ECUMENISM Those Who Don't Want It

The dark-suited men and their very proper wives averted their eyes as they strode purposefully past the bikini-clad girls at the pool. Their minds were dwelling on grim business, not frivolous hours in the sun; their voices were cleared for psalms and hymns that could drown out the incessant Muzak. The occasion was the Sixth Congress of the International Council of Christian Churches, held at the smartly modern Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. It was no accident that the L.C.C.C. chose Geneva, and the Intercontinental, for its meeting. The hotel is practically on the doorstep of the World Council of Churches headquarters across the street, and if there is anything the L.C.C.C. enjoys, it is the opportunity to needle the World Council.

Headed by contentious New Jersey Presbyterian Radio Preacher Carl McIntire, the L.C.C.C. is a vociferous amalgam of anti-ecumenical, anti-Catholic, anti-Communist fundamentalists who want all Protestants to "stand up and be counted" -counted out, that is, of the World Council. As proof of their devotion to that end, the 800 delegates issued a unanimous resolution: "Ecumenicity, as expressed in the World Council of Churches, represents a false concept of Christian unity and has no Biblical basis; its leadership includes men who have apostatized from the faith, it betrays the glorious heritage of the 16th century Reformation and acts as an instrument for building an apostate super-church." The resolution ended with an appeal to groups belonging to the World Council to "withdraw from this unholy alliance."

Syncretistic Trends. Since World Council General Secretary Willem Visser 't Hooft was happily off on a vacation, there was no danger in Geneva of an embarrassing confrontation, although one World Council official noted that the L.C.C.C. is "just a group of hecklers that keeps following us around, collecting minute splinter groups of no real significance."

"Call them splinter groups if you wish," argued Mclntire. "There'll be more and more as ecumenism gathers momentum. Ecumenism is treason to the Reformation. The World Council's dialogue with Rome is a surrender of Christian allegiance to the truth; its dialogue with Jewish leaders follows the same syncretistic trends. Those liberals are going ahead without taking account of the people in the pew. That's where we step in. We talk to the people in the pew."

So far, the I.C.C.C. insists, the talking has produced admirable results. According to its own count, 8,000,000 people from 51 countries have aligned with the I.C.C.C. against the World Council and ecumenism. The U.S. adherents number about 3,000,000, most of them belonging to Presbyterian and Baptist churches. European followers are far less numerous; the biggest group is the 65,000-member Christian Reformed Church, which draws support from the sobersided Dutch farmers and fishermen of the Zeeland Province.

Africa-Bound. Mclntire believes that Africa, with its missionary-planted roots, is particularly susceptible to the fundamentalist approach, and plans a proselytizing trip there this fall. He crows about some schismatic Nigerian parishes that have recently joined the L.C.C.C., and hopes to corral other dissidents such as Kenya's Bishop Matthew Ajouga, who walked out of the Anglican Communion. Asia is also Mclntire's happy hunting ground. He claims that a majority of Korea's Protestants, as well as many from Taiwan and the Philippines, are represented in the L.C.C.C.

With a huge affiliation of more than 200 churches with 350 million mem bers, the World Council is not greatly concerned that it will lose its adherents or its thrust to Mclntire's group, and is simply ignoring the hecklers. Nevertheless, officials could scarcely be delighted with the fact that Mclntire's group returned home last week to continue their zealous campaign against "this unholy alliance."

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