origen.  He wrote in reply to the work of a pagan named Celsus, who had written The True Doctrine.  The identity of Celsus is uncertain, but Origen knew that the man had been dead a long time and that Celsus was an Epicurean, flourishing in the latter half of the second century.  Historian Henry Chadwick says, “to call a person an Epicurean, from a Christian perspective was symbolic of the modern materialist, infidel or hedonist.”[v]  Moreover, according to Chadwick, Origen was frequently incensed that Celsus confused the tenets of orthodox Christianity with beliefs held by Gnostic sects.[vi]

 
The non-believer’s slander was mostly directed at denying the divinity of the of Jesus Christ.  How could a poor Jew be elevated to monotheistic worship? How could Christ be born of a virgin? The miracles He preformed were those of a magician. His apparent inability to save Himself from crucifixion discredits His claim to divinity. Implicit in his premise is the contemporary liberal notion that humankind will not be held morally accountable on an individual basis, that there is no devil promoting evil, and that there is no need for a Savior or Redeemer.  Origen wrote of his rival:

 
Celsus has little to say for Christian monotheism:

 
As all pagans knew, Moses was an expert magician. And so, the goat herds and shepherds who followed Moses as their leader were deluded by clumsy deceits into thinking that there was only one God called the Most High…The Christians are even worse. They reject the worship of daemons [other deities] and quote the saying of Jesus, ‘No man can serve two masters.’

 
[Christianity is]…a rebellious utterance of people who wall themselves off and break away from the rest of mankind. What is more, the fantastic respect shown by the Christians for this Jew who was crucified a few years back shows just how seriously they take all their talk about serving one master. If these men worshipped no other God but one, perhaps they would have had a valid argument against the others. But in fact they worship to an extravagant degree this man who appeared recently, and yet think it is not inconsistent with monotheism.162

 
Let the Christians return to take their stand upon the old paths and abandon this newly invented absurdity of worshipping a Jew recently crucified in disgraceful circumstances. Let them return to the old polytheism, to the customs of their fathers. Christianity is a dangerous modern innovation and if not checked it will be a disaster for the Roman Empire.[vii]

 
Can the liberal-minded not see that an ardent faith consisting of discriminating membership, exclusive worship, uncompromising witness, and fantastic exaltation of the name, person and Gospel of Jesus Christ did more to arrest the tribulations and evils of Roman society in that period than any alternative human endeavour?  Moreover, all was done without any “social-political organization;” not one public placard, not one political rally.  Of course many of these fundamentalists were martyrs (not suicide bombers!), but persecuted believers who would rather die than deny the name of Jesus Christ. 

Which is likely to bear more fruit, a well organized global inter-faith and non-sectarian ecumenical endeavour that tacitly, if not explicitly denies that Jesus Christ is KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS or localized humanitarian acts done by fewer people but all of them God’s elect working and witnessing to exalt and magnify His Son?

 
Do not fall into the trap of thinking inter-faith religious ceremony is anything other than pandering to overarching political and secular humanist aims.  The Holy Spirit is not calling Christians into global ecumenism.  The entire revelation of scripture witnesses against the notion.  Judith Cornell is not drawing from the wisdom and authority of Jesus Christ, the Torah or the Koran when she writes:

 
"According to all great masters, humankind's greatest goal is to overcome the cosmic illusion that all forms are separate and distinct….to experience ourselves and the universe as the totality of God's Absolute Nature – the One, illumined throughout by cosmic light." Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing (Judith Cornell, Ph.D.)

Exodus 20:3 reads: “Thou shalt have no other God’s before me.”  And 1 Kings 18:16-40 records:

And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?  And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.  Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.  So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.  And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 

Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.  Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:  And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.  And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.  And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.  And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.  And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.  And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. 

And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.  And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:  And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.  And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.  And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.  And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.   And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.  Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.  Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.  And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.  And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

 
In 2001, the Royal Military College held a colours parade.  The regulation in the Canadian Forces stated that the consecration of colours had to be carried out by a revered religious figure, traditionally a Christian.  And that year the national demographics still affirmed that the revered religious figure should be a Christian minister, pastor or priest.  2001 happened to be the year for a national census:[viii]

Note: The adherents to the United Church have been included under pagan religion in accordance with previous assessments made by well qualified and experienced ministers within the denomination. 

UCC Rev. Dr. Donald Faris writes for the Community of Concern within the UCC:  “With the approval of gay, lesbian, and bisexual marriage - the foolhardy blessing of behavior that God condemns - the paganization of the United Church is almost complete.”[ix]

UCC Rev. Dr. Allen Churchill writes: “Our own United Church is in a state of free fall…76% of our theological professors think it is not important to affirm Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.”[x]

Moderator, The Right Rev. Dr. Bill Phipps, states: “No I don’t believe Christ was God.”[xi]

 
However, in 2001, the decision was taken that since the Royal Military College of Canada reflects Canadian society by its mosaic of different ethnic groups, cultures and faith traditions it was necessary for this celebration to have a “multi faith spirit.”  In the Act of Consecration, the Chaplain General referred to this “multi faith spirit” as the “Sacred Source of All Life.”  And the Act of Dedication opened with: "In the service of our country and all that in our Traditions, we honor as sacred."  Are these not ecumenical terms taken from the newly developed politically correct inter-faith lexicon?  Are these unbiblical terms not void of spiritual unction, bereft of holy anointing?  If, like the Baal worshippers, the ecumenists call upon the Sacred Source of All Life from morning even until noon, saying, O Sacred Source of All Life, hear us, will this matter?  Can the celebration of liberal ecumenism result in anything other than impoverished ritual; bankrupt unction? 

 
Where is the scripture to support Christians worshipping, praying, and fellowshipping with others? The second century Epicurean Celsus was incensed by the “rebellious utterance of people who wall themselves off and break away from the rest of mankind.”  Why did they do this other than for purity of fellowship and freedom to utterly glorify and magnify the King of Kings?  In this multifaith colours parade, the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned in one of ten prayers offered.  The prayer to the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, at that moment representing 28,665,535 Canadians, held no special place beyond that of the 6,000 Zoroastrians in Canada.  Such undignified and mocking treatment of the Son of God cannot happen without consequence.  The Christ, who will return to judge the quick and the dead must surely be unimpressed (Revelation 19:11-16).  One can only speculate why the Jehovah’s Witness and Mormons were not represented.  Perhaps they were invited and declined!  And what of the Baha'i, Raelians, and The Wiccan Church of Canada?   [Note that the Ontario Multifaith Council, a not-for-profit agency paid for by the Provincial Government to be an interface with Ontario chaplains, has Wicca membership.] 

 
The point for Christians is not that Canadians should be restricted in what they choose to believe; not at all, the issue centers on the fundamental theological or spiritual incompatibility of multifaith religious celebration.  On the hill of Ares (Greek god of thunder and war) in Athens (a metropolis of a myriad of religious views), the Apostle Paul declared his view on other so-called “faith traditions”:

 
Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;  Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (Acts 17:22-31).

