NCC head takes his name off "Christian Declaration of Marriage," promotes gay unions "It's time for the Christian community in America to kiss and make up," National Council of Churches (NCC) general secretary Bob Edgar said to evangelicals back in July. But one of the first efforts to combine the efforts of the NCC with the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) since that statement has apparently ended in failure. Two days after backtracking on "A Christian Declaration of Marriage," a statement signed by leaders in the NAE, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Southern Baptist Convention, Edgar retracted his endorsement entirely. "I did not adequately consult with the 36 member communions of the National Council of Churches prior to agreeing to sign the statement," he wrote in an open letter to the other three signatories. "A number of the NCC member communions interpret the document more as a condemnation of same-sex unions than as an affirmation of marriage. The fact that the declaration omits mention of same-sex unions is taken by some as proof that all of the signatories disapprove of such unions." He then went on to suggest that "misinterpretation" of the document may lead to attacks on gays. In an address to the NCC's General Assembly, Edgar went so far as to apologize for ever signing the document and reaffirmed his support of same-sex unions. NAE president Kevin Mannoia tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he's "very disappointed" by Edgar's change of heart. "Early on in our discussion as a group, we determined this was a statement about marriage, not about homosexual relationship," he said. Edgar's move doesn't bode well for kissing and making up. "If affirmation of same-sex unions is the price ...