Archive

From February, 2004:

WANTED: Poster-child for Hate Crimes

Got this in my inbox from the UCC Connecticut Conference "JusticeTalk" email:

First, everyone should be supportive of the victims of crime... but how does an organization campaign for a victims rights issue if you have to hunt around for victims? We all know there are victims of all sort of crimes, but how does an advocacy campaign operate without already being in touch with the folks they are advocating for?

Secondly, it is really wrong to suggest that something could be "worked out" if someone underage can't get permission from a parent to testify. Certainly there are circumstances where the parent might actually be a part of the problem, but you still can't defy (or 'work around') the legal rights of parents.

_________________

State of confusion

Actually, this is from the state of Virginia:

“I may campaign for Nader, but I might vote the other way,” (Don) Prange (a UCC minister) said, adding he hopes Bush does not win Virginia, though no Democrat has won the state since 1964.

_________________

Believe it or not

It's not everyday you find a UCC church offering a firearms safety class:

Firearms Course Scheduled OXFORD - A Conservation Education and Firearms Safety course will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. on six consecutive Thursdays, beginning March 4, at Oxford United Church of Christ Congregational.

_________________

Illinois hospital loses tax-exempt status

The Illinois Department of Revenue has ruled that Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana is not a tax-exempt charitable organization, in part because of the hospital's "aggressive debt-collection practices" which raised questions about how well it served the poor and uninsured (a contingency for it's tax-exempt status). Another hospital in Illinois, the UCC affiliated Advocate Health Care, is also under similar scrutiny as a class-action lawsuit has been filed by a group of former patients who claim the hospital overcharged them because they were uninsured. Bernice Powell Jackson and others in the UCC have made the health-care crisis a justice issue at the national level, but have not made any public comment about the abuses at our own affiliated hospitals.

In a related story, Advocate is suing the Service Employees International Union (who raised the issue of abuse at Advocate) because of "defamatory" comments the union made about the hospital.

_________________

Faith and Politics

The "Clergy Leadership Network" has been pretty clear about their purpose: they want to remove President Bush from office. What they don't tell you is they are funded almost entirely by billionaire George Soros'  "Americans Coming Together" - a "shadow organization" that circumvents the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law by funneling unregulated "soft money" to interest groups. The Federal Elections Commission is now considering regulating this kind of campaign financing.

_________________

Pastor removed, cites race

Rev. Mary Martin was dismissed as pastor of Wallin Congregational UCC and her ministerial credentials have been suspended for one year by the Grand West Association in Michigan for a variety of reasons. She cites race as a reason for her dismissal:

However, she also cites changes in the church that she, presumably, was trying to implement as a cause for her removal:

One of the great things about the United Church of Christ is the autonomy the local church enjoys. That autonomy doesn't stop at the local church minister, rather, it extends to the membership of the local church. If Martin forced her own ideologies on the local church, then she should be scrutinized. If a majority of the membership dismissed Martin, the system clearly worked.

_________________

Bernice Powell Jackson: Thank you!

It's not a joke... The title for this week's "witness" from Bernice Powell Jackson is "The virtue of honesty." In a tribute to Bernice Powell Jackson, we've put together a "greatest hits" collection of her honesty. We also owe her some gratitude: If it hadn't been for her, this site might not exist.

_________________

Guffey: Do as I say, not as I do

UCC Associate General Minister Edith Guffey tells the Arizona Republic about the acceptance of gays:

Of churches that disagree, Guffey said, "I would ask them how they came to believe that women could have a role in church or that slavery was immoral. It seems very simple to me. I cannot imagine ever discriminating against a person.

It's worth noting that Guffey's own church, The Federated Church of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is NOT an "Open and Affirming" church.

_________________

UCC files appeal to deny WorldCom license

The United Church of Christ's Office of Communication, Inc has filed an appeal asking the FCC to reconsider allowing WorldCom to retain it's licenses. Rev. Robert Chase, Executive Director of OC, Inc., in a release, stated that "companies that manage U.S. telecommunications and internet facilities must operate in the public interest and maintain a corporate character that assures honest and effective stewardship of current and emerging technologies."

