wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] NCC chief says Katrina may stir right-to-left wind in

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8902 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05479
Sept. 14, 2005

NCC chief says Katrina may stir
right-to-left wind in U.S. politics

by Stephen Brown
Ecumenical News International  

GENEVA - The fallout from Hurricane Katrina may change the political and
religious landscape of the United States, the Rev. Bob Edgar, general
secretary of the U.S. National Council of Churches (NCC), told European and
U.S. church representatives meeting in Geneva.	
  
	"Hurricane Katrina exposed racism and poverty in the United States,"
Edgar said, and the leadership of President George W. Bush is "in question"
because of the government's inadequate response to the hurricane that
battered the southern coast of the United States at the end of August.

	Edgar made his remarks on Sept. 14 during a meeting co-sponsored by
the NCC and the Conference of European Churches. In the past, he said,
"mainline" Protestant churches in the United States have sometimes
underestimated the conservative movement.

	"Most of us did not take seriously this 'civil marriage' between the
political right and the religious right," said Edgar, an ordained Methodist
minister who also served as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives
from 1974 to 1987. "This group, both politically and religiously, has
successfully steered the country in a neo-conservative direction, but are not
necessarily in a majority."   
  
	Still, he said, some parts of the evangelical community and the
Republican Party now are distancing themselves from Bush.  
  
	This could lead to changes in 2006 in the political make-up of the
House of Representatives, where the Republicans now hold a majority, and in
the U.S. presidency when President Bush's term expires, Edgar suggested.  
  
	The NCC and its predominantly Orthodox and Protestant member churches
are making common cause with some evangelical groups on issues such as
combating poverty and protecting the environment, he said.

	Edgar took the helm of the NCC in 2000, when it was facing
significant financial problems, but the organization has been without a
deficit for the past three years.  
  
	"The problem of the NCC five years ago was thought to be financial.
It wasn't," he said. "The issue of the council was vision and mission.
There's plenty of money. It's a case of directing it in the right direction."

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