BANGKOK, Thailand -- A ten-day meeting of the World Council of
Churches (WCC) ended in South Korea after expressing support for the
world's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community,
reunification of the war-torn Korean peninsula, African rape victims
and others.
"Some 5,000 Christians, representing more than 300 churches from more
than 100 countries" gathered in Busan from October 30 to November 8 at
the WCC Assembly which meets every seven years, the organization said
on its Facebook page.
In the WCC's closing prayer, South Africa's Father Michael Lapsley
mentioned his "Facebook friends" and said "God is not limited in the
way wisdom is delivered to the human family. For example, I regularly
read my NRSV Bible downloaded free on my Samsung phone."
Lapsley also expressed support for HIV-AIDS sufferers, African rape
victims, and honored "the Armenian genocide" of 1915.
"Today I want to say as a Christian, as a priest, to all the LGBTI
community, I am deeply sorry for our part as religious people, in the
pain you have experienced across the ages," Lapsley said, referring to
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.
"I have a dream that in my lifetime, I will hear all the leaders of
all our great faith traditions making the same apology," Lapsley said.
"Whilst we have been here in Busan, it was decided in Germany that
children could for the first time be registered as male, female, or
the space could be left blank -- an historic step towards relieving
and acknowledging the pain for those who are born intersexed or find
themselves to be transgendered.
"We know, as St. Paul taught us, that in Christ there is neither male
nor female," Lapsley said.
The WCC also broadcast messages on an Internet-linked video "news
program" including interviews with the Archbishop of Canterbury and
others, plus a report on the gigantic "Smoky Mountain" garbage dump
where impoverished people pick among trash to find items to recycle on
the outskirts of Manila, capital of the predominantly Catholic
Philippines.
"The Assembly took action by adopting statements and minutes on issues
including peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula," the WCC
said.
"The WCC brings together churches, denominations and church
fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the
world, representing over 500 million Christians and including most of
the world's Orthodox churches, scores of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran,
Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as many United and
Independent churches," the WCC said.
"At the end of 2012, there were 345 member churches. While the bulk of
the WCC's founding churches were European and North American, today
most member churches are in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin
America, the Middle East and the Pacific," it said.
--------------------------
Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco,
California, reporting news from Asia since 1978, and recipient of
Columbia University's Foreign Correspondent's Award. He is a co-author
of three non-fiction books about Thailand, including "Hello My Big Big
Honey!" Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing
Interviews; 60 Stories of Royal Lineage; and Chronicle of Thailand:
Headline News Since 1946. Mr. Ehrlich also contributed to the final
chapter, Ceremonies and Regalia, in a new book titled King Bhumibol
Adulyadej, A Life's Work: Thailand's Monarchy in Perspective.
His websites are:
Asia Correspondent
Flickr
(Copyright 2013 Richard S Ehrlich)
