Archive

From May, 2004:

Clergy Leadership Network still missing

The Clergy Leadership Network appears to be dead: A dismal turnout for their national meeting, a fundraising deficit and their website has been pulled down for 3 weeks except for a message that claims they are updating their site.

It's one thing for political candidates to seek the votes of the faithful, it's an entirely different matter when the clergy themselves are actively campaigning against a candidate, as the Clergy Leadership Network has been doing.

The failure of the Clergy Leadership Network is a success for democracy and for the separation of church and state.

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UCC Minister Busted

Interim UCC pastor Jack McMullen, Jr. of St. John's United Church of Christ in Strykersville, N.Y., a convicted sex offender, faces misdemeanor charges after parole officers found pornography on his computer.

From WIVB in New York: "McMullen had been convicted for sexual abuse of an underage girl. Church members did not learn that until his arrest a few months ago, and the news still troubles them." From WROC in New York: "The 56-year-old lives in Genesee County.  He is a convicted sex offender, but the church never did a criminal background check."

The church members are troubled? They should be since they dropped the ball by not conducting a background check. Doesn't the conference also have a responsibility to check the backgrounds of ministers in the UCC? Chime in on the message boards with your thoughts.

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United Church News in Trouble

Robert Chase, director of the UCC's Office of Communication, Inc. and Publisher of UC News, is looking for financial support for the monthly paper after declining revenues from "Our Churches Wider Mission" (OCWM).

Our suggestion: Since Chase already worked with Verizon lobbyists in trying to block WorldCom's transfer of long-distance licenses, maybe he should get them to pony up for some advertising.

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Lessons from Lt. Ellis

Last month we mentioned that Army Reserve Lt. David Ellis, a UCC minister and chaplain for a military police battalion, returned from duty in Iraq. Yesterday, he got to march in the Dalton Massachusetts Memorial Day parade with his father, a World War II veteran. He also talked about what he learned in Iraq:

David Ellis also spoke at Main Street Cemetery, where ceremonies took place at the mound of the unknown dead. This year's ceremony was dedicated to troops currently engaged in hostilities throughout the world. Ellis told those gathered in the cemetery about a remark that the commanding general of the Iraqi air base at Talil told his battalion when they took him prisoner. Ellis said the general told them that the Americans would win the war, not because of their weapons and troops, but because they would win the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq. "I will never forget those words as long as I live," Ellis said. "An enemy general has reminded me what ultimately will make the difference. He had come to believe in the things that America stood for: honor, justice and compassion." Ellis also said he was "angered" and "sickened" by the atrocities committed by military policemen to prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. But Ellis also said he had seen acts of decency and compassion carried out by American troops in the town where the prison is located. "It's stories like that you do not hear," he said. "I lived them. I witnessed them. "The quiet battles of the war in Iraq are the things that will have the most enduring effect," Ellis added. "They will win the hearts and minds of the people of that nation. They will provide them with the determination to live by the standards of honor, justice and compassion. "May we live our lives determined to uphold these values."

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Religious Liberty?

The mayor of Chicago is trying to relocate two cemeteries to make room for airport expansion... to the discontent of the cemetery operators. One of the cemeteries, St. Johannes, "is operated by the United Church of Christ, which believes, declares its lawyer, that bodies should be moved only on Judgment Day." The lawyers also believe this is a "religious liberty" issue.

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Clergy Leadership Network Gone???

No one is saying anything, but the Clergy Leadership Network has been showing a fundraising deficit and their web site has been down for 5 days...

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Finally! NCC Speaks Out on Sudan

The National Council of Churches Executive Board passed a resolution  encouraging "urgent intervention" in Sudan. While we should be grateful that the NCC is speaking out on the matter, the resolution is a mixed message. The resolution encourages the U.S. "continue to press the Sudanese government to bring to a halt this unfolding horror and to support appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian, conflict resolution and peace enforcement efforts by the United Nations to these ends." The resolution also "called upon the international community and non-governmental organizations to investigate and monitor reports of crimes against humanity being committed in Sudan."

Monitor "reports of crimes"? That's urgent intervention?

As noted here a couple of weeks ago, the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission in Geneva already passed a measure to send a monitor to the region. The U.S. delegate voted against the measure because the measure wasn't preventative at all. The U.S. has been virtually alone in pressing Sudan about the ethnic cleansing of black Sudanese.

While probably well-intentioned, the NCC resolution --essentially calling on the U.N. to do what it's already doing-- is weak and lacks any actionable substance. It's a shame.

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Clergy Leadership Network Meeting a Bust

The Clergy Leadership Network meeting in Cleveland this week fizzled. According to the Plain Dealer:

There are a number of reasons why the event was a failure. While the leaders of the group will undoubtedly put their own spin on the event, this failure exposes some of the fundamental problems with the Clergy Leadership Network. The philosophy behind the group was to counter groups like the Christian Coalition and the religious right... not out of a profound sense of creating a positive political influence. At the core, the movement is more about removing George Bush from office than providing an alternative religious voice. The low turnout, is not a reflection of support for George Bush, rather, it is a rejection of those who want to leverage religion to influence an election.

Update 5/19: The Clergy Leadership Network website has been virtually dead for two days.