Chase is right - WorldCom shouldn't be allowed to operate under FCC licenses with it's well documented track record abusing the public trust. However, Chase has breached every standard of ethical behavior by not disclosing (or disclaiming) that his campaign is being financed by WorldCom's competitors or disclosing his relationship with lobbyists for WorldCom competitors as documented by national media.

Chase's "Character Counts" campaign is hypocritical and the UCC's failure to disclose or clarify it's relationship with WorldCom's competitors in the face of national media exposure is disgraceful.

_________________________

UCC Identity Problem

This has got to be an error... and there's nothing else on the web to confirm this... but from today's Cleveland Plain Dealer about the separation of church and state:

The UCC is fundamentalist???? If anyone has information about this - please email it in.

_________________________

UCC Theologian: Abolish Marriage

This might take awhile to fully digest.... from the Orlando Sentinel and the Associated Press (registration required):

Americans are starting to seriously ponder gay marriage, legalized by Massachusetts' highest court, and civil unions, enacted in Howard Dean's Vermont and several cities. The issue of same-sex couples could affect the 2004 elections and is part of the Episcopal Church's ongoing split. But those moral innovations may be only the beginning. Why not legitimize threesomes and foursomes? What about bisexuals, who are attracted to both genders? And why not abolish marriage altogether? Such eyebrow-raisers are posed by Marvin Ellison, the ethics professor at the United Church of Christ's Bangor (Maine) Theological Seminary, in Same-Sex Marriage?: A Christian Ethical Analysis, published by the United Church's Pilgrim Press.

_________________________

When the facts don't work, lie

If it were a TV show, it would be billed as "Fear Factor" meets "True Lies". Unfortunately, it's more dishonesty from Bernice Powell Jackson - a member of the UCC Collegium. Her weekly column, "Witness For Justice," has evolved into a fact-checking nightmare. This week's rant combines racism, Charles Pickering and the Patriot Act to paint a scary picture that would frighten any reasonable person. However, the article looks more like a Hollywood script than factual commentary. For starters, she states:

Scary, huh? What she doesn't tell you is exactly what the connection is between Pickering and the "Mississippi Sovereignty Commission" (the state-sponsored group that was committed to fighting integration in Mississippi). In 1972, as a State Senator representing Jones County, Pickering made a single phone call to a staffer at the commission to get information about a labor dispute in Jones County. If the truth doesn't matter, then It's OK to call this "his ties to the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission". What's further troubling is that his actual record on civil rights is not even mentioned. She won't tell you that Pickering testified in a criminal trial against the imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 and lost re-election as a result, she won't tell you that in 1976, while serving as chairman of the state Republican Party, Mr. Pickering hired its first black political staffer, she won't tell you that as a judge he threw out a civil jury award because he thought the jury was biased against an inter-racial couple and, she won't tell you that, against incredible odds, Pickering, as a private lawyer, defended a black man accused of robbing a white girl at knife point and won his acquittal after two trials. She also won't tell you that one of Pickering's biggest supporters is activist James Charles Evers (brother of Medgar Evers) who claimed in a Wall Street Journal Editorial:

The assault of the truth doesn't stop there - she then tries to link the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission to the Patriot Act without offering a single example of how the Patriot Act has been abusive.

Whether it's misrepresenting the health care coverage for Wal-Mart employees, distorting census data about black poverty or maligning Judge Pickering, Bernice Powell Jackson has a consistent problem with accuracy. Like many people, she prefers playing political games (communicating thought provoking themes and agendas) without much thought as to the full accuracy of her comments. While that might be acceptable behavior for a politician (who most people are naturally skeptical of), it should be unacceptable for a denominational leader who people rely on as an honest steward and witness.

_________________________