Tom Oden compares the WEA and WCC in an interesting article on Christian Unity?
"How the two general assemblies related to their host countries further illustrates the differences between them. The WEA held its assembly in Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim nation with a small, mostly Christian minority. The WCC held its assembly in Zimbabwe, which has a supposedly Christian political leader, but one whose reputation has been long sullied by corruption.
Both the WEA and WCC assemblies featured addresses by political leaders of the host nations—Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Mahathir bin Mohamed in Malaysia. Despite religious restrictions and human-rights abuses in both countries, neither assembly criticized its host publicly. The WCC, however, declared its support of Mugabe's policies, despite the regime's corruption and brutality.
The WEA doubtless showed more courage in encountering a Muslim nation than did the WCC in its support for a corrupt regime with a nominal Christian leader. At Kuala Lumpur, evangelicals were going directly into one of the most strongly Islamic countries in southeast Asia, and that Muslim country's prime minister seriously addressed Christians who have a decisive stake in nation-building in that region. Religious liberties are crucial to evangelicals, who are restricted from assembling, purchasing property, and publishing as they wish. The prime minister set forth an illuminating new Islamic clarification of religious liberty that many evangelicals could affirm."
"How the two general assemblies related to their host countries further illustrates the differences between them. The WEA held its assembly in Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim nation with a small, mostly Christian minority. The WCC held its assembly in Zimbabwe, which has a supposedly Christian political leader, but one whose reputation has been long sullied by corruption.
Both the WEA and WCC assemblies featured addresses by political leaders of the host nations—Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Mahathir bin Mohamed in Malaysia. Despite religious restrictions and human-rights abuses in both countries, neither assembly criticized its host publicly. The WCC, however, declared its support of Mugabe's policies, despite the regime's corruption and brutality.
The WEA doubtless showed more courage in encountering a Muslim nation than did the WCC in its support for a corrupt regime with a nominal Christian leader. At Kuala Lumpur, evangelicals were going directly into one of the most strongly Islamic countries in southeast Asia, and that Muslim country's prime minister seriously addressed Christians who have a decisive stake in nation-building in that region. Religious liberties are crucial to evangelicals, who are restricted from assembling, purchasing property, and publishing as they wish. The prime minister set forth an illuminating new Islamic clarification of religious liberty that many evangelicals could affirm."
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