Archive

From 10/2004:

Happy Halloween!

United Church of Christ celebrates by scaring voters

October 29, 2004 - The United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries is circulating an email alleging that the Republican party has "planned activities clearly intended to suppress the minority vote":

In recent days, there have been numerous additional and troubling reports of various efforts by state Republican officials to target minority voters and voters with disabilites (sic) for challenges. Reports are circulating of plans by the Republican party to intimidate voters through "background checks" on newly registered voters in Wisconsin and through plans to place Republican recruits inside polling places in Ohio to challenge "suspicious" voters. This is racial profiling at its most insidious level. These activities clearly have no place in a democracy.

At least in Ohio, the allegation is not true. James Hutchins, moderator of UCCtruths.com, volunteered to be an election day polling inspector in Cuyahoga County (which includes Cleveland, Ohio). In an open letter to Justice and Witness Ministries, Hutchins says:

"In the recruitment and training of poll monitors, I never once heard any suggestion that would imply that minority and disabled voters were to be identified, targeted or profiled. In fact, the focus is to be non-partisan and to offer assistance by ensuring that equipment is functioning (i.e. light bulbs, phones, voting devices), ensuring sufficient election supplies, monitoring for loitering or illegal campaigning and assisting poll workers if necessary. In the recruitment of polling inspectors, it was communicated to me that the goal was to have at least one inspector at every polling location if enough people could be recruited."

The Justice and Witness Ministries email does not cite or reference any source for the allegations.

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Philadelphia Inquirer: UCC 'Reportedly'

Considering Divestment

October 26, 2004 - From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

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Paper: "United Church of Christ an increasingly

divided denomination"

October 26, 2004 - From the Connecticut Republican-American:

The United Church of Christ may need to reword its logo, especially the phrase "That they may all be one," because that's increasingly not the case. Winsted Church of Christ recently voted to leave the denomination. Sherman Congregational Church and First Church in Wethersfield are gone, too. Torrington's First Congregational Church voted last year to cover up or erase all reference to the denomination from the parish's signs and letterhead. And after last weekend's vote by the denomination's statewide annual meeting to declare marriage a civil right to which homosexuals are entitled, "it's almost certain that there will be others," said the Rev. James Van Pelt, pastor of the United Church of Beacon Falls.

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Some in United Church of Christ

Considering Divestment

October 21, 2004 - As predicted, some in the United Church of Christ are considering divesting from companies doing business in Israel. According to the North Carolina Times today:

Corinne Whitlach, head of the Washington-based Churches for Middle East Peace, said some Methodists and United Church of Christ congregants want to consider divestment as well.

The Presbyterian Church recently decided to selectively divest from companies affiliated with Israel and a recent study by the Institute on Religion and Democracy highlighted the lopsided criticism in the human rights advocacy of protestant churches against Israel. Jewish leaders are alarmed by the recent decisions to divest from Israel and some Jewish groups have called the move anti-Semitic.

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UCCtruths.com - Part of the

'Vast, Right-wing Conspiracy'

October 18, 2004 - Chuck Currie must have been drinking bad punch this weekend. What else could explain his screed connecting this site to to the Institute on Religion and Democracy which he, in turn, connects to Richard Mellon Scaife (a la Ken Starr fame) and concludes:

They (the IRD) receive help from a small number of web sites (link to UCCtruths.com) and bloggers who share the conservative desire to reform their own denominations. These internet sites help spread the propaganda developed by Scaife’s IRD. We now know that the Institute on Religious Democracy (sic) is operated and funded by some of the most extremist political operatives in the nation.

Real spooky... kind of sounds like the 'Kevin Bacon Game'.

Apparently, when you use facts, it's a conspiracy. Chuck has his shorts in a knot because UCCtruths.com called out his buddy, National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar, for not being truthful in his response to the IRD report that claimed mainline churches were disproportionately anti-Israel in their human rights advocacy (read below). In that statement, Edgar claimed "only five NCC statements about Israel were issued during the period of the IRD's survey." We demonstrated in a simple Google search that Edgar personally made many more statements about Israel than he claims. If exposing the truth means we're part of the conspiracy... we're guilty.

Instead of doing any research on his own to disprove the comments from this site, Chuck would rather recycle press releases from the National Council of Churches. It's the same "yes man" mentality that we mentioned on October 7 that lacks any serious analysis of the issues.

