Archive

From November, 2004:

Holy 'Halo 2'!

Dr. Jackson critiques violent video games

she's never seen

November 24, 2004 - Bernice Powell Jackson is one of five people that signed on to a press release identifying a "10 worst violent video game" list (that's her exact grammar).

From the release:

Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson, executive minister and officer, Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ, and president, North American Region of the World Council of Churches, said: "Our concern about these violent video games is not guesswork.  For example, there is ample evidence today that playing violent video games leads to increased aggressive thought, feelings and actions.  We also have considerable anecdotal evidence of the fact that parents don't understand the industry rating system."

It didn't take long for the gaming community to respond. From GameSpot, an online gaming community:

The games the group singled out as the year's " Worst Violent Video Games" (at bottom of the page) are all rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB and are not supposed to be sold to children under 17. Besides containing Postal 2 and Manhunt, which came out in 2003, the list also misspelled and misidentified a number of games, including "Gunslinger Girls 2"--presumably the import Gunslinger Girl Vol. 3--and Hitman: Blood Money, which won't be out until Spring 2005. The list also contained Shadow Hearts, which was released in 2001. Presuming they meant Hitman: Contracts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant, respectively, the rest of the coalition's list consisted of: Doom 3, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, and Mortal Kombat: Deception (which they spell as "Mortal Combat"). By Curt Feldman, GameSpot

Apparently, her observations are guesswork... some of the games listed were spelled wrong and one hasn't even been released yet. This shouldn't discredit her general conclusions about violent video games, but with so many violent video games on the market, why couldn't she have done a little due diligence before making references to material she is obviously not familiar with?

And while we're at it... lets set the record straight - Bernice Powell Jackson is not a "Dr." as she is inappropriately titled in this press release and in over 260 references on the internet. She received an honorary doctorate from Defiance College, a UCC-affiliated college in Ohio, in 1994. In this context, it's inappropriate for her to title herself as 'Dr.'

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United Church of Christ:

"...possession of a nuclear weapon is the best deterrent to a pre-emptive strike by the United States"

November 22, 2004 - Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ issued an action alert today criticizing the United States, and particularly Colin Powell, for releasing information "alleging Iran of secret weapons facilities". The alert suggests that Powell and an exiled Iranian resistance group, which is recognized by the State Department as a terrorist organization, conspired in releasing the information simultaneously. The alert goes further and states "In the new post-Iraq war world where possession of a nuclear weapon is the best deterrent to a pre-emptive strike by the United States, Iran's ongoing uranium enrichment program, ostensibly for power plants, is a tremendous concern." The backhanded concern for Iran's nuclear capabilities also appears to legitimize the use of nuclear weapons as a deterrent against the United States. In addition to the vulgar suggestion, many of the claims made in the announcement are either stated out of context or are all together false.

Click here to see a copy of the email and the misleading and untruthful statements in it.

Click here to see the announcement on the UCC website

11/23/2004 Update:

From the Message Boards - UCC contradicted by it's own sources:

Well, here's what we learn if we follow the provided links at JPA Net to "learn the facts" and try to read the Fallow's article at the Atlantic. "Throughout this summer and fall, barely mentioned in America's presidential campaign, Iran moved steadily closer to a showdown with the United States (and other countries) over its nuclear plans. In June the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran had not been forthcoming about the extent of its nuclear programs. In July, Iran indicated that it would not ratify a protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty giving inspectors greater liberty within its borders. In August the Iranian Defense Minister warned that if Iran suspected a foreign power—specifically the United States or Israel—of preparing to strike its emerging nuclear facilities, it might launch a pre-emptive strike of its own, of which one target could be the U.S. forces next door in Iraq. In September, Iran announced that it was preparing thirty-seven tons of uranium for enrichment, supposedly for power plants, and it took an even tougher line against the IAEA. In October it announced that it had missiles capable of hitting targets 1,250  miles away—as far as southeastern Europe to the west and India to the east. Also, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected a proposal by Senator John Kerry that if the United States promised to supply all the nuclear fuel Iran needed for peaceful power-generating purposes, Iran would stop developing enrichment facilities (which could also help it build weapons)." What part of that should we suppose they couldn't understand? -Richard Weinhagen

More comments on the message boards.

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Witness for Ignorance

November 22, 2004 - Bernice Powell Jackson can't leave soon enough. Her weekly column, "Witness for Justice" is again riddled with half-truths and misrepresentations that have characterized her career in the UCC. This week she is consumed with bitterness because she believes people were disenfranchised from voting. From wishing that polls were open earlier to one-stop voter registration, Jackson laments the failures of some election processes while conveniently ignoring the fact that a record number of people voted in this election, that voter participation wasn't this high since 1968 and that 14 million more people voted this year than in 2000.

