NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES PRAISES AHMEDINEJAD

National Council of Churches praises Ahmedinejad (RJC)

Last month, representatives of the National Council of Churches visited Iran and met with Iranian President Ahmedinejad. Members of the delegation praised Ahmadinejad as a pious and witty man, according to a news release from the Anti-Defamation League. "Ahmadinejad comes across as a very religious man," said the Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, NCC's Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations. J. Daryl Byler, Director of the Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office, reportedly described Ahmadinejad as having a measured tone, seeming reasonable and having a witty personality. The NCC delegation included leaders from the American Mennonite, Quaker, Episcopalian, United Methodist, and other churches. While claiming to speak for millions of Americans in mainline Protestant churches, the NCC has long been an apologist for dictators and oppressors. It has a warm relationship with Fidel Castro. When Yasser Arafat died, the NCC sent a condolence letter to Ahmed Qurei saying, "President Arafat will be remembered for bringing the Palestinian people together and for his unique and tenacious contribution to the cause of establishing their national home," an unusual description of the father of Palestinian terrorism. In 2003,the NCC sent a friendly delegation to North Korea. That same year, NCC leader Rev. Robert Edgar met with Saddam Hussein's right hand man, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. A delegation of Americans purporting to represent US Christians and fawning over the Iranian president, who has vowed to wipe Israel off the map and whose country represents one of the most serious threats today to US security and Middle East stability, is a shame and a scandal.