 
Paul is not proclaiming a Gospel of cheap grace where all are saved.  He is not making provision for salvation by any means other than the accepted sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  He would not agree with the position of religious liberals, global ecumenicals or universal spiritualists like Marianne Williamson:

 
"The conversion to Christ need not entail a conversion to the Christian religion. The word is a symbol for the Child of God within us, our true identity and a space of remembrance of all that is divine. To be His disciple is to take on the mantle of His ministry by refusing to acknowledge the ultimate reality of any walls that divide us." The Gift of Change, Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life (Marianne Williamson)

 
As much as religious liberals, so-called “ecumenical Christians,” would like to unite the paths taken by the great world religions this is not theologically feasible.  Admit it or not, the following interfaith event is a travesty of Christian (and Islamic) belief.  Raheel Raza of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women writes of her experience at the 4^th Parliament of World Religions:

I had just finished performing my Jum’a namaz (Friday prayers) on the shores of the Mediterranean sea and as I looked around me, I was filled with peace and the wonder of being here a long way from my native Pakistan and my adopted home, Canada.   I was in Barcelona to attend the 4th Parliament of World Religions with two friends and partners in interfaith - Reverend Dr. Karen Hamilton, a practicing Christian [United Church of Canada], and Barbara Siddiqui, born in Midland as a Christian and now a practicing Muslim.

It was an unusual situation in many ways.  Two white women wearing shalwar qameez were praying with me and a host of diverse Muslims, in a VIP tent set up by the Sikh community of Birmingham, England. We were joined by local media keen to see how-Muslims-pray (thank God men and women prayed together!).  However they were thoroughly confused when a turbaned Sikh and some non Muslims came and joined the prayer. This was interfaith at it’s best . Karen reminded me of the book both of us have just read and discussed:  "The Dignity of Difference", by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in which he describes the differences of the world - differences of religion, ethnicity, language and belief as part of God's particular and intentional plan.  “The differences of our world reflect and mirror the truth that we are made in the image of the God who is infinitely various and who delights in variety” says Karen.  The ad-hoc Imam said in his sermon “Humanity is one Community” and certainly at this point in time, anyone would agree.[xii]

 
According to Abdul Saleeb, a former Muslim, and Dr. Norman L. Geisler, President of Southern Evangelical Seminary, Christianity and Islam are fundamentally contradictory worldviews.  In their essay “Undersdtanding and Reaching Muslims,” they write: (various extracts)

Islam embraces a rigid form of monotheism that confesses only one God whose name is Allah (the Arabic word for “God”). The Qu’ran repeatedly claims that Allah has no “partners.” He is one and only one person. Sura 112  declares his “Unity”: “Say: He is Allah, the One! Allah, the eternally Besought of all! He begetteth not nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him.” No plurality within God’s unity is tolerated, particularly the Christian concept of a Trinity (Sura 4:171). God is an absolute singularity, not a compound unity. Any denial of his absolute unity is considered an unpardonable sin (4:48).

 
It is noteworthy that Jesus is listed as a prophet in Islam, but Muslims deny that Jesus is the Son of God. To affirm Christ is God is considered blasphemous. Sura 5:75 reads: “Christ the son of Mary was no more than an Apostle.” Further, “it is not fitting to (the majesty of) God that He should beget a son” (Sura 19:35). Many Muslims believe Christians embrace a Trinity that resulted from a sexual union between God the Father and Mary, by which Jesus was born.

 
Most important to Islamic belief about prophets is that Muhammad is the last of the prophets, although they claim he is not superior to the other prophets, being a mere man and mouthpiece of God like the others. Muslims, however, attribute several unique features to Muhammad. He is considered the sum of all the rophets before him, along with being the last of the prophets. God’s revelation to humankind ceased with him. Finally, he alone left behind these revelations in a Holy Book, the Qur’an, which Muslims consider to be the uncorrupted words of God.

 
The final judgment is carried out by the means of a scale (mizan), which is used to balance the individual’s good deeds against his or her bad deeds. “Then those whose balance (of good deeds) is heavy, — They will attain salvation: but those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls; in Hell will they abide” (Sura 23:102–3).[xiii]

Religious liberals and “Christian” global ecumenists have no guilty conscience worshipping with Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists  because they hold a downgraded their view of Christ.  Unlike Christian martyrs in Roman times, they are willing to effectively deny Christ.  Their day-to-day operating premise, if not their fully disclosed public profession of faith, is more in line with the Qur’an than the Holy Bible. 

 
We need to return briefly to the Declaration Toward a Global Ethic, ratified by the Parliament of Religions in 1993.  As the cliché goes “the devil is in the details.”  Consider the condemnations made in the Declaration:
 

We condemn the abuses of Earth’s ecosystems

We condemn the poverty that stifles life’s potential

We condemn the social disarray of the nation’s and the disregard for justice

 
Who can be against pollution, poverty and social injustice?  The three ills are absolutes of human history.  The difficulty in this Global Ethic arises from the proclamation of “irrevocable directives.”  In brief the Declaration goes on to affirm that a common set of core values is found in the teachings of the religions, and that these should form the basis for a global ethic:

We are committed to a culture of non-violence and respect for life

We are committed to just economic order

We are committed to a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness

We are committed to a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women

 
At risk of over using the tsunami metaphor, there is an ironic huge second wave of non-spiritual advice also looming over the horizon that draws much of its energy from the global ecumenical movement.  This is paradoxical, because the Declaration Toward a Global Ethic states We know that religions cannot solve the environmental, economic, political, and social problems of Earth.  Nonetheless, liberal ecumenists declare the urgency of the global situation demands an unprecedented vision of unity and political activism amongst all religions and the creation of an unprecedented set of national and global organizations to take on “temporal” issues, presumably with united “religious” zeal.  Under the title Mending the World, The United Church put the matter in these terms:

 
The ecumenical imperative calls us to participate in this work of reconciliation and healing in partnership with any and all who are prepared to work with us. This imperative proceeds out of the conviction that solutions to the challenges posed by ongoing political conflict, racism, poverty, and environmental degradation, require the assembled resources of a broad partnership among religious communities and secular organizations. No one religious community or group can accomplish the task alone. This imperative also proceeds out of a belief that God has provided the Christian community with sufficient theological motivations to engage in such work and partnership. Commandments, such as "the golden rule," and convictions, such as our own tradition's affirmation that "God is creatively and redemptively at work in the religious life of all mankind [sic]," are but two of many theological reasons to move in this direction. More than anything else, we turn to the story of Jesus - the accounts of his life, the impact of the proclamation of his resurrection, and the Church's reflection on the meaning of both- for the content of what God's reconciling work is about, and for guidance in regard to our role in it.[xiv]

 
No need to continue to highlight the counterfeit “Christian” theology embedded in this liberal notion of a global or national ecumenical imperative.  If one cannot, at this stage, appreciate the exclusive discriminatory nature of the light of Jesus Christ it is because one is somehow blinded (II Corinthians 4:2-6).  Let us look instead at the effort placed by these ecumenists in partnering with religious communities and secular organizations over evangelizing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Moreover, let us discover the biased left-wing and feminist agenda of these religious liberals through an analysis of the issues they choose to advance and those they have chosen to not engage.  The agencies in the following list have been obtained from the United Church website under the title “Ecumenical and Coalition Partners (Canada).”  The agencies constitute what will be shown to be a predominantly left-leaning and religiously liberal coalition:

 
Canadian Centre for Ecumenism

 
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
A cursory study of the first thirteen authors published on the CCPA Monitor reveals a far-reaching leftist agenda in the organization.  The CCPA Federal Budget 2008 Fact Sheet only serves to reinforce this conclusion. 