In a departure from the accusations of racial profiling that Justice and Witness Ministries circulated prior to the elections (which were ultimately proven wrong), Jackson doesn't appear to claim that any of these failures were motivated by prejudice, rather she suggests that there are systematic problems with the election process. Regardless, Jackson misses an opportunity to celebrate the enfranchisement of an overwhelming number of new voters participating for the first time.

Jackson might find it educational to actually participate in the election process and learn a little bit about it before commenting on it. In her weekly rant, Jackson claims:

Here in Ohio, the Republican Party went to court to ensure that its challengers could be present in every precinct. The Democrats also filed to have challengers, but they filed for one challenger in every polling place. No political party should have the power to challenge voters in the polling place. Anyone who says that this is not voter intimidation denies recent history in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and many states across the South.

Jackson won't say it, but by press accounts, challengers did not present a problem for voters in Ohio. Although not an issue in the election, challengers from both parties could not and did not confront voters directly, instead, any questions about voter eligibility were raised only with the precinct judge - a dramatic and significant difference to the historical voter intimidation Jackson refers to. In addition, many polling locations in Ohio only contain one precinct so there is very little difference in the Republican and Democratic position on challengers.

But is all of this really about justice? Jackson is a bitter woman stuck in a generational time-warp that prevents her from being rational and truthful. While her weekly rant may be cathartic, she constantly misrepresents the truth. Hopefully, she'll find peace doing something else after she leaves the UCC at the end of her term.

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Two Presbyterian Leaders Canned After Meeting Terrorist Group Hezbollah

November 19, 2004 - In the wake of controversy following a vote to begin divesting from companies doing business in Israel, the Presbyterian Church has fired two leaders who met with Hezbollah last month on a "fact-finding" mission. Kathy Lueckert, deputy executive director of the church's General Assembly Council, and Peter Sulyok, coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, were part of a delegation that met with the terrorist group "to see what new initiatives there might be, what possibilities there might be for peace." Elder Ronald Stone, a member of the delegation, was seen on a Lebanese television station saying "We treasure the precious words of Hezbollah and your expression of goodwill toward the American people."

Hezbollah was responsible for the suicide truck bombings that killed more than 200 U.S. Marines at their barracks in Beirut in 1983 and they were responsible for the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, which featured the famous footage of the plane's pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head.

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Subtraction by Addition

November 17, 2004 - Another church is leaving the United Church of Christ... this time it's Trinity United Church of Christ of Winchester, Virginia which is merging with Congregational Christian Fellowship Church.

And for the "outsiders are stealing our church" conspiracy crowd... the pastor at Trinity, David E. Byers, is a Disciples of Christ trained minister.

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Still Confused

November 16, 2004 - Unsatisfied with their pre-election race-baiting tactics, Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ is "continuing to press for answers to the many reports of voting irregularities in this past election" in their latest Action Alert.

"Many reports"?

Similar to their allegations of racial profiling before the election, Justice and Witness Ministries again fails to cite any substantiated reports of "voting irregularities" in their alert. As usual, the alert is vague, lacks any facts and is ultimately insignificant... but it does serve as another example of how Justice and Witness Ministries is poorly managed and operated. A little oversight and honesty would go a long way.

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Conn. Conference Minister's Home Church Leaves UCC
Crabtree blames "outsider pastors" as reason church is leaving

November 12, 2004 - Connecticut Conference Minister Rev. Davida Foy Crabtree's home church, Northfield Congregational Church, has left the United Church of Christ because of 'doctrinal' differences.

In the article, Crabtree seems to suggest there's a conspiracy:

Crabtree said all the churches that are withdrawing because of these doctrinal wars have been pastored by clergy not ordained in the United Church of Christ. And, she added, "I don't think this is unintentional." While acknowledging she has no hard evidence of collusion, "I believe there are intentional efforts being made by individuals to identify churches that are vulnerable to this kind of influence and then to take them out of the denomination," Crabtree said. "I for one have reached the point where I'm not going to let it be unnamed any longer -- the kind of work that these outside pastors are doing in our midst."

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"Poverty and inequality are among the root causes of terrorism".

-Justice and Witness Ministries Briefing Book

Harvard Study: Poverty Does Not Breed Terrorism

November 9, 2004 - A new Harvard study debunks a popular myth in the UCC:

Alberto Abadie: 'In the past, we heard people refer to the strong link between terrorism and poverty, but ... when you look at the data, it's not there. This is true not only for events of international terrorism ... but ... also for the overall level of terrorism, both of domestic and of foreign origin.'

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Where do we go from here?

November 3, 2004 - Yesterday was a historic day in our country whether your candidate (or issue) was successful or not. Our denomination has never been more political than it was during this election season. It's hard to imagine that the lessons from the campaign will be absorbed by our denominational leaders who are blinded by their own self-righteousness.

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