|
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) - The world's biggest group of Christian churches criticized the use of military forces to fight terrorism Thursday, and denounced both the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim rage they unleashed.
Wrapping up a wide-ranging conference, the statements underscored how the World Council of Churches increasingly wants to exert its influence into areas separate from its basic mission — seeking greater unity among Christians.
But the 10-day meeting — the largest gathering of Christian denominations in nearly a decade — also showed the limits of the WCC, which has no real lobbying power and can only urge its nearly 350 member churches to support public policies on topics as diverse as relations with Muslims, nuclear arms and efforts to battle AIDS.
|