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"The report of my team was conclusive," Edgar said in a statement. "Juan Miguel Gonzalez is a loving and good father, and the grandparents and extended family wish Elian to be returned to them now. Rev. Bolioli and Rev. Campbell have told me that this is the just solution and that the boy should be returned home to his family who love him."

In a statement issued during the Havana visit, Dr Campbell said the fact that the maternal grandmother wanted the boy to be back with his father "tells you everything."

Campbell added that she felt there was "nothing programmed about this. This is just a simple family coming together in a time of trouble. You can feel that. It's hard to communicate it because it sounds too rote. But it's very real. I couldn't see any governmental influence in what was said. In fact, it would be impossible to get such a diverse and large group to speak and act in such a natural and touching way.". At least one commentator has publicly criticized the NCC over the issue. Writing in the Washington Times, a conservative newspaper, Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley said the NCC did not "represent American Protestants, and has long served as a lobby for the Marxist dictatorship of Fidel Castro."

"The National Council of Churches should drop its religious affiliation and register as an agent of the Cuban government" Billingsley wrote in a commentary on 10 January about the NCC entitled "National Council of Castro's friends." (The NCC has previously worked in partnership with the Cuban Council of Churches, has criticized the 40-year-old US economic embargo against Cuba and has provided Cuba with relief and humanitarian assistance.)

Edgar said he was not surprised by such criticism. Such opinions would not, he said, alter the council's work or its position on the Elian Gonzalez case.

"Make no mistake," Edgar said in a statement. "The National Council of Churches is unequivocally in favor of reuniting the boy with his father and closest family members. This child needs his father and he needs him now. He must be taken home."

Copyright © 2000 Ecumenical News International. Used with permission.

For continuing coverage of the Elian Gonzalez controversy, see Yahoo!'s full coverage area on Cuba.

See yesterday's Associated Press story and earlier BBC and AP articles on the NCC's involvement in the case.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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January (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44