Jerusalem Meeting Probes Religious Leadership in Society
Episcopal News Service. February 24, 1994 [94031J]
The ethical problems presented by rapid developments in genetic engineering brought 450 church leaders from 97 countries -- including 50 heads of national churches or denominations -- to Jerusalem for a conference on Religious Leadership in Secular Society. "We cannot turn the clock back and we don't want to do so. But where change and innovation have no boundaries, it can only lead to confusion and chaos," said Rabbi David Rosen, chairman of the conference. Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey said that intolerant and insensitive Christian evangelism has victimized Jews and that anti-Semitism by some churches had contributed to the climate that made the Holocaust possible. "Genuine, loving and sensitive evangelism is essentially an invitation to see what I have seen and to taste what I have tasted. I am compelled to share the wonder of Christ," Carey said in a speech that was condemned by Orthodox Jewish leaders and Israel's ministry of religious affairs. Carey called for more candid interfaith discussions to weed out extremism, and to "recognize the proper limits of evangelizing."