Derick,
This might help explain some of the view points you will encounter.  God
help us when the churches of today are so compromising that they act like
this.  These folks no doubt began with good intentions of unity and
non-separation from worldliness until they were engulfed by it.  It's still
happening today.  This is the logical end result of ecumenicalism and unity
at the expense of TRUTH.

 
The World Council of Churches concluded its 9th Assembly in Brazil.

Methodist Bishop Adriel de Souza Maia, President of the Brazilian National
Council of Churches, said he wanted the WCC to counter the forces of
"religious fundamentalism." One workshop at the WCC Assembly was dedicated
to the Umbanda spiritist religion, which features the channeling of messages
from spirits. An Umbanda priestess who called herself Mother Aguida Guiomar
Pires led the workshop. 

Though the mutirão workshops were "unofficial," all of them were endorsed by
some church body related to the WCC, according to mutirão coordinator Faautu
Talapusi. At a workshop on human sexuality, Erlinda Senturias, a Filipino,
said any sexual act that is done with an attitude of love and respect is
morally legitimate, regardless of whether it occurs in marriage. When a
young Irish man in the audience asked whether it was acceptable for him to
engage in sexual relations with his girlfriend, Senturias replied:  "A
sexual experience is a spiritual experience; if it is done in a spirit of
mutual respect and love, it is a very beautiful experience--whether you are
married or not." At the same workshop George Mathews Nalunakkal, a Syrian
Orthodox priest from India, warned against appealing to the Bible and
objected to statements that "reflect a rather negative anthropology, where
man is seen as a 'fallen' creature and sin is sexual."

Taken from D Cloud's Friday News
March 10, 2006