 
Canadian Churches' Forum for Global Ministries
We are a Christian agency through which Canadian churches reflect and work together on global mission and ministry issues, and are challenged to prophetic witness through programs of education and dialogue. Our members are the Anglican Church of Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, the Scarboro Missions, and the United Church of Canada. We also work directly with other denominations, agencies, and individuals from Canada and the United States of America.

Scarboro Missions : On a planet-wide scale we are now witnessing the convergence of two international movements – interfaith dialogue and social justice. People active in both movements are realizing that they can create a better world by cooperating with one another. In 1997, this extraordinary document linking social justice to interfaith dialogue was produced and signed by 22 faith communities in Edmonton, Alberta.  Declaration of Interdependence: WE, as faith group representatives, declare our interdependence with those who are living in poverty in our local community as well as in the world community. WE DECLARE that we are all united in the spirit of one God, and that we are called to uphold the spirit of universal interdependence with our sisters and brothers of all faiths.

 
Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC)

 
Canadian Council for Refugees

 
Canadian Council of Churches

Letter to Prime Minister

Re: Canada’s Role in Afghanistan (25 June 2007):

...We write also deeply conscious of your own faith and commitment as a Christian, and pledge to you our prayers as you discern the future direction of Canada’s role during the current conflict and the hoped for peace which must surely someday follow.  At the May 2007 meeting of our Governing Board in Toronto, we spent considerable – and prayerful – time as Christian leaders seeking to discern what word we might offer to you.  We found ourselves deeply mindful of scriptural imperatives.  We remember God’s word to the prophet Micah that we are to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.” We remember too, that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was given not as good advice but as a directive for living according to God’s will. This leads us to three points which we offer to you for your consideration in the midst of many voices and many priorities.

First, the Canadian Council of Churches believes that the principal objective of our engagement in Afghanistan must be peace for the people of Afghanistan rather than the forwarding of a war on terror.

Second, we believe that a political solution for reconciliation must be discerned, and that all diplomatic means available must be employed to achieve that end, including “second track diplomacy” engaging civil society and religious networks.

Third, we believe that the valiant effort of Canadian troops must be directed in the first instance to the protection of lives and the preservation of civilian infrastructure in the manner prescribed by the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.

We recognize how challenging such goals will be to implement, but have every confidence that with good will, these quintessentially Canadian approaches to strife will prevail.  With our thanks for your attention to this letter, we look forward to your response. With our prayerfully best wishes, we remain, Your sisters and brothers in Christ . . . (signed) The Rev. Dr. James Christie, President; The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, General Secretary [My underline, see elaborative letter dated 16 August 2007]

 
The following are selected CCC Prayers for Peace in Afghanistan: (click here for all represented “traditions”)

 
The Rev. Ian McDonald, The Presbyterian Church in Canada
Eternal Spirit of the universe, our help in ages past and our only hope for years to come: in our gathering this day, we are mindful of those whose lives are uprooted, frustrated, twisted, dehumanized and lost in the shuffle. We ask you to show us a vision of a world at peace, rather than a world engaged in constant struggle for power and prominence. Project onto the screen of our minds structures of governing at local, national and international levels, where sensitivity to human needs and the well being of all replaces the concept of war as a great game, with people’s lives to be lost like pawns for meaningless so called victories. 

 
The Right Rev. David Guiliano, Moderator, The United Church of Canada
Holy One,
we know that we are not alone,
we live in your world.
We know that you call each of us
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil.
We know that each of us carries within our self your vision
of all creation healed and restored
because we are partners with You in caring for your creation.

* a moment of silence*

We pray now for the land and people of Afghanistan and for us all.

* a moment of silence*

Through your Wisdom and Grace,
empower us to work together with the Afghani peoples
until Afghanistan is a nation
where hearts are comforted and gifts, shared for the good of all;
where resistance is strengthened against forces that exploit
and marginalise and fierce love overcomes violence.

* a moment of silence*

We know not only your promise but the price you paid
for the world’s brokenness.
Help us own our part in Afghanistan’s brokenness by
embracing the present,
embodying hope
loving our enemies,
caring for the earth,
choosing life.
We rightfully place our hope in you to guide Afghanistan
through us and the people there
into wholeness, union and integration.

* a moment of silence*

We know in life, in death and in life beyond death,
You are with us
we are not alone.
New Life is possible for Afghanistan.
Thank-you, O Holy One. Amen.

Note: CCC claims to represent 85% of the Christians in Canada, "21 denominations" from the Anglican, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Free Church, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox traditions.[xv]  Consider the relationship of the CCC to WFM, WCRP and PWR:
 

Canadian Council of Churches (CCC):

President: The Rev. Dr. James Christie, United Church

Vice-President: The Very Rev. Dr. Marion Pardy, United Church

General Secretary: The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, United Church

 
World Federalist Movement:

President: The Very Rev. Dr. Lois M. Wilson, United Church

Council Chair: The Rev. Dr. James Christie, United Church

Council Member: The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, United Church

 
World Council of Religions for Peace:

Co-President: The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, United Church

 
Parliament of World Religions:

Attendee: The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, United Church

Canadian Health Coalition
Board of Directors – Rev. Bill Jay, United Church.  Rev. Jay is a founding member of the Ecumenical Health Care Network of the Canadian Council of Churches.  The 16 person Board also has representatives from:

Congress of Union Retirees of Canada
Canadian Labour Congress
National Union of General and Public Employees
Communications, Energy and Paper Workers’ Union
Canadian Union of Public Employees
United Steelworkers
Canadian Auto Workers
Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
United Food and Commercial Workers.

 
Church Council on Justice and Corrections
On May 6, 2008 CCJC and the John Howard Society of Canada co-hosted a public forum (click video) featuring Marc Mauer, Executive Director of the Washington, D.C. Sentencing Project. Mauer is the author of Race to Incarcerate, in which he explains how more incarceration may actually cause crime. He questioned why Canada wants to imitate criminal justice policies that have failed in the United States. 

 
Note: The Tackling Violent Crime Act is composed of the key elements of five criminal law bills.  By introducing this comprehensive bill, the Harper Government remains committed to ensuring key reforms to Canada’s criminal justice system move swiftly through the legislative process to become law and to better protect Canadians from those who commit serious and violent crimes. See The Sentencing Project's Racist, Criminal Agenda for a critique of the liberal agenda behind the movement.  The Sentencing Project is a criminal justice research and advocacy organization out of Washington, D.C., that seeks to promote a criminal lenience agenda by advocating for the rights of convicts, through such policy changes as: shorter jail sentences, alternatives to incarceration, and most importantly, the right for felons to vote.

