Archive

From September, 2004:

NCC Attempts to Respond to IRD Report

September 28, 2004 - The National Council of Churches has responded to the blistering report by the Institute on Religion and Democracy on "Human Rights Advocacy in the Mainline Protestant Churches". But it's not much of a response... it doesn't challenge any of the facts that IRD is reporting. Instead, it tries to dismiss the report by painting the IRD as a politically motivated group - which it could very well be - but so is the National Council of Churches. Politically motivated or not, at least the IRD report is rooted in an analysis of facts - something which is completely missing from the NCC response.

As usual, this point is completely missed by denomination cheerleaders like Chuck Currie, whose purely political blog (if you consider a site that's full of recycled copy that lacks any original thought a "blog") doesn't refute any of the points made by IRD.

Update: Excerpt from Christianity Today Weblog:

The NCC also accuses the IRD report of bias. "The ideologically conservative IRD cannot claim to have produced an objective report, having among other things used another ideologically conservative group, Freedom House, as its barometer on human rights." Freedom House's table of freedom ratings, however are not ideologically driven. Countries such as China, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia, which IRD reports are not criticized by mainline churches, are widely regarded as human rights violators and are mentioned by other human rights groups such as Amnesty International. Calling the report "fatally flawed" because Freedom House is used as a standard does not address the fact that these countries are known for human rights violations and have received no formal NCC criticism.

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The Spin Doctor Is Back

September 27, 2004 - It's been awhile since we mentioned Bernice Powell Jackson's name in this space, but she's given us plenty to work with this week.

Her weekly rant is titled "Protecting the secret ballot" and feigns concern that military personnel may be disenfranchised because they may be given the option of voting by fax and email.

The idea, as proposed, gives those serving in the military the option of using email or fax instead of mail to vote. However, no one is disenfranchised or deprived of any rights since they still have the traditional option of sending in their vote by mail.

Since the premise of her conspiracy theory is completely dismantled by some simple facts, you have to wonder why she would want to limit the options that military personnel have to vote.

Could it be that Jackson doesn't want the military to have additional voting options?

How ironic is it that Jackson, who frequently mentions the disenfranchisement of black voters, would actually want to block additional options for military personnel to vote?

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IRD To Issue Report on Human Rights Advocacy

September 24, 2004 - On September 27, the Institute on Religion and Democracy will release an extensive report critical of human rights advocacy by mainline U.S. Protestant churches and related ecumenical bodies - including the National Council of Churches.

Of note, from the report:

The results showed that over one-third of all church criticisms of human rights abuses were aimed at a single small nation: Israel. Slightly less than one-third were aimed at the United States, and the rest were distributed among twenty other nations. Only 19 percent of the church criticisms were aimed at nations deemed "not free" in the 2004 Freedom House assessments. Many of the countries rated lowest by Freedom House-such as China, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia-were not criticized even once. Of the fifteen worst human rights abusers listed by Freedom House, only five received any criticism during the four years studied.

This is similar to the criticism we have leveled on the United Church of Christ. The selective nature of their advocacy is suspect and opens up debate on whether or not UCC leaders are anti-Semitic.

When the issue has been raised in the past, the usual response is that the UCC national office does not have the bandwidth to advocate on every issue in every country.

Fair enough, but when the advocacy is so disproportionately against Israel, what other conclusion can be drawn?

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UCC Still Working With Telco Lobbyists!

Just over a year after the Washington Post revealed relationship, UCC still maintains unethical ties

September 23, 2004 - In spite of an apparent conflict of interest that was exposed by a Washington Post investigation last year, the United Church of Christ still maintains a working relationship with a telecommunications lobbying firm, Issue Dynamics. In addition to the documented links in the Post article, last week's ironically named "Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture" was cross promoted and organized by the UCC and Issue Dynamics.