Is the IRD in bed with Scaife? Maybe... but that's a pretty juvenile defense to the evidence presented by IRD's report.

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Connecticut Conference Passes

Gay Marriage Resolution

October 18, 2004 - The Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ passed a resolution at it's annual meeting this weekend in support of gay marriage. The vote was 390 - 138.

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More Connecticut Churches May Leave UCC

October 15, 2004 - Support of gay marriage may be a divisive issue again for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ. According to one report, more churches may leave the UCC if a gay marriage resolution is passed this weekend at the conference's annual meeting.

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NCC Leader "Blasts" U.S. News and World Report

Over Anti-Semitic Suggestion

October 15, 2004 - National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar accused U.S. News and World Report of "journalistic malpractice" in a statement released today in response to John Leo's column. The article, which appears in this week's U.S. News and World Report, is based on recent study by the Institute on Religion and Democracy highlighting the lopsided criticism in the human rights advocacy of protestant churches against Israel:

Overall, criticisms of Israel amounted to 37 percent of the 197 human rights criticisms offered by the churches during those years, only slightly higher than the 32 percent of criticisms leveled at the United States. The remaining 31 percent of criticisms were shared by twenty other nations.

In the carefully worded statement, Edgar claims:

Only five NCC statements about Israel were issued during the period of the IRD's survey, and several of those also criticized Palestinian leaders.

Edgar's statement simply isn't true. A quick Google search on the NCC website turns up numerous web pages with negative references to Israel and U.S. policy on Israel. There are literally dozens of web pages with statements and letters from Bob Edgar himself which are negative towards Israel although many of these statements offer mild criticism of suicide bombers. In spite of the numbers though, Edgar still doesn't address the disproportionate advocacy that doesn't fairly and accurately reflect human rights abuses around the world.

With the recent move by Presbyterian's to divest from Israel and with Episcopalians considering divesting from Israel, Jewish leaders are rightfully concerned about the obvious imbalance in the human rights advocacy of mainline churches. It would be a surprise if the United Church of Christ didn't also consider divesture at it's next General Synod.

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United Church of Christ To Participate in

Protestant-Jewish Summit

October 14, 2004 - Representatives of the National Council of Churches and other denominational leaders (including the United Church of Christ) will meet with Jewish leaders next week in a summit to discuss the growing rift between the faith groups.

The central issue between the organizations is the disproportionate criticism of Israel by mainline Protestant churches. The Presbyterian's recently decided to selectively divest from companies affiliated with Israel and a recent study by the Institute on Religion and Democracy highlighted the lopsided criticism in the human rights advocacy of protestant churches against Israel.

While both groups welcome greater communication, it doesn't appear that the summit will have an effect on the tension between the groups. Instead of conceding that they have been unfair in their criticism, it appears that Protestant leaders will try to change the focus of discussion and continue their divisive strategy by challenging the political support of Israel by conservative Christians:

Mainline Protestants want to help the Jewish community understand that even though they criticize Israel, they actually have a greater affinity for Jews than do pro-Israel Christian fundamentalists, (Shanta) Premawardhana (interfaith director of the National Council of Churches) said. He argued that the staunch political support for the State of Israel by Christian conservatives stems from their religious belief that Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus can occur only after Jews return to the Holy Land. In this fundamentalist interpretation, Jews either convert to Christianity or are killed at the End of Days.

Unfortunately, none of this addresses the relentless and disproportionate criticism of Israel. As the editorial from the Dallas Morning News pointed out earlier this week, it's difficult not to interpret the double-standard advocacy of Protestant churches against Israel as anti-Semitism.

The United Church of Christ has had it's own problems with anti-Israel advocacy that caused one Jewish publication to wonder "Is this neo-anti-Zionism not a genteel reincarnation of the old anti-Semitism?"

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UCC Office of Communication Calls for

Reinstatement of 'Fairness Doctrine'

October 13, 2004 - Gloria Tristani, the managing director of the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, raised concerns about the Sinclair Broadcasting Group's plan to air an anti-Kerry documentary before the presidential election to reporters at a press conference in Washington, D.C. today. In her statement, Tristani says:

"While Sinclair can order its 62 television stations to air the documentary, each station holds its license as a public trustee and is obligated to serve its community of license," Tristani said. But although media outlets and corporations have fundamental public interest obligations embodied in the Communications Act, nothing in current FCC rulings or policies would require Sinclair Broadcasting to give others the air time to provide a contrasting or balancing view, she added. "It is high time that the FCC, or even better, the United States Congress, reinstate the personal attack rule and the Fairness Doctrine," Tristani said.