 
Common Frontiers (hemispheric free trade issues)

Common Frontiers grew out of the experience gained by Canadian organizations in confronting the Free Trade agenda. It was born out of the popular opposition movement to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the recognition that this opposition must not only cooperate across sectors nationally but also across borders. Common Frontiers went on to play an important strategic role in the struggle against NAFTA and is now helping to build the opposition to the Free Trade Area in the Americas (FTAA).  Active Canadian groups include:

Americas Policy Group of Canadian Council for International Cooperation (APG)

Canadian Auto Workers (CAW)
Canadian Federation of Students (CFS)
Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)
Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada(CEP)
Council of Canadians
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
Maquila Solidarity Network
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
Sierra Club of Canada
Steelworkers Humanity Fund (SHF)
United Church of Canada - Latin American and Caribbean Division

Other quote "progressive sites" listed at CF include:

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
CUPE - Global Justice
PSAC – Social Justice Fund
Third World Network (TWN)

 
Ecumenical Health Care Network
Founder – Rev. Bill Jay, United Church

"The (Romanow) Commission is correct in its observation that this current discussion about health care is an ethical one. From our perspective, this discussion is fundamentally about what form of justice will prevail as we wrestle with who we are, what we owe each other as citizens and neighbours, and what legacy we will leave for future generations of people in Canada." (full article )

"In a world of corporate giants, and neo-conservative political obsession with tax cuts, it seems even health, as a basic human necessity, can no longer be taken for granted. The harsh reality is that there are those who would want to buy and sell health as a commodity, as something accessible to the highest bidder, giving priority to those with the ability and means to pay...If you have the money why, in the name of God, shouldn’t you be able to get ahead of the line, faster and better than the rest. I say in the name of God because many defenders of the two-tier accessibility are Christians. Need we be reminded that Stockwell Day is a devout Christian believer.  So, when Christians enter into the fray of public verses private debate these days, we do so not only on the basis of economic reason. We do so discerning what it means to be faithful and what it means to be unfaithful to the Spirit God who created us, and who came in Christ that we may have life and have it abundantly.” (full article )

 
Project Ploughshares
Ernie Regehr is Co-Founder of Project Ploughshares, former Commissioner of the World Council of Churches Commission on International Affairs, a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.  In an article, titled “The new peace movement,” for the National Post (August 20, 2008), renowned historian J.L. Granatstein said of Regehr`s Project Ploughshares and the new peace movement:

“The peace movement in Canada was very effective 20 or 30 years ago. Consider Project Ploughshares, an ecumenical agency of the Canadian Council of Churches, founded in 1976. Its co-founder and former executive director, Ernie Regehr, was hugely knowledgeable. He was respected by parliamentarians and the Ottawa bureaucrats, and also by those who were not “peace” supporters. Regehr knew his stuff; he wrote and lobbied hard, and he didn’t twist facts to make a case. .... But that was then. Today’s peace movement is a curious amalgam of left-wing groups.” [My underline]

 
Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada
WICC Mothers Day Statement May 2006: “Women must work hard to bring about a world where their children will not have to fear sexual violence, racism, poverty, discrimination and exclusion...While more fathers have been getting involved, women still do the lion’s share of the work of caring for children and the home. Most mothers do a double day’s work and pay a disproportionate price for raising children. Motherhood often leads to impoverishment for women, to overwork, exhaustion and guilt. All mothers should freely choose to give life. All children should be wanted children. No mother should have to interrupt a pregnancy because she is too poor or because she lacks social or economic support.  Childbirth is one of the most expensive times in a woman’s life, yet that is when she has the least capacity to earn a living. Mothers should be respected and supported. They need more government support and better income replacement, so they are not forced to depend on other family members for basic income security. Women with children must remain strong and autonomous and never be forced by economic necessity to remain with an abusive partner.”

WICC supports regional and national gatherings, such as the "Women Doing Theology in Canada" conferences in Winnipeg in 2002 and in Montreal in 2005, enabling women to come together to explore their spirituality and their faith. Under the website title "Women Doing Theology – Making Waves" is a feminist article for the WICC Groundswell written by Dr. Gail Allan titled "Weaving our theologies together. "  Dr. Gail Allan did her Doctorate of Theology on the ongoing work of the Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women.  She is the United Church, Interfaith – Interchurch Program Officer and a member on the Canadian Council of Churches Commission of Faith and Witness.  She writes:  

"Women have long sought space to speak of our relationships to the Divine in the context of the histories and struggles, visions and values, differences and connections that constitute the specificity of our life in Canada...We were women...meeting across differences of language, race, culture, sexual orientation, faith tradition, regional and global definitions of “home.”... We spoke of the need for deconstruction and reconstruction of theologies bearing the legacies of colonialism, racism and heterosexist privilege, of moving beyond the hierarchical dualisms which have shaped our patterns of thought and ways of life. These were named as theologies of transformation, courage, integration, diversity, interaction, healing and reconciliation – inviting a “radical inclusion” that honours personal and political, theory and praxis, voices from the margins and the complexity of the contexts we represent. Multiple, too, are our modes of doing theology: in storytelling, art and ritual, in new, cross-textual readings of scripture and tradition, in historical and social analysis, we seek “ongoing communal revelation.” “Energized, graced, formed and awakened” by the stories shared, we affirmed that theology is created in “being and doing,” together weaving webs of fragility and strength which hold in creative tension connection and disruption, brokenness and reconciliation." [My underline]

 
In August 2008, Dr Allan was one of the 19 self-professed "feminist theologians" who met in Bangalore, India, to discuss “Exploring the Reality and Theological Challenges of Ecology, Economy and Empire from Feminist Perspectives.”  The event was organized by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in collaboration with the World Council of Churches (WCC).  According to WARC, the theologians said in a statement: (various extracts)

 
“We envision the transformation of economic and political structures in ways that enable the ‘fullness of life for all.’”

“We affirm our understanding of “feminist” as a term that connotes awareness of and sensitivity to contextual realities where women, their perspectives, their labour, and their bodies are often devalued and exploited by the patriarchal ideology of domination and control. Women are the primary victims of poverty, war and environmental degradation. ”

“We adopt an understanding of “empire” that is consistent with the understanding that emerged from the WARC Accra general Council (2004). “We perceive that the world today lives under the shadow of an oppressive empire. By this we mean the gathered power of pervasive economic and political forces throughout the globe that reinforce the division between the rich and the poor.”

“By empire we mean the convergence of economic, political, religious, cultural, geographic and military imperial interests, systems, and networks for the purpose of amassing political power and control over resources. Empire crosses all boundaries, disregards international law, subordinates nation-states, strips and reconstructs identities, subverts cultures, and marginalizes or co-opt religious communities. It forces the flow of wealth and power from vulnerable countries and communities to the powerful.”

