Editing New World Alliance (section)

=== External critics ===
Some critics focused on history and culture.  To political scientist Belden Paulson, the Alliance fell short partly because it was too far ahead of its cultural moment.<ref name=Paulson />  To Annie Gottlieb, author of a book about the mainstreaming of [[Counterculture of the 1960s|Sixties-generation attitudes and values]], the Alliance fell short because it did not sufficiently root itself in the mainstream culture, and in the immediately practical and viable.<ref>Gottlieb, ''Do You Believe'', pp.&nbsp;153–54.</ref>

Other explanations focused on the Alliance's processes.  Scholar [[J. Gordon Melton]]'s encyclopedia said the focus on consensus led to "extended meetings and minimal results" – which in turn led to dispirited participants.<ref name=Melton />  Even ''Aquarian Conspiracy'' author [[Marilyn Ferguson]] commented that the GC meetings, full of "intoxicating rhetoric" but little else, took their toll on one GC member.<ref name=Marilyn />  
   
Still other explanations focused on internal dysfunction. Belden Paulson noted ongoing "friction and personality struggles."  He also found it incomprehensible that the Alliance always seemed to be without money.  He finally concluded that the GCers with the most power were more interested in advancing their own organizations.<ref name=Paulson />

Some critics were skeptical about, or hostile to, the Alliance's transformational ideology.  Speaking on a panel with two Alliance GC members at an [[Association for Humanistic Psychology]] conference in 1982, political scientist [[Walter Truett Anderson]] rejected the concept of transformation.  He argued that it had become a cliché and that society was not going to transform itself totally or quickly. He added that its advocates were on the verge of becoming "what I think can rightfully be called a cult."<ref>Stein, ''Seeds'', p.&nbsp;137 (quoting Anderson).</ref>

The Alliance generated opposition among [[Christian right|conservative Christians]] who worried that [[New Age]] ideas were being spread under the banner of transformational politics.  For example, in her book ''The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow'', attorney [[Constance Cumbey]] warned that New Age ideas were being "synergistically enhanced by the parallel operation of networking organizations such as New World Alliance."<ref name=Cumbey>Constance E. Cumbey, ''The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow: The New Age Movement and Our Coming Age of Barbarism'', Huntington House, Inc., 1983, pp.&nbsp;64–65.  {{ISBN|978-0-910311-03-8}}.</ref>  In an anthology called ''The New Age Rage'', religious philosopher [[Douglas Groothuis]] said transformational initiatives like the Alliance were slipping New Age ideas into [[Democratic Party (United States)|U.S. Democratic Party]] politics.<ref name=Groothuis>Douglas Groothuis, "Politics: Building an International Platform," in Karen Hoyt and the [[Spiritual Counterfeits Project]], eds., ''The New Age Rage'', Fleming H. Revell Company / Baker Publishing Group, 1987, pp.&nbsp;97–98.  {{ISBN|978-0-8007-5257-6}}.</ref>