ENI – “Ecumenism in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands is not dead, but it is seriously ill. It is so ill that, if I were to stay on, I too would get ill,” Rev. Wies Houweling said two days after announcing her resignation from the WCC central committee. She resigned from the main governing body of the World Council of Churches, saying the spirit of Christian unity in her own denomination is in crisis. Her decision followed the withdrawal of the denomination's development aid program, Kerkinactie, from United Civilians for Peace, a group working to promote an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Kerkinactie had gained a reputation of being “one-sidedly pro-Palestinian.”