“We are aware that patriarchy and empire thrive upon and are sustained by systems of hierarchy, domination and control. Both are intrinsic to sexism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, casteism and other forms of intolerance. Patriarchal structures and norms ascribe women subordinate status in society. These structures and norms are pivotal to the workings of globalisation and empire.” The (WARC) Ecumenical Faith Stance Against Global Empire For A Liberated Earth Community, (Manila 2006) states that ‘Patriarchy and empire are inextricability interwoven…. The gender ideology of patriarchy is pivotal in all domination hierarchies in human society and in the communities of all living beings. These hierarchies are driven by, and express and reinforce the gender ideology, as well as the racist ideology of global white power and the class ideology of transnational corporate elite. Manifested in all spheres of life, these ideologies converge and become especially visible in the global market and the geopolitics of the global empire.’”

“We need to nurture spirituality of justice and righteousness that connects us to the heart of God, with all people (of various faiths) and with all of creation. The biblical witness is clear that God abhors economic injustice, ecological distortion, and imperialistic domination, globally, in any society, at all times and by whomever. What God requires is that justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:24).”

“Moved by the justice-filled Spirit of God, we are urged to discern the signs of the times, and to name institutions and systems of injustice that obstruct God’s promise of life for all. We must act in solidarity in political, ecclesiastical, collective and individual ways. Failure to do so is to act in collaboration with the violence of the current order, standing against Isaiah’s vision of the peaceful coexistence of the lion and the lamb and Jesus’ vision of abundant life (Isaiah 65:25, John 10:10).”

“U.S. bases in nearly 132 of 190 UN nations are located in every continent except Antarctica. Military bases corrupt the local economy and their toxic wastes pollute the land, air and water. Women and girls in communities around military bases face increased likelihood of rape and physical abuse and often find prostitution, with its attendant risk of HIV and AIDS, as the only option for supporting their families.”

“As feminist theologians, we draw on multiple sources as we develop our theological response to the moral, spiritual, and social crisis we have identified in our discourse on the economy, ecology, and empire. Our feminist hermeneutical approach begins by engaging the ways in which current structures, systems and values of empire and globalization collude to deny people of God’s vision for fullness of life for them.”

“We commit to continue creating theologies that articulate the nexus of economy, ecology and empire and challenge churches and individuals to be active agents of change and catalysts for the transformation of the neoliberal economic system.”

“We commit to dialogue with people of different faiths for justice and care of the earth.”

“We commit to adopt feminist perspectives to challenge the structures of the global economy (such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organisation) whose neoliberal policies work against democratic processes and undermine state sovereignty.”

“We commit to support the development of alternative sustainable economic models (e.g. collectivism, barter, subsistence, gifting).”

 
World Conference on Religion and Peace (Canada)

 
Gender Justice and Global Partnership
The Division of World Outreach (DWO) of The United Church of Canada is committed to promoting the five aims of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women in Church and Society: to empower women to challenge oppressive structures in the global community, their country and their church; to affirm, through shared leadership and decision making, the decisive contribution of women in churches and communities; to give visibility to women's perspectives and actions in the work and struggles for justice, peace and the integrity of creation; to enable the churches to free themselves from racism, sexism, and classism and from teachings and practices that discriminate against women; To encourage the churches to take action in solidarity with women.

 
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
KAIROS has “initiatives” on Aboriginal Rights, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, Anti-poverty, Ecology – climate change, energy efficiency and water, Education and Animation – Carbon Sabbath Campaign, Global Economic Justice – debt and trade, Refugees and Migration, and Global Partnerships in areas of concern – Sudan, Palestine, Israel, Indonesia, Columbia, East Africa.  The following are key extracts from the KAIROS federal election resource 2008:

KAIROS believes that climate change is both a faith issue and a justice issue as Christians witness the wholesale devastation of God’s creation and the global inequity that drives our unsustainable, fossil-fuel lifestyles. KAIROS is calling on the Canadian government to:

Stop subsidizing oil companies

Invest in sustainable, renewable energy

Promote energy conservation

Put a cap on carbon emissions

Collect fees from carbon polluters to be reinvested in a green economy

Live up to its Kyoto Protocol obligations

Negotiate internationally for an effective, fair and equitable post Kyoto agreement

Question for the candidates:

Will your party commit to the immediate ending of subsidies to oil companies and redirect these funds to energy conservation and sustainable, renewable energy?

KAIROS is calling for binding legislation that would hold Canadian companies to account in their overseas operations. Voluntary measures (i.e. self-policing by the industry) have failed to curb the worst abuses. International human rights and environmental standards must become the benchmark for Canadian companies – wherever they operate in the world. And communities affected by Canadian-led extractive projects must be granted access to the Canadian justice system to seek redress when harmed.

Question for the candidates:

If elected, will your party introduce legislation to hold Canadian companies accountable when they are found to be complicit in human rights abuses or serious environmental damage in developing countries?

KAIROS is appealing to the Canadian government to establish a national poverty reduction strategy and to create a plan with defined measures and targets for the next five years. KAIROS maintains that a national poverty plan must be integrated with other government policies so that an improvement in one area is not cancelled out by cutbacks in another. A national housing strategy is also a key component of national poverty plan and would ensure affordable housing programs will be expanded.

Question for candidates:

Do you support adopting a national, integrated plan to eliminate poverty in Canada, including a clear commitment to achieving specific measures and targets over the next 5 years? 

On 8 April 2008 the House of Commons in Canada adopted a Motion calling on the Government of Canada to “endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples …and that Parliament and Government of Canada fully implement the standards contained therein.” KAIROS calls on the government to take an important step towards restoring faith in its commitment to Indigenous peoples’ rights by endorsing this key international human rights instrument, the first to recognize Indigenous rights as human rights.

Question for the candidates:

Will your party endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and conclude treaties with Indigenous peoples that implement the rights contained in the Declaration?

Election Kits/Guides are as follows:

The Anglican Church in Canada

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

Canadian Friends’ Service Committee (Quakers)

Citizens for Public Justice

Council of Canadians
Make Poverty History

Mennonite Central Committee, Canada

The United Church of Canada: General kit

The United Church of Canada: Election kit on Aboriginal justice

The most obvious trend weaving through the day-to-day operations of the associated “faith-based” agencies is the capacity to re-image Jesus Christ to whatever caricature best suits prevailing temporal organizational objectives.  Characterizations vary (even within the same organization) from an irrelevant prophet to a serious sage role model; but nowhere is there an agency faithfully glorifying the biblically correct, divine, exclusive, authoritative Son of God.   