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Politics and Faith

From Andrew Sullivan's latest column in Time Magazine:

You only have to look around the world to see what happens when politics and religion become fused. Politics suffers; faith is corrupted; the space for personal conscience is erased.

Is he talking about the United Church of Christ? No, he's talking about the Catholic Church and the stance of some Bishops who want to refuse communion to some based on their public stance on abortion... but what's the difference?

From UCC General Minister and President John Thomas last year:

Photographs of soldiers receiving Holy Communion before going into battle make me more than a little uneasy. It's not that I doubt the sincerity of their faith or the integrity of the chaplains who minister to them. Far from it. Nor would I demean what is going on by judging it as a blessing of war. Our soldiers are taking risks every day, and are entitled to the care of the church. Nevertheless, something terribly incongruous is happening here. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel challenges us to think about the relationship of our worship and our ethics. "Prayer is meaningless," he wrote, "unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, and falsehoods." What is the meaning of prayer, liturgy and sacrament if these means of grace do not challenge the violence in our world, in whatever form we may experience it?

Thankfully, John Thomas doesn't have the authority to dictate who can receive communion in the church any more than he can speak for the church on political matters... but his train of thought is just as disturbing as the Bishops in the Catholic church.

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Clergy Leadership Network Meets

The fledgling Clergy Leadership Network is meeting in Cleveland this week... but you wouldn't know it from the media. Nothing was mentioned on the local news and a small article appeared in the Plain Dealer. Even with the minimum coverage, the group's theme remains the same:

Perhaps not, but they certainly are in the pockets of billionaire George Soros, whose group "Americans Coming Together" is the primary backer of the CLN according to the Center for Public Integrity. In spite of the contribution, the group appears to be functionally bankrupt - as of April 15, 2004, the Clergy Leadership Network had expenditures of $79,237 while only bringing in $51,570.

Of note from the meeting: Presidential candidate John Kerry was on the original agenda to speak, but it appears he couldn't fit it into his schedule. Sen. John Edwards will be speaking today at 11:30am. You wonder if the expected turnout of 150 people was the reason for the Kerry snub. Former UCC President Paul Sherry is scheduled to speak on "A Faith-based Social Vision on Jobs-Education-Health-Poverty".

The whole purpose of the Clergy Leadership Network is pretty fuzzy. After years of complaining about the political activities of groups like the Christian Coalition, the religious left wants to fight fire with fire. It's also worth wondering what message is being sent by hosting a meeting about jobs and poverty at one of the most expensive and ostentatious hotels in downtown Cleveland.

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UCC Minister Resigns Over Plagiarism

The Rev. Robert Hamm has resigned as senior minister of United Church of Christ in Keene (New Hampshire). From the Portsmouth Herald:

I don't know what the appropriate rules are for clergy lifting elements of other sermons to incorporate into their own... but I assumed this was a common practice. Comments or opinions? Go to the message boards.

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The Evils of War, Indeed

Bernice Powell Jackson never misses a beat to link everything bad in the world to racism... and she continues again in her weekly rant linking the torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners of war to racism:

Today, a video has surfaced showing the beheading of Nick Berg, a civilian U.S. contractor, in response to the torture of Iraqi prisoners. The execution is being linked to Osama bin Laden associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

From Bloomberg News:

Five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks stood over Berg, 26, and put a large knife to his neck. A scream sounded as they cut his head off, shouting ``Allahu Akbar,'' or ``God is great,'' and then they held the head before the camera, AP reported.

As bad as the torture of prisoners is, rational thinking people will take comfort that, unlike Nick Berg's executioners, we have a system of justice that appears to be working and an investigation of the matter started long before the public disclosure of the atrocities. Some of our people did commit horrible crimes - and they will be prosecuted - a very real distinction from the racism of our past.

The point will no doubt will be lost to Jackson. Who knows, maybe in next week's rant she'll link the Amistad revolt to the al Qaeda insurgents in Iraq.

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Now the NCC wants the U.N. involved in Iraq

The National Council of Churches is now calling on the United Nations to take over Iraq. While most people want some U.N. involvement, especially as the transition to democracy begins, it's ironic because it was the NCC that opposed U.N. imposed economic sanctions prior to the war. While the U.S. has made itself an easy target for criticism with the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, the U.N. doesn't have a good record either. The highly bureaucratic body was slow to react to the genocide in Rwanda, refused to react in the Balkans and has been slow to condemn the ethnic cleansing in Sudan... not to mention the Iraq "food-for-bribes" scandal that is currently under investigation. There are no easy answers, but the international community should be encouraged to participate and to support the transition to democracy. Faith communities should do the same.

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Local UCC Churches Challenge Advocate Health Care

As noted on this site in January, the UCC affiliated Advocate Health Care was investigated by the Illinois Attorney General who has since filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief (April 16) on behalf of low-income patients who filed a class action lawsuit against Advocate Health Care. Now, the Chicago Metropolitan Association of the United Church of Christ is considering a resolution calling on Advocate to change it's billing practices.

While the matter is best handled by the local association, the national office of the UCC has been silent on the matter, choosing instead to politicize the health care issue. This could be an opportunity for the national office to provide a true witness to the health care crisis by directly addressing the concerns at Advocate.

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