Stand Firm by David Fischler

Meet the New (Last?) General Secretary of the National Council of Churches

 

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Finally deciding that it just isn’t going to make it as an agent of Christian ecumenism, the NCC has apparently decided to drop the charade and become the Religious Office of the Democratic Party. No, former Rep. Bob Edgar (D-PA), who led the NCC from 2000 to 2007, hasn’t returned from the grave, so the wannabe politicians who have been looking for a new GS have done the next best thing:

A leading advocate for international justice with experience as a missionary and deep family roots in the United Methodist Church is the nominee for General Secretary/President of the National Council of Churches.
James E. Winkler, general secretary of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, will be placed in nomination during the NCC Governing Board meeting on November 18.
Winkler has led the United Methodist international public policy and social justice agency in Washington since November 2000.
As the chief executive of the agency, Winkler leads a staff of 22 who seek the implementation of the Church’s social principles through education, witness, and advocacy.

If the ruling poobahs at the NCC wanted to concentrate on all-politics, all-the-time, they couldn’t have done any better than Winkler. He has been responsible for making the General Board of Church and Society probably the most despised, useless money pit in the United Methodist Church by using it to shill for every left-wing cause under the sun, regardless of what the actual Methodists who foot the bill think. Here are some of Winkler’s greatest hits from his time at the GBCS:

It remains unknown whether Iran actually is developing a nuclear weapon….It is not any more moral for the United States or Israel to possess a nuclear weapon than it is for Iran to own one….I personally think Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is half-mad. But, I confess at times to believing U.S. and Israeli leaders are half-mad, too. I can find no paragons of virtue in this situation. (March 2012)

The General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) of The United Methodist Church applauds the ruling by the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS) to ensure that all new insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act include contraceptive coverage without patient cost-sharing, except in very narrow circumstances.
“This is a great day for women in the United States,” said Jim Winkler, GBCS chief executive. “This ruling ensures the availability of contraception for all women. It will result in millions having the services to be able to plan their families and prevent unplanned pregnancies regardless of the woman’s economic security.” (February 2012)

Somehow, hope surrounds us. I believe the large majority of the American people support the agenda the Occupy Wall Street movement promotes:
•Tax the rich and corporations
•End the wars, bring the troops home, cut military spending
•Protect the social safety net, strengthen Social Security and improved Medicare for all
•End corporate welfare for oil companies and other big business interests
•Transition to a clean-energy economy and reverse environmental degradation
•Protect workers’ rights, including collective bargaining, create jobs and raise wages
•Get money out of politics (December 2011)

I began thinking of the truth about poverty and a couple of things occurred to me. First, I believe the truth is we don’t have to have poverty. Second, a great many of our people are more committed to the economic theory of capitalism than they are to the eradication of poverty. (May 2010)

Although evidence is lacking that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, the administration and various lobbies continue to assert they are sure Iran is working on one. (May 2010, in a column reprinted from 2007)

Let us admit that in this debate faith leaders of various stripes have placed their ideological and financial agendas ahead of the needs of the American people. These faith leaders have attempted to roll back the rights of women to determine their own reproductive health. This is not acceptable. (December 2009, commenting on the efforts of supporters of the Hyde Amendment that prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortion)

Opposition to reform has transmogrified into something far deeper, far more elemental, though. Anger appears to be its salient feature. Racism and fear is at the core of the anger. (August 2009, commenting on opposition to Obamacare)

We believe health care is a human right. We affirm the interconnectedness of Creation.
We reject the notion that multi-million dollar executive compensation packages must be protected at the expense of health care for our people.
We reject the notion that predatory lenders can make payday loans with interest rates of more than 300% per year at the expense of health care for poor people.(June 2009)

As you can see, Winkler is neither the sharpest knife in the drawer (what do payday loans have to do with Obamacare??) nor an advocate of subtlety, but he is reliably, impeccably, dare we say almost obsessively left-wing, never flinches from twisting Scripture into a knot to make his political points, and has little if any demonstrated interest in the gospel of Christ as opposed to the gospel of this year’s Democratic Party platform. He will be the perfect face for the NCC, for as long as that hopelessly irrelevant, monumentally useless organization continues to be kept on life-support by its mindless backers in the mainline denominations.