 
Christianity is a worldview of intricately interlocking beliefs, not some loosely arranged buffet of Bible verses available for self-serving quotation.   It is hypocritical, if not deceitful, for the Canadian Council of Churches, in their letter to Prime Minister Harper on peacekeeping in Afghanistan, to speak of “scriptural imperatives” and to refer to a biblical text asserting that it “was given not as good advice but as a directive for living according to God`s will.”  A liberal agency tacitly, if not overtly, proselytizing a common spirit in all faiths, multiple redemptive paths to God and universal salvation, in preference to evangelizing the scriptural imperatives of accepting Christ’s divinity, resurrected status and redemptive purpose, should refrain entirely from interpreting God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12-13).  The CCC appeal to biblical authority is doubly paradoxical, sent under the signatures of two senior United Church ministers.  Moreover, the CCC assertion in their letter that their recommendations are “quintessentially Canadian approaches” to instilling peace serves only to expose their political-left bias and an unchristian, condescending attitude.  Given that a majority of Parliamentarians (Conservative and Liberal) chose to essentially support the Manley Report and not the CCC recommendations,  are we to now assume that God`s directive has been ignored; His will thwarted? 

 
When Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and United Church representatives on the Canadian Churches Forum dialogue with Scarboro Missions to determine “prophetic witness,” do they agree with the Missions’ assertion that “all are united in the spirit of one God,” and that “we are called to uphold the spirit of universal interdependence with our sisters and brothers of all faiths”?  The Scarboro Missions’ thinking is grossly antichristian.  If the other representatives are at ease with this outlook, what does that say about their level of conviction, their level of thankfulness for the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ and the truth of His Gospel? 

 
Religious liberals, who advocate world federalism, who fellowship in inter-faith world parliaments, who advocate “irrevocable” global ethics, who witness to a universal spiritual destiny, and who busy themselves exclusively with temporal issues, have what scripture to support their actions?  The last time the whole human race united in an attempt to take control of its own destiny by man-centered efforts; to seize the reins of history for the sake of their own glory, God saw this effort as manifest rebellion (Genesis 11:1-9).  If Christians truly wish to impact poverty, injustice and the environment, they must pursue a path that rightfully glorifies Jesus Christ.  God cannot bless actions that amount to rebellion.  Forming an alliance of multifaith, non-sectarian and humanist groups, no matter how altruistic the goals, when executed at the cost of silencing ardent evangelization of the Gospel message is doomed to failure.  In all Christ must be exalted  (Matthew 6:31-34). 

 
When the Women’s Inter-Church Council declare mothers need more government support “so they are not forced to depend on other family members for basic income security” and that “women with children must remain strong and autonomous” they are turning their backs on the biblical family, biblical marriage, biblical parenting and God’s guidance on the purpose of employment and the ultimate source of security.  When WICC speaks of “women with children” as a unit separate from the “biological” father (even in a Mother’s Day press release), they are undermining God’s will; His intended environment for raising children.  [For more on the “Politics of Oppression and Patriarchy,” the “Unorthodox Family” and feminist “Anti-parenting Culture” see Chapters 2 and 7 in Pivot of Civilization or Rivet of Life?]

 
When WICC countenances homosexist theology and a feminist notion of theology that “is created in ‘being and doing’” and must be “radically inclusionary,” they are approving anti-Christian beliefs.  The last three verses in the Bible warn against creating new theology (Revelation 22:18-19) and the entirety of scripture holds homosexual behaviour in a negative judgment.  Moreover, an endorsement of the pro-choice position that “all mothers should freely choose to give life,” effectively declares God no longer involved in pregnancy, no longer the author of when a life is created and no longer in control of whether human life has value.  This position is fundamentally anti-Christian; WICC should not hold an opinion similar to the secular humanist worldview, the same perspective that Margaret Sanger and Henry Morgentaler hold.  Feminist icon, Diana Alstad revealed the truth behind pro-abortion advocacy when she said:

 
I view the abortion fight as the front line in America of a much larger battle, the planetary battle that I call ‘the morality wars.’ This is a battle for people’s minds over ‘Who has the right to decide what’s right?’ and ‘What gives them the right to do so?’ It’s between the forces of the old and the new, between authoritarianism and democracy. Essentially, it’s fundamentalist, patriarchal belief systems versus modern, evolutionary, feminist, feedback-based creative approaches to living and solving our many global problems...We must never forget that abortion is the bottom line of birth control. Without it, women don’t have control over their bodies, and therefore over their lives. Without it, the competitive playing field of money, power and independence is so skewed in men’s favor that women really cannot have equal opportunity….[xvi] [My underline]

 
Is there not a huge contradiction in the authenticity of spirit and credibility of thinking when religious liberals make a commitment to the global ethics of non-violence and respect for life [feminist theologians in Bangalore put the position this way: “Our feminist hermeneutical approach begins by engaging the ways in which current structures, systems and values of empire and globalization collude to deny people of God’s vision for fullness of life for them.”] and yet they sanction the 929,000,000 estimated abortions globally since 1920; or condone the on-going termination of 1,202,000 pregnancies a month worldwide.[xvii]   No surprise that a search on the WICC website for “birth” brings up only three hits, all referring to the birth of the Council.  Does the new theology that Dr. Gail Allan proclaims to her WICC listeners encourage keeping the national birthrate below the replacement rate?  There are “feminist” views that do not require violence against the fetus, not to mention the mother.  Pro-life “feminist” Frederica Mathewes-Green writes:    

 
It is a cruel joke to call this a woman’s ‘choice.’ We may choose to sacrifice our life and career plans, or choose to undergo humiliating invasive surgery and sacrifice our offspring. How fortunate we are – we have a choice! Perhaps it’s time to amend the slogan—‘Abortion: a woman’s right to capitulate.’… we’re lying down on abortion tables 1,600,000 times a year to ensure the status quo. We’ve adapted to this surgical substitute, to the point that Justice Blackmun could write in his Webster dissent, ‘Millions of women have ordered their lives around’ abortion. That we have willingly ordered our lives around a denigrating surgical procedure – accepted it as the price we must pay to keep our life plans intact—is an ominous sign…More insidiously, abortion advocacy has been poisonous to some of the deeper values of feminism. For example, the need to discredit the fetus has led us to the use of terms that would be disastrous if applied to women. ‘It’s so small,’ ‘It’s unwanted,’ ‘It might be disabled,’ ‘It might be abused.’ Too often women are small, unwanted, disabled, or abused. Do we really want to say that these factors erase personhood?[xviii]

 
Sadly, in the era of “abortion on demand,” those who see abortion as a surgical convenience and who will end any number of pregnancies without reservation, are unable to look at the gruesome handiwork they defend. Across the country, they shrink from photos of babies killed in abortions. Through political pressure the pro-abortionists compel television stations to refuse advertisements showing partial birth or other abortion artefacts. Pro-choice advocates will not even allow viewers to see what their policies have wrought.  According to Benjamin Stein:

 
They are like the Germans who refused to think about whatever was happening at Dachau and then vomited when they saw and never wanted to see again. And for those who don’t care to make the trip down that road, perhaps you can imagine the feelings of tens of millions of us who see clearly that abortion is a violent killing of the most innocent of humans.[xix]