Last year, the UCC aggressively campaigned against the transfer of assets from WorldCom to MCI which, if successful, would have destroyed the company. The Post article identified links between the UCC and Issue Dynamics, a Washington D.C. based lobbying firm headed by Sam Simon,  whose clients include MCI's biggest competitors. In fact, one of WorldCom/MCI's biggest competitor, Verizon, conceded in the Post article

Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe confirmed that IDI (Issue Dynamics, Inc.) is working for the telephone company. "We are happy to support groups that have similar views as ours, and Sam is bringing us together," Rabe said. -Washington Post, June 20, 2003

that Issue Dynamics was working for the the regional telephone company in it's campaign against WorldCom/MCI. While Verizon also admitted that a "funding pool" that was supported by other companies existed, neither the UCC nor Issue Dynamics have disclosed what other companies backed the campaign. The unethical relationship and the lack of disclosure prompted Charles Lewis, executive executive director of the Center for Public Integrity to say "These are people who are trying to influence the public debate and also the legislative process, and they have an obligation to do so in the light of day" in the Post article.

Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan research group, said organizations such as IDI should disclose their backers. "These are people who are trying to influence the public debate and also the legislative process, and they have an obligation to do so in the light of day," Lewis said. -Washington Post, June 20, 2003

Perhaps not so ironically, Robert Chase, director of the UCC's Office of Communication, Inc. (which petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to block the transfer of WorldCom's federal licenses), serves on the board of another "advocacy" and lobbying firm headed by Simon, the Telecommunications Research & Action Center. Both also serve as co-chairs of the United Church of Christ / OC Inc.'s Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture Planning Committee, which, according to the Washington Post article, operates out of Simon's building.

Chase's obvious relationship to Simon raises logical questions about the United Church of Christ's involvement in petitioning the FCC, namely:

• Did the United Church of Christ / OC Inc. receive any financial support from Issue Dynamics Inc. to wage a campaign against WorldCom?

• Is the United Church of Christ being used as a vehicle to eliminate a Baby Bell competitor?

• Has United Church of Christ / OC Inc. ever raised the same corporate responsibility issues with the former Baby Bells, themselves the subject of similar scrutiny?

At the 24th General Synod of the United Church of Christ in July 2003, a resolution was presented titled "Theological response to corporate greed" which specifically dealt with the WorldCom issue. Prior to the General Synod, questions similar to those raised on this page were raised in the online General Synod forum. At no point did the UCC respond to the questions raised in the online forum and no questions were raised on the floor when the resolution was presented for a vote.

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Damra Gets Prison

Update... Judge revokes Damra's citizenship

September 20, 2004 - Rev. Stephen Coates of Brunswick United Church of Christ said he was innocent. Church historian and missionary associate for the Global Ministries Board, Rev. Barbara Brown Zikmund called him an "inspiration". Today, he's more widely known as an Imam that lied about his connection to terrorists. Palestinian-born Fawaz Damra, leader of the largest mosque in Ohio, was sentenced today to two months in prison and four months of house arrest for lying about his connection to terrorist groups.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

On Feb. 5, 1993, an FBI agent investigating international terrorism visited Imam Fawaz Damra at his Cleveland mosque, hoping to learn more about a group of Muslim radicals in New York City. Do you know El Sayyid Nosair, the man accused of assassinating the founder of the Jewish Defense League? the agent asked the young cleric. No, Damra answered, according to court documents. How about Mahmoud Abouhalima, one of Nosair's friends? No, Damra replied again. Three weeks later, on Feb. 26, 1993, a truck bomb exploded beneath the World Trade Center. Nosair, it turned out, had helped the bombers, and Abouhalima had master minded the scheme. And by year's end, Damra had conceded to the FBI that he knew them both.

The Imam was profiled in a January 2002, UC News article that claims he was "transformed" from his past at a UCC-related seminary.

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Behind The Curve?

