The World Council of Churches, home of anti-Western Marxist clerics-manqué, seems to have a new twist on the prosperity gospel: they are calling for a Gross National Happiness Index.

Now I know that the WCC has nothing to do with Christianity, but who could have anticipated this radical lurch in the direction of Joel Osteen?

The WCC Central Committee on Wednesday, 2 September adopted a statement on just finance and the economy of life. The statement notes that the global financial system has “enriched some people but has harmed many more, creating poverty, unemployment, hunger and death” and “widening the gap between rich and poor”.

“The challenge for churches today is not to retreat from their prophetic role,” the statement said, observing that churches “have also been complicit” in “this speculative financial system and its embedded greed”.

It cites the need for “a new ethos and culture which reflects the values of solidarity, common good and inclusion” and for “new indicators of progress”, such as the Gross National Happiness Index and Human Development Index. It calls on world governments to uphold their commitments to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and to take numerous other actions to bring about the needed changes.