 
Frankly, the Global Ethic of living a life of truthfulness is of spurious value if society is so liberal-minded as to accept the that truth is whatever the individual asserts it to be; that your truth need not deny the truth of another.  This trendy ethos of multiple truths refutes God’s Word; is an act of rebellion against Jesus Christ.  This liberal ethos leads to the miserable social reality of abortion doctors, at one wing in a hospital, discarding “unwanted” babies to die, while in another wing, physicians are doing their best to sustain the threatened life of a fetus.  This ethos leads to the unholy reality of activists placing more importance on the life of a baby seal than on a human life.  This ethos casts no judgment on the morality of the homosexual life style.  The reality that certain acts and relationships may be undignified in God’s eyes is averted by the illogical premise that each person chooses the God they wish to accept and can create and follow his own theology.  When Dr. Gail Allan speaks of "transformative inviting a ‘radical inclusion’ theologies – that honours personal and political, theory and praxis, voices from the margins and the complexity of the contexts we represent,” she is drawing upon a values common with libertinism, not Christian values.  The bearers of this line of thinking are much closer to the secular humanist worldview than the Gospel truth.  Finally, on the Ethic of living in truthfulness, parliament and the courts cannot operate on a multi-polar basis – upholding a number of competing worldviews (truth systems) at the same time or asserting different worldviews like one might gamble on a roulette wheel.  The state must choose its version of the truth.  When the state held a heterosexist worldview, homosexuality was tolerated and Christians could freely witness in public; now that the state has adopted a homosexist worldview, homosexuality is declared equal to and morally the same as heterosexuality, and Christians can no longer express in public their version of the truth.  The Apostle Paul knew that everything hinged on the truth: 

 
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain (I Corinthians !5:1-2).

 
...there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:7-9).

 
The last matter under the general argument against the re-imaging of Jesus Christ for the sake of religious liberalism has to do with inter-faith relations with aboriginal or indigenous peoples.  And the matter is raised at this point in the essay solely on a theological theme, not on a political, reconciliatory or human-rights basis. In 2007 the Anglican Church, Catholic Church, Christian Reformed Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Presbyterian Church, Mennonite Central Committee and United Church, commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 1987 A New Covenant Pastoral Statement on Aboriginal Rights.  In the original text, re-affirmed in March 2007 is the following:  

 
The idea of covenant-making has deep spiritual roots which, in turn, can teach us a great deal about the true purpose and meaning of covenant-making and covenant-keeping among peoples today.  In many Aboriginal communities, the elders remind us of the covenants which their ancestors made with the Great Spirit, the Creator. Similarly, we recall in the Judaeo-Christian tradition the covenant which God made with the people if Israel. In turn, this covenant was renewed by Jesus Christ who proclaimed the equality of all human beings as sons and daughters of creation (e.g. Galatians 3:28).... Thus, there are moral and spiritual dimensions to making and keeping covenants. These dimensions must be part of the task of creating a new covenant involving Aboriginal peoples in Canada today.[xx] [My underline]

 
The relevant text from Galatians reads:

 
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:23-29).  [See also  John 3:14-21]

 
The Gospel truth, which the Covenant signatories (at least 6 of the 8) profess to know and follow, tells us that regardless of our heritage – Sioux, Métis, Dene, English, Chinese, Ethiopian, Arab, etc., faith in the resurrected Jesus Christ saves.  Moreover, there are no other salvation paths (John 14:6).  None of the signatories have the authority to alter patent interpretation of scripture or reimage Christ to create a new [spiritual] covenant involving Aboriginal peoples.  The indigenous peoples are equal in every way to the rest of mankind in the spiritual realm.  All need to accept the peace, grace and sanctifying power of Jesus Christ.  The moment Christians stop wanting to evangelize this fact, is the day they better question their own salvation experience.  God will cannot be mocked. 

 
Moreover, the following scripture from the Book of Hebrews tells Christians that the first covenant, which God made with the people of Israel, was replaced not renewed in Christ:

 
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.  For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.  For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.  But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.   Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;  Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.   And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;  From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.  Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;   And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.  Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin (9:28; 10:1-17). [My underline]

When feminist theology combines with multifaith spiritualism the result is revealed in this video clip from the 2007 GDOP at Dominion-Chalmers United Church in which one prayer warrior refers to the Holy Spirit as she: "I ask the Holy Spirit that she would send..." and in which a small group wearing the ritual dress of the First Nations plays what appears to be a Native Indian spiritual  rhythm on drums?

The second obvious trend weaving through the day-to-day operations of these associated “faith-based” and non-sectarian organizations is a bias for left-wing approaches to solving the “social” problems they indentify. 

 
Such a political bias for Christians in this era of sexual liberation and state sponsored homosexism, is a precarious position to hold, if not a spiritual conundrum.  The fact that Christianity is a counter-cultural worldview, in a prevailing post-modern era, suggests Christianity has a natural compatibly with the traditional conservative politics of the right.  Most are familiar with the American usage of the term “Christian-right.”  Those who are fundamentally concerned about obedience to God’s Word gravitate to conservatism.  The Christian worldview goes against prevailing cultural trends which are invariably birthed or endorsed by socialist movements – feminism, sexual liberation, abortion on demand, state sponsored homosexism, same-sex marriage, soft criminal justice and soft anti-pornography legislation (under the guise of freedom of speech).  De-criminalization of prostitution, marijuana usage and euthanasia, and legalization of stem cell research are all legislations welcomed by most left-leaning governments. When technology is ripe for human cloning, it will not be the conservative right that is pushing for its legalization.  Socialists are strong advocates of state incursions into the nuclear family for the sake of indoctrinating the next generation in right values and effectively deconstructing the “patriarchal” biblical family.  Feminist Kate Millet put the socialist agenda this way:

 
There is one more cardinal point in Engels’ theory of sexual revolution, bound to provoke more controversy than all others: ‘with the transformation of the means of production into collective property, the monogamous family will cease to be the economic unit of society. The care and education of children becomes a public matter.’...There is something logical and even inevitable in this recommendation, for so long as every female, simply by virtue of her anatomy, is obliged, even forced, to be the sole or primary caretaker of childhood, she is prevented from being a free being. The care of children, even from the period when their cognitive powers first emerge, is infinitely better left to the best trained practitioners of both sexes…rather than to harried and all too frequently unhappy  persons with little time nor taste for the work of educating minds, however young or beloved. The radical outcome of Engels’ analysis is that the family, as that term is presently understood, must go.[xxi]

 
Unapologetic, the less common named group - the "Christian left" has co-opted with the socialist cause which has totally embraced radical feminism and homosexism over religious orthodoxy.  Heterosexism is seen in socialist ideology as a cultural construct, the illegitimate basis for “patriarchal oppression.”  In Loving Men/Loving Women: Gay Liberation and the Church, feminist Sally Gearhart declares the fundamental assault still being directed at organized religion from within and without.  She writes:

 
The churches are our most up-front pushers of the sex-role habit, of daddy-mommybaby habit. They peddle the drug daily.[xxii]

 
Ultimately the church as we know it cannot be reformed; it must die. So must the Trinitarian theology on which it is based.[xxiii]