September 13, 2004 - An interfaith, candlelight vigil on the crisis in Sudan will be held in Canton, Ohio next week and apparently it's intention is to draw attention to the crisis. (Note: If someone doesn't know there's a crisis in Sudan by now, what makes you think a "candlelight vigil" will do much good... but if it makes you feel better...) Of note from local news coverage of this vigil:

(Rev. George) Roberts (of Church of the Savior United Methodist) said at least two American organizations, the National Council of Churches and Action by Churches Together, have been working on the crisis since July. “Locally we’re ahead of the curve, but nationally we’re behind,” Spitzer said.

Actually... the National Council of Churches has been way, way behind on addressing the crisis in Sudan. The United States government has been very aggressive for some time trying to draw international attention to the crisis and made some rather dramatic moves at the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission in Geneva in April.

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Riverside Church Criticized by Americans United

September 11, 2004 - Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate New Birth Baptist Church in Miami for a Democratic Party rally held at the church and has sharply criticized the Riverside Church in New York City for a speech given there by former President Bill Clinton on August 29th:

Americans United also criticized—although it stopped short of asking for officials to investigate—an Aug. 29 speech by former President Bill Clinton at the famously liberal Riverside Church in New York City. Clinton's speech, which was timed for the beginning of the Republican National Convention in New York, was highly critical of Bush's policies. However, Clinton did not directly endorse Bush’s Democratic challenger, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Riverside Church is dually affiliated with the American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ. “The difference between the Florida and the Riverside cases is that you in Florida, you had the chairman of the Democratic National Committee basically telling people how to vote—not just criticizing the shortcomings of a candidate,” Lynn said. “Bill Clinton's speech ... came right to the edge of the cliff, but stopped short of a direct candidate endorsement.”

Barry Lynn, head of Americans United, is also an ordained UCC minister and is often criticized himself for targeting traditionally conservative churches and not liberal churches.

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The Fuzzy Line Between Politics and Church

September 7, 2004 - Bill Wineke, of the Wisconsin State Journal, chimes in about the fuzzy line between church and politics... with some commentary about the state of "mainline churches":

The "mainline" churches are no longer the mainline. They are laying off staff, moving their national headquarters from New York City to cities like Cleveland, cutting budgets and discussing mergers. I think I know why: It's not because the country has somehow become more conservative, though that may be part of the reason. I think the reason is that the voice of the liberal church is no longer exciting. The message of the Christian gospel is "good news!" News is surprising. It is unexpected. It insists that you stop and take it into account. Think about the Republican National Convention this week: John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani seized our attention because we didn't know what they were likely to say. Well, it's that way with preaching, too. If I already know what my church is going to say about any given issue, I'm not going to pay too much attention when it says it.

He is, of course, describing the United Church of Christ which was headquartered in New York City before moving to Cleveland. The UCC is trying to spruce things up with the "God's still speaking" stuff... but besides the regular cheerleaders in our denomination, it's tough to find anyone that really buys into the slogan. People are rightly uncomfortable when anyone claims to speak for God and the contrived slogan is made more transparent when (by miracle of miracles) God happens to agree with everything that UCC President John Thomas believes and says.

In line with Wineke's comments, the slogan is new, but the message is still the same... and the only thing that's news to the folks in Cleveland is the declining number of members.

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XX Complaint Filed Against UCC XX

UCC Site Links to Partisan Voter Registration Site

September 3, 2004 - A complaint against the United Church of Christ has been filed with the Religious Freedom Action Coalition over a UCC website that links to a highly partisan website to register voters. The complaint alleges that the links violate IRS regulations on non-profit organizations.

The complaint alleges that the website, OurFaithOurVote.org, contains multiple links to a voter registration site at WorkingForChange.com.

The UCC's own documentation on OurFaithOurVote.org acknowledges partisan support or opposition of a candidate is prohibited:

There are no restrictions on educating church members about election year issues and promoting discussion of public policy. However, your church is prohibited from expressing its support for or opposition to any candidate during the discussion of issues and policies if it wishes to maintain its tax-exempt status.

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