World Council of Churches move towards code on seeking converts
Pastor Dale Morgan
World Council of Churches move towards code on seeking converts*
By Robert Evans
Reuters
Monday, August 6, 2007; 1:50 PM
GENEVA (Reuters) - Christian churches are moving closer to a common code
of conduct on how they go about winning converts among themselves and
from other religions, the World Council of Churches (WCC) said on Monday.
Conversion, sometimes dubbed "sheep-stealing" as it targets another's
flock, is a cause of friction and conflict between religions and among
different branches of individual faiths.
Militant groups are often accused of underhand tactics in winning over
new adherents.
The Geneva-based WCC, working with the Vatican on the issue, said a
meeting in Toulouse later this week should bring the year-long process
of agreeing a conversion rule-book nearer to completion by its target
date of 2009.
"Evangelical and Pentecostal representatives will be taking part in the
dialogue for the first time, and we see this as a good sign for the
eventual success of this project," said WCC spokesman Juan Michel.
The two strongly proselytizing sects, which have made heavy inroads into
membership of other Christian groupings especially in Latin America,
Africa and Asia, stood aloof when the effort was launched at a meeting
near Rome in May last year.
But this time senior figures from both -- German-based philosopher
Thomas Schirrmacher of a group called WEA and Bishop Tony Richie of the
Church of God in the United States -- will attend, although in their
personal rather than institutional capacity.
"We have always wanted this process to be inclusive and open, so that
all religious partners from Christian faiths and others can make a
contribution towards the shaping of the code," said Michel.
The first meeting was attended -- alongside the Christians -- by
representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Yoruba
faiths. They issued a joint statement saying freedom of religion was "a
non-negotiable right of every human being."
The Toulouse gathering, from August 8 to 12 at the city's Catholic
Institute, will bring together some 30 Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox
and other theologians and church representatives, said the WCC.
"Conversion is a controversial issue not only in inter-religious
relations, but in intra-Christian relations as well," said Hans Ucko,
the WCC's main official for dialogue between faiths.
"In Latin America, it is a source of tension between the Roman Catholic
Church and the Pentecostal movement, while in other regions Orthodox
churches often feel 'targeted' by some Protestant missionary groups,"
added Ucko.
WCC officials say the code should help ease relations with other faiths,
especially with Islamic leaders who regard individual Muslims who
convert as apostates. In some countries, these face the death penalty if
they do not recant.
Individual Muslim groups regard missionaries -- or even suspected
missionaries -- of other religions as "enemies of the true faith" and
sometimes take extreme measures against them.
The Taliban in Afghanistan have accused the 23 South Koreans they
captured last month, two of whom they have since killed, of coming to
the country to spread Christianity in a devoutly Muslim land.