The FCC's "personal attack rule" pertains to a station that broadcasts an attack on the "honesty, character, integrity or like personal qualities" of an identified individual or group during the discussion of a controversial public issue, the station must promptly notify the person or group who was attacked, provide a tape or summary of the attack, and provide an opportunity to respond. According to the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Sen. John Kerry has been invited "participate".

Tristani knows a few things about the political process: She was the 2002 Democratic Senate candidate from Arizona and was an FCC Commissioner. In 1998, the UCC Office of Communication praised then FCC Commissioner Tristani's vote to support the Fairness Doctrine. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington threw out the Personal Attack Rules in October of 2000.

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Dallas Morning News:
"Liberal churches have become irrationally
hostile to Israel"

October 9, 2004 - From the editorial pages of the Dallas Morning News:

Do the mainliners think Jews are exceptionally wicked? Absent latent anti-Semitism, it's hard to figure why these churches heap such wildly disproportionate opprobrium upon the Jewish state, while giving much worse offenders – including Israel's very neighbors – a pass. Criticism of Israeli policies may certainly be warranted, but when the double standard is so egregiously apparent, how can that be merely a coincidence?

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Edgar Fumbles on United Nations... Again

October 7, 2004 - National Council of Churches General Secretary Robert Edgar recently signed a letter to the Wall Street Journal titled "Why the U.S. Needs the U.N. More Than Ever" (subscription required). In the letter, Edgar actually raises the issues of Sudan, Iraq and Iran as examples of why the U.N. is relevant. From the letter:

In Sudan, the U.S. has turned to the U.N. to help mobilize international support to resolve the crisis and provide humanitarian assistance to victims. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Secretary of State Colin Powell have worked side by side to urge a more forceful international response to the crisis. Without the U.N., the U.S. would face the choice of doing nothing or intervening on its own. As always, the U.N. is limited by what its members are willing to do and the risks they are willing to take. The U.N. has the moral authority to focus global attention, establish consensus goals and summon the international community to respond. It does not, however, have its own army. Ultimately, nations must choose whether or not they are willing to answer the call. This is not a perfect world and the U.N. Security Council reflects those imperfections. Without the U.N. where would nations assemble to try to seek a common approach to this seemingly ever-growing series of humanitarian crises? The U.N. secretary-general cannot ignore any of these crises, but he can persist in the thankless task of urging members to work together to resolve the problems just as the U.N. has done on so many occasions over the past nearly 60 years.

The U.N. has failed miserably on Sudan - a fact acknowledged at length by Human Rights Watch in a release titled "U.N.: Darfur Resolution a Historic Failure". It should be revolting to anyone following the crisis in Sudan that Edgar would suggest that the U.N. has helped resolve the crisis in Sudan. In fact, some might argue that the U.N. has actually hurt the ability of willing countries to contribute aid and support for the victims in Sudan. The whole crisis in Sudan may not have been exposed had it not been for the persistence of the United States.

"The resolution on Darfur is a pitiful response to ongoing murder, rape and ethnic cleansing." Peter Takirambudde   Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division

In addition to Sudan, Iraq and Iran were also referenced by Edgar but are also widely considered failures of the U.N. Just today, a new report details the U.N. "oil-for-bribes" program. Also reported today by the Associated Press, Iran "said Wednesday it has processed several tons of raw "yellowcake" uranium to prepare it for enrichment -- a key step in developing atomic weapons -- in defiance of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency."

This is success? This is responsible commentary from the head of the largest ecumenical organization in the U.S.? In fact, Edgar's rhetorical laden letter doesn't state a single success of the U.N.

The failure of the U.N. also demonstrates the failure of the National Council of Churches and, ultimately, the United Church of Christ. They continually fail to find resolutions on the most critical issues of the day and often do not provide an honest witness to these critical issues. These failures happen because of the "yes men" culture that surrounds the UCC and NCC. If a few of the many good-hearted and well-intentioned members of these national organizations stood up and publicly questioned the logic of these issues, we might see real progress.