Archive

From 11/2003:

Two More Gone

Two churches from the Illinois South Conference have left the United Church of Christ. Saron UCC and First UCC voted to withdraw from the UCC over "irreconcilable differences in theology and doctrine between the churches and the UCC." How many churches need to leave the UCC before it becomes a crisis that needs to be addressed?

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Saving History

It's understandable how it happened, but let's hope the Navy and the UCC can amicably resolve a property dispute that pits a 60 year-old church against the Navy's desire to develop the property they own.

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See No Evil

While the United Church of Christ blindly cheerleads for the China Christian Council (the government controlled religious authority in China), more Christians are killed and arrested in China. The lessons of the 'Barmen Declaration' must only apply to white Europeans.

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Be Thankful

While we reflect on what we are thankful for, it's humbling to remember that there are others who need our help everyday. Helping others doesn't need to be political and it doesn't require assistance from Washington D.C.

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Church Politics... from a Politician

From Wesley Clark on BeliefNet:

One night I walked out of the church when the priest said that we should never have fought the Revolutionary war and every war was bad. It was 4th of July. It was an outrageously political statement. I just never felt right when people in the church would take these overtly political positions especially when I felt like I was a good Christian, I was serving my country, and I just didn't feel like I deserved to be lambasted by the priest on the 4th of July.

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Another One Gone

It's sad when it happens, but another church has left the United Church of Christ over "an increasing disagreement with the United Church of Christ's theological and social stands." Makes you wonder exactly what the "essentials" are that unite us.

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Saddam Apologists to Visit UCC

"This country [Iraq] needs to be ruled with firmness, you know. And this firmness needs a little bit of cruelty.”

-Amal Al-Khedairy on Iraq and Saddam Hussein, "Iraq's Bloody Summer", By Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, August 11, 2003

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The Connecticut Conference of the UCC is promoting a "Women of Iraq Tour". Amal Al-Khedairy and Nermin Al-Mufti will speak "about Iraq's culture, history, and people, and conditions now in the midst of war and occupation."

According to the Kurds, these women weren't exactly innocent spectators in Saddam Hussein's Iraq:

In fact, Nermin Al-Mufti was a propaganda hack for Saddam’s regime. Her weekly column appeared in Al-Thawra newspaper, the official mouthpiece of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party. Al-Thawra newspaper, the Pravda of Iraq, stopped publishing after the US liberated Baghdad. Ms Al-Khedairy was close to the public relations apparatus of the Ba’athist regime, hobnobbing with the top Ba’athist apparatchiks and received all the special privileges, such as permit to travel and buying luxury goods without paying taxes, granted only to top Ba’athist leaders. She assisted the regime by posing as an ‘intellectual’ mixing with foreigners and spinning the party line to the foreign media. Members of her family enriched themselves through their Ba’athist connections and by operating UN Oil-for-Food contracts on behalf of Saddam’s notorious sons, Uday and Qusay.

The Ba'athists will be at United Church on the Green on Wednesday, Dec. 10th 7:30 pm, 270 Temple St. in New Haven, CT. It would be great if a few folks showed up to ask them some appropriate questions.

UPDATE 11/25: While FOR talks about "understanding", maybe they can

help us "understand" this pictorial of mass graves that have been uncovered. WARNING: These pictures are unsettling and are not appropriate for children... and for those not interested in truth and "understanding." These are the victims.

UPDATE 11/24: The group promoting the "Women of Iraq Tour" is the

"Fellowship of Reconciliation" ("FOR") and they have issued a statement that appears to be a response to the criticism of the women's background... but the statement doesn't refute anything. In fact, the statement continues to promote the false witness of these women as victims of the war and not as shills of Saddam Hussein. It might help to remember that after World War II, we didn't parade Hitler apologists around the US. In fact, some of the elite beneficiaries of Nazi Germany were dragged out of their houses and forced to bury those killed in concentration camps. The release speaks of "understanding" as the beginning of peace. How about the truth as a foundation of peace?

UPDATE 11/19: Poster women for peace? San Francisco Chronicle

It's no accident that tour promotions don't question how the two women survived Saddam Hussein.

UPDATE 11/19: Iraqi scholars give talk, but credibility in question

But the women, who were advertised as advocates against "American aggression," may have had serious ties to the Saddam Hussein regime that was recently toppled by American and British military forces.

UPDATE 11/18: Just found this from a April 17, 2003 article in the New York Times:

"Amal al-Khedairy, whose home is in one of Baghdad's wealthier enclaves, walks amid rubble and shattered windows and ransacked remains of her home and cultural center she ran; war has dragged her from comfortable way of life under Saddam Hussein; she does not speak of compromises involved in running Baghdad's most luminous artistic center that flourished during Hussein's reign..." But even the NYT caught on... "Ms. Khedairy's anger may seem odd in a country where people were routinely tortured to death by Saddam Hussein." And then this gem: "We will kill them all one day, Rumsfeld and every one of them," she said, referring to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld."

Thoughts: Let's be clear about this... we are supposedly a denomination that holds great reverence for people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who sacrificed his life opposing Hitler and Nazi Germany, yet we honor two women who were shills for an oppressor like Saddam Hussein? Regardless of your opinion of the war in Iraq, this is just ridiculous.

Make a difference: According to www.forusa.org, supporters of "Women of Iraq Tour" include:

The Roger Smith Hotel in Midtown Manhattan

Kathleen K. Stahl Travel Services
Corporate, Executive & Personal Travel Planner
Telephone: 515-271-8091
Des Moines IA 50312
sandy@stahltravel.com

One way to be heard is to not patronize these companies.

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Thank You Vets!

It's not UCC related... but it's a creative and worthy cause.... go to HeroMiles.org and support our active forces today!

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UCC Goes Juvenile

The United Church of Christ's new fundraising campaign has hit a new low... they've published their own juvenile, politically loaded Ten Commandments which are now available online.

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What's good for the goose...

The United Church of Christ has been vocal in it's opposition to athletic teams that use Indian-related team names... and have even challenged free-speech by going after the newspapers that use the terms... yet, as of this posting, they are (and have been for some time) hosting their website on an APACHE web server.

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Kudos: Teach a man to fish...

Wish we could see more of this promoted by the UCC: Canned meat served in Iraq

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