-Caveat Lector-
One World Religion is Not Enough
By Wendy Griffith
CBN News Reporter
October 24, 2000
CBN.com - -- Globalization – It has become a pretty common buzzword in
recent years. It seems everyone is talking about global economics,
global politics, and now even global religion.
It may sound far-fetched, but many liberal organizations, including the
United Nations, are pursuing the development of a one-world religious
organization. Today, on the UN’s 55th anniversary, CBN News takes a look
at what's behind this push for a global religion.
After a while the drums, chants and prayers representing many of the
world's leading religions all started to sound alike, somehow losing
their flavor in a melting pot of spiritual soup. The first ever
Millennium World Peace Summit of religious and spiritual leaders took
place at the United Nations in August. And some believe it marked the
first major step toward a movement to usher in a global spiritual body
that may one day speak for all religions.
"It certainly sounds suspicious to me," remarks Bob McGinnis.
Mcginnis, of the Family Research Council, says it appears the hidden
agenda is to unite people under one religious organization so they will
peacefully accept UN goals such as population control, abortion rights
and one world government.
"I would suspect that they do kind of want to bring all faiths under one
umbrella, whether it be Muslims or Hindus or some tribal group down in
the central part of the Amazon," says McGinnis. "If they can accomplish
that then they co-opt their religious voice in the world and I think
it's really going to water down our effectiveness as we try to go
elsewhere and be spokespersons for Christ."
"Maybe there is, instead of all these different Gods, maybe there's one
God who manifests himself in different ways to different people," stated
Ted Turner at the Summit.
CNN founder and billionaire Turner was the honorary chair of the World
Religions Summit. Turner, known for his critical views on Biblical
Christianity, promoted the new age concept that there are many ways to
heaven.
"The thing that disturbed me was that my religion, the Christian sect,
was very intolerant, not of religious freedom, but we thought we were
the only ones going to heaven," he told the assembled leaders.
Although the movement's goals are clearly anti-Biblical, some liberal
protestant denominations have become big supporters of a New World
church. Among those leading the way is the United Religions Initiative,
or U.R.I. Introduced in 1995 by San Francisco Episcopal bishop William
Swing, the U.R.I. is active in nearly 60 countries worldwide and 33
states in the United States. The U.R.I. envisions itself as the future
religious arm and spiritual partner of the United Nations.
"I think the initial vision that Bishop Swing had was that it would be a
religious United Nations," says Rev. Charles Gibbs. "What we've
discovered over the years is that it carries with it a tremendous amount
of baggage."
Gibbs, who is the executive director of the United Religions Initiative,
denies reports that the U.R.I. goal is to form a new world religion, but
says, instead, it will serve as a global agency that will work towards
world peace, protection of the environment and other social issues.
"We still hold the aspiration that we'll have the visibility and stature
of the United Nations but in a very different organization where all
over the world, everyday, ordinary and exceptional people are working
through interfaith cooperation to solve the pressing issues they have
locally and still be connected to a global community," notes Gibbs.
Supporters of a global religious voice have come down hard on
evangelical Christians who refuse to adopt their new age agenda. For
example, former UN Assistant Secretary-General Robert Muller said,
fundamentalists are stuck in an "inflexible belief system and play an
incendiary role in global conflicts." He goes on to say that "peace will
be impossible without the taming of fundamentalism through a united
religion that professes faithfulness only to the global spirituality and
to the health of this planet."
U.R.I. founder Bishop Swing is also quoted as saying, " The time comes
when common language and a common purpose for all religions and
spiritual movements must be discerned and agreed upon. Merely respecting
and understanding religions is not enough."
Biblical scholars warn that Christians must not be sucked into this new
age agenda that takes the focus off Christ and places it on the
so-called "global good" of mankind.
"It is written, Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever,"
stresses Dr. Charles Holman, a divinity professor at Regent University.
"Real Christians will follow him to the end."
If global religion supporters do gain influence, many say a key object
of worship will be creation - not the creator. The U.R.I. supports the
push by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Canadian billionaire
Maurice Strong, founders of Green Cross International, to form an earth
charter --a sort of Ten Commandments that will provide a guide for human
behavior toward the environment in the 21st century. Gorbachev has said,
"Nature is my God. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals."
Although many believe a world religious organization is just what we
need to overcome religious conflicts and feuds, Christians point out
that the Bible warns of a time when religious control will escalate into
religious persecution.
Quotes Holman: "Jesus said in Matthew 24:9, ‘then shall they deliver you
up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all
nations for my names' sake. For then there shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor
ever shall be."
Lee Penn, a freelance reporter and critic of the U.R.I., said, "The
leaders of the U.R.I. do not place their ultimate hope in God or in the
saving acts of Christ. They hope for an earthly utopia that the united
religions will help bring into being."
Rev. Gibbs says the U.R.I's peace is not the false peace of the
anti-Christ, which some have accused.
"I would simply reflect into that Jesus own statement, you will know
them by their fruit."
http://www.christianity.com/partner/Article_Display_Page/1,1183,PTID2546
|C HID101025|CIID170228,00.html
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