 
A study of the forerunners to today’s so-called “religious left” – the “Liberal or Social Gospel Reformers” of the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s reveals a move away from orthodoxy and from the central and “spiritual” focus of Christianity – the salvation message, to a more “temporal” service-based witness.  In the nineteenth century the “urgent” need to shift from that of feeding God’s sheep spiritual sustenance (Matthew 4:4) to one of social assistance was ironically not chronic poverty but the arrival of the so-called “Age of Enlightenment.”  After researching the intellectual crisis of Christianity in nineteenth century Canada, historian and author, Ramsay Cook, concluded that “Liberal Reformers,” he used the term “Regenerators,” had not brought Canadians closer to God’s Kingdom, but had accomplished the exact opposite, a major shift in Canadian society towards secularism.  Explaining the decay of traditional or orthodox religious belief during the late 1800s, Cook wrote:

 
…the religious crisis provoked by Darwinian science and historical criticism of the Bible led religious people to attempt to salvage Christianity by transforming it into an essentially social religion.  The orthodox Christian preoccupation with man’s salvation; the traditional Christian emphasis on man’s relationship with God shifted to a focus on man’s relationship with man.  This union of the sacred and the secular was followed, in my view, by the substitution of theology, the science of religion, with sociology, the science of society.  In theological terms the development I have analyzed is the emergence of a modernist theology, which insisted that Christianity was not separate from modern culture, but rather should be adapted to it.  That theology was founded upon a denial of God’s transcendence and an insistence upon his immanence in the world.  It followed that a society in which God was immanent was one that could eventually become the kingdom of God on earth. 

 
This transformation may seem as the decline of traditional orthodoxy, a mere change in religious thinking, or it may be seen as part of something more radical, namely, secularization.  In my view the shift in beliefs and values that took place in English Canadian society, and in other related Protestant societies coincidentally, was so fundamental as to deserve to be called ‘secularization.’ And so my argument: the supreme irony of the regenerators was that the new birth to which they contributed was not, as they had hoped, the city of God on earth but rather a secular city.[xxiv] 

 
Now consider in this day, what religious liberals, aligned with the left, are calling for and committing in the name of their faith.  Can the result be anything but more of the same – secularization, but on a global scale?  Today the new crisis is climate change, which unchecked will seriously impact levels of poverty and social justice.  In response the so-called “Christian-left” calls for urgent movement toward  their goals of world federalism, enforcement of global ethics, and establishment of global spiritualism – defined here as a harmonization and equalization of all religions; or all paths lead to the Great Creator; or Christ has no special importance over indigenous spirits or prophet Muhammad.  No one on the left is interested in a spirit-led revival in the name of Jesus Christ; indeed, this would royally disrupt interfaith religious planning at national, United Nations, and World Parliament levels.  Religious liberals would rather “bench” Christ for this round or re-package His Gospel for inclusive religious harmony.  Human unity is the preferred approach to fix this crisis, not extra obedience and more reverence to God.  No one in the Christian-left dares to challenge socialist solidarity on liberal abortion access, public indoctrination to homosexism and same-sex marriage.  No one on the Christian-left dares to publicly profess Jesus Christ to be the world’s unique, exclusive Lord and Saviour, who will one day return to separate the saved from the lost.  [For a revealing analysis from a Christian perspective of the Political Left, Center and Right in the 2006 Election – click here]  

 
The political bias of agencies like the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canadian Health Coalition and Common Frontiers is no surprise given the membership make-up.  However, regarding health care, neither universal nor two-tier schemes can be said to have or not have God’s blessing.  The approach used to solve this temporal issue is not a faith matter.  The person at Ecumenical Health Care Network, who criticized the authenticity of Stockwell Day’s faith because of his “neo-conservative political obsession with tax cuts” and openness to health care alternatives needs to be reminded of the Supreme Court of Canada ruling on wait times.  The issue is whether the right of Canadians to "life, liberty and security of the person" means that nobody should suffer agonizing pain for a year while waiting for hip surgery.  Perhaps the Christian-left wish to contend that the George Zeliotis’s of this world (age 73, waiting for a hip replacement) should suffer in the cue like everyone else because this is God’s will. 

 
Christians interested in reducing poverty, eradicating injustice and improving the environment should focus on raising the profile of the problem with politicians and resist the indignity of offering half cooked solutions heavy flavoured with political bias.  If the Canadian Council of Churches put half the effort spent on recommending Canadian peacekeeping policy for Afghanistan into addressing the same-sex marriage divide amongst the churches that might achieve something positive for the kingdom.  If KAIROS put half the effort spent on lobbying for ratification of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into a policy on the injustice perpetrated upon the unborn by abortion, they would be doing something for the kingdom.  What is the KAIROS opinion on Bill C-484 Unborn Victims of Crime Act?  The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada has made their position clear.  The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has also declared their position in solidarity with the ARCC.  Thirty-seven states in the the US have already enacted similar legislations.  What is the KAIROS opinion on legalizing marijuana?  The Liberal and NDP Parties appear undecided about who should support the legilation.  Under the circumstances some Christian justice advice could be most appreciated.  And what is the KAIROS position on legalizing prostitution?

It is regrettable to find, after a formal apology on the Residential Schools Matter by the Federal Government, that KAIROS asserts this action to be meaningless without Canadian approval of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.   The reader must skim this Declaration to form an opinion.  Four of the 46 articles are listed below:

Article 5

Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

Article 18

Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making institutions.

Article 24

Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices, including the conservation of their vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals. Indigenous individuals also have the right to access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services.

Article 45

Nothing in this Declaration may be construed as diminishing or extinguishing the rights indigenous peoples have now or may acquire in the future.

Canada’s Position was made clear in a lengthy report dated June 29, 2006 (a must read).  In the KAIROS election 2008 guidance, the agency makes no mention of the reasons for the Government not signing the Declaration nor does the agency list the other countries that would not sign, nor did they mention the countries that ratified the document with significant reservations.  Ever wonder about the legal ramifications for the United Kingdom in approving an agreement on indigenous peoples?    Why might the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Philippines, Russia and Ukraine have reservations?  India embraced the Declaration with alcrity after establishing all residents of the country as indigenous peoples.  

 
It is doubtful that this essay will turn the hearts of any religious liberals or change the direction of the boards and councils they lead and attend.  This was never the key purpose in this research and writing.  The hope attached to this effort is that more believers will recognize the tsunami of universal spiritualism cresting just out of sight, waiting for the right crisis to bring a unified and harmonized multifaith wave crashing down on the faithful.  Everything that does not exalt Christ is not of Christ.  Believers are naive to think that anything good will come of re-imaging or denying Christ for the so-called “greater good.”  Believers also need to recognize the tidal wave of leftist political advice building from the expectations of world federalists, world religious parliamentarians, United Nations promoters, interfaith ecumenists and angry feminist theologians.  Christians need to unite more than ever before; but we need to unite on a basis that exalts Jesus Christ.  Our goal should be a crown of righteousness:

 
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing (II Timothy 3:16-17; 4:1-8).

 To Thee be endless praise, for Thou for us hast died;
Be Thou, O Lord, thru endless days adored and magnified.

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