World Council defended

Press, 9 May 1979, Page 22

World Council defended

The World Council of Churches had been, “seriously maligned,” by the news media for giving money to refugee camps run by the National Patriotic Front in Zambia and Mozambique, said the past executive secretary of the council (the Rt Rev. Dr A. A, Brash) recently. Speaking to Christchurch Rotarians, Dr Brash said that the Christian Church was “attacked, criticised and misunderstood,” when dealing with the poor and oppressed. Money from churches in Germany and Sweden had been, “earmarked,” for the Patriotic Front’s refugee camps and it had been passed on by the council, “to the great joy and scandal of the news media,” Dr Brash said. The news media had overlooked money given by the council to churches in Rhodesia, for war victims. Dr Brash said that in 1978, $85,000 had been given by the World Council to the Patriotic Front and SIM in the same year was given to “white churches” in Rhodesia for caring for war victims in their areas. The World Council of Churches was often accused of having Leftist tendencies, and of being a front for Communist organisations because of its work in countries behind the Iron Curtain. Dr Brash told the Rotarians that “not a penny” was spent by the council on violent or political activities. The council was not interested in politics but only in the Gospel, and in the care of people in need. However, if necessary the council would rather lose its reputation for impartiality so that it could remain e 6 fective in defending human rights in Communist countries, he said.