The World Council of Churches Central Committee meeting in Geneva approved a resolution deploring the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and urging the United Nations to investigate Saddam Hussein's crimes as well as any "war crimes" committed by "occupying powers," including the "illegal resort to war."

The action last week by the largest ecumenical church coalition in the world was criticized by the Institute on Religion and Democracy.

"The WCC here is showcasing the same moral blindness it showed for years during the Cold War, when it repeatedly was unable to distinguish the democratic West from the Communist bloc," said Diane Knippers, president of the IRD. "Of course, Christians can disagree about the best means of dealing with a tyrant and aggressor like Saddam Hussein. But this Central Committee statement equates the liberators of Iraq with those who murdered, raped, imprisoned and robbed from millions of Iraqis for decades. Such a vacuous attempt at moral equivalence is, in fact, immoral."

The WCC bills itself as "the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is Christian unity."

The WCC represents more than 340 churches, denominations and church fellowships in 100 countries and territories throughout the world.

At the meeting last week, the WCC reaffirmed "its conviction that the war on Iraq was immoral, ill-advised and in breach of the principles of the UN Charter." The Central Committee condemned "the invasion and occupation of Iraq by foreign forces as an act of aggression in violation of the United Nations Charter and International Law."

In addition, it "requests the relevant UN mechanisms to promptly investigate, gather any evidence of violations of human rights of the previous regime, war crimes and crimes against humanity, violations of international humanitarian law including the illegal resort to war, and to prosecute all such crimes."

"Does the WCC think itself even-handed for wanting investigations and prosecutions of both Saddam Hussein and President Bush?" asked Knippers. "Would the WCC have wanted Winston Churchill tried at the Nuremburg trials along with the Nazi leadership? After all, Britain did declare war on Germany first."

The WCC also deplored the "invasion and occupation of Iraq by foreign forces as an act of aggression" in violation of international law, urged the occupying powers to pay "reparations" to the Iraqi people, and called for the "immediate" withdrawal of the occupiers.

Members of the WCC Central Committee include representatives from major U.S. denominations such as the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and others.