Archive

From 10/2003:

Money Woes

According to UC News, "The UCC's national offices are projecting a $3.5 million shortfall in 2004." Based on 2002 budget estimates, the UCC could save over $3 million by eliminating the politics of Justice and Witness Ministries. We think the balance could then be paid off by selling advertising space on the UCC web site to Verizon (via Issue Dynamics Inc., of course). This would remove the prospect of cutting services to the local church and would leave retiree pension supplements intact.

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The pot calling the kettle black

We can't make this stuff up... from the People's Weekly World Newspaper article about the October 25th protest staged by "International ANSWER" (the same group  that is defending Slobodan Milosevic and supported Deng Xiaoping in the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989):

"The Rev. John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, told the crowd he was in Berlin on Sept. 11, 2001. “I took part in an enormous solidarity memorial service for the victims of the 9/11 attack,” he said. “They expressed compassion and caring and sang ‘We Shall Overcome.’ I am angered at the way we have squandered that good will in this immoral, unjust, and racist war.” Thomas said the Axis of Evil “runs the length and breadth of Pennsylvania Avenue."

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Sign of the times...

Robert Chase, director of the UCC's Office of Communication, Inc (and Baby Bell stooge) just signed onto the recent NCC statement decrying a Reuters decision to not run an ad from the United Methodist Church in Times Square because it is a religious organization. Just so we have this straight... it's not OK for corporations to restrict religious expression, but it is OK for the government to restrict religious expression?

Update: Reuters Reverses Decision, will carry Methodist Ad

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With friends like this...

The founder of the American Muslim Council, Abdurahman M. Alamoudi, was indicted on charges of engaging in illegal financial transactions with Libya and has been linked to Islamic terrorist groups. According to the UCC, contacting the American Muslim Council is one way to "to reach out to the Muslim community."

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You don't say...

"A few months ago I found myself feeling the need to write about honesty and how it is all too often seen as an outdated value which can be dealt with by spin doctors and those who would trivialize its meaning".

-Bernice Powell Jackson, Executive Minister for Justice and Witness Ministries, United Church of Christ... and top UCC Spin Doctor. In a few weeks, we will dedicate an entire page to Jackson's 'honesty'. In the meantime, enjoy this HONEST critique of her 9/15/2003 rant.

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Fact vs. Fiction

On the recently passed Washington D.C. voucher plan: "Like other privatization plans, the proposed voucher program would direct already scarce funding away from the majority of children to serve the few."

-UCC Justice and Peace Action Center

Fact: Under the bill, the D.C. public schools will also receive an ADDITIONAL $13 million dollars from the federal government. The public schools don't lose any money at all.

-Washington Post Editorial supporting the voucher plan

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What's good for the goose... (Part 2)

Once again, UCC.org arbitrarily removed an entire forum thread (UC News) from their website after a link to an article critical of the UCC (Amistad Challenge) was posted on the forum. From our observation, it seems that dissent is not welcome on the UCC website... this from a denomination dedicated to protesting just about everything, including Taco Bell.