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The United Religions Initiative (URI)....ONE WORLD CHURCH IS ON ITS WAY!!! The United Religions Initiative URI founded in 1995 by Episcopal Bishop William Swing, intends to create a spiritual equivalent of the United Nations, encompassing all "religions, spiritual expressions, and indigenous traditions." The URI Charter says that the organization's purpose is "to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation" and to "end religiously motivated violence;" they also plan to "create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings." The URI has support among some leaders of Asian religions (including the Dalai Lama), some liberal Protestants, and Reform Jews, dissident Catholics, and leaders of the state-run churches in China. URI activities have occurred in 58 countries on all continents, and in 33 states in the U.S. The URI claims that 1 million people participated in its 3-day global "religious cease-fire" from 31 December 1999 through 2 January 2000. The Vatican, the Eastern Orthodox, and Evangelical Protestants oppose the URI. The URI has friends and funding sources in high places-including George Soros, the billionaire currency speculator, and Richard Blum, the wealthy husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). URI allies include Mikhail Gorbachev's star-studded State of the World Forum, and the Earth Council-headed by Maurice Strong, a wealthy Canadian advocate of world government. The URI also enjoys tacit support or active cooperation from most other interfaith organizations, including the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, the World Conference on Religion and Peace, the Temple of Understanding, and the North American Interfaith Network. Despite the seemingly-benign goals of the URI, Christians should firmly oppose this movement. URI leaders and their allies repeatedly equate evangelism to manipulative "proselytizing" and violence. If the URI vision prevails, Christian evangelism based on the unique, saving identity and acts of Christ would be ruled out. As Bishop Swing says, "there will have to be a godly cease-fire, a temporary truce where the absolute exclusive claims of each [religion] will be honored but an agreed upon neutrality will be exercised in terms of proselytizing, condemning, murdering or dominating. These will not be tolerated in the United Religions zone-the whole world. URI leaders say "proselytizing" is the work of "fundamentalists," and URI board member Paul Chafee says, "We can't afford fundamentalists in a world this small." Despite the URI's insistent denial that it intends to mix the world's religions or start a New Religion, URI worship ceremonies and the writings of URI leaders point in that direction. At the 1995 interfaith service that launched the URI, "holy water from the Ganges, the Amazon, the Red Sea, the River Jordan, and other sacred streams" was mixed in a single "bowl of unity" on the altar of Grace Cathedral. Bishop Swing made the meaning of the ritual clear: "As these sacred waters find confluence here.may the city that chartered the nations of the world bring together the religions of the world." In June 2000, the URI Charter was signed in Pittsburgh at a gathering of 275 interfaith activists from around the world. Rowan Fairgrove-an avowed Wiccan long active in the URI-reported that this chant started in the URI conclave: "Gathered in here in the mystery of the hour/Gathered here in one strong body/Gathered here in our unity and power/Spirit draw near." At this meeting, Bishop Swing said, "This is the spirit's property.and no one owns it." Fifty years from now, people from all over the world will flock to Pittsburgh in tribute of this signing." The "spirit" thus invoked was left un-named. In The Coming United Religions, Bishop Swing has written, "The time comes, though, when common language and a common purpose for all religions and spiritual movements must be discerned and agreed upon. Merely respecting and understanding other religions is not enough." Since the purpose of religion is the service of God, Bishop Swing's call for "all religions and spiritual movements" to have a common purpose" is, in effect, a call for all to worship a common god. The URI's desire to "manifest love and justice among all life in our Earth community" does not extend to the lives of the unborn. Although URI documents denounce many of the world's evils, they say nothing against abortion or artificial contraception. Bishop Swing has likened "the insane expansion of population" to exponential growth of algae in a lake. Two high-level URI executives-Canon Charles Gibbs, URI executive director, and the Rev. William Rankin, the URI vice president-have signed a manifesto issued in early 2000 by the Sexual Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS). This "Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing" opposes "unsustainable population growth" and favors "blessing of same-sex unions," ordination of women, artificial contraception, abortion, and "lifelong, age appropriate sexuality education in schools, seminaries, and community settings." The URI promotes religious relativism, the notion that all religions are equally true and are equally paths to God. In The Coming United Religions, Bishop Swing illustrates this belief. Six lines represent the major faiths-Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and the indigenous religions; like multiple paths up a mountain, these lines converge from below on a single point, a divine "unity which transcends the world." At the top of the mountain are the esoteric believers from each faith, who "intuit that they were ultimately in unity with people of other religions because all come together at the apex, in the Divine. Everyone below the line would be identified as exoteric. These people in all religions would wed the form of faith to the content or final truth of their own faith. Thus, the forms of one's faith become absolutized because these forms, alone, are held to carry the truth." Christ, the Incarnate Word and the only Savior, is thus demoted to one of the many "forms of one's faith." Bishop William Swing, "The United Religions Initiative," document issued in April 1996 by the URI  Isaiah 42:8 " I am the Lord; that is my name! And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images." |
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9/15/2008 12:54 am |
The Mystery Whore of Babylon has been in the making for half a century. This is just one more piece in a puzzle that will accommodate every religion known to man but two: Orthodox Judaism and Christians who listen to the spirit of God. -DRM Without love, there is no life...
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DannyRay66 You got that right! The Spirit and the word agree together however. Isaiah 42:8 " I am the Lord; that is my name! And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images."
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meow33744 Keep on sounding the alarm Pete, time for sleepy Laodecia to wake up!  Isaiah 42:8 " I am the Lord; that is my name! And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images."
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