Archive
From December, 2005:
December 26, 2005
UCCtruths.com Top story of the year:
General Synod 25
|
General Synod 25 forever
changed our denomination on so many levels. In an ironic
way, the issues that received the most attention are
probably the least significant in the overall life of the
church while the issues that received the least attention
broke precedent and will have an impact on the future of our
church.
First, there was the "Equality in
Marriage" resolution which received a great deal of
attention inside and outside of the denomination. However,
the resolution didn't really break new ground - churches in
the UCC always had the power to marry gays (in states where
it is legal) or have church ceremonies that celebrate a gay
union. The 'EMR Resolutions' didn't change anything, it only
provided a platform of publicity which is really what the
crafters of the resolution were after - a platform for
making a political statement. Well, that political statement
has cost the church.
FaithfulAndWelcoming.org puts the
number of churches leaving the UCC since July at nearly 50
(the national office of the UCC, which is in a perpetual
state of denial, will only say that "at least 20" churches
have left). There is also talk that churches in Micronesia
will break their affiliation with the UCC as well as the
entire Puerto Rico conference over this political statement.
While churches leaving the UCC is significant and a
reasonable cause for concern, the reaction to the resolution
itself is only a symptom of the problems of our denomination.
The marriage resolution
wasn't the only thing that happened at General Synod 25 -
there were the resolutions on the conflict in Israel.
Originally, two |
|
Top
Stories
UCCtruths Poll Results
|
General Synod 'Equality in Marriage'
resolution |
30% |
|
Churches leaving the UCC |
13% |
|
General Synod divestment resolution
|
12% |
|
Lexington Confession |
8% |
|
General Synod 'Tear down the wall'
resolution |
6% |
|
UCC
conspiracy theories about why churches are
leaving |
6% |
|
UCCIB problems |
4% |
|
"God is Still Speaking" ad campaign
postponed |
4% |
|
GISS advertising controversy |
4% |
|
John Thomas statement on the new pope |
3% |
|
UCC disaster response (domestic and
international) |
2% |
|
UCC Wal-Mart campaign |
2% |
|
|
resolutions on divestment were
presented. An additional resolution on "selective investment" was
also submitted just before General Synod began. The committee that
was charged with studying these issues consolidated the divestment
and investment resolutions and, after days of deliberations and
study, proposed a single resolution that intentionally omitted any
reference to divestment. That's when things got ugly.
The night before the vote on the new
resolution, UCC President John Thomas (with Bennie Whiten, Jr.,
Peter Makari and Lydia Veliko) helped create a substitute resolution
that inserted divestment language back into the resolution without
consulting the committee that spent days studying the issue and
without the advice of the Pensions Board of the UCC (who would be
responsible for implementing any sort of divestment). The substitute
resolution was presented to the plenary of the General Synod 30
minutes before the beginning of the session. With less than an hour
of discussion, the General Synod approved the resolutions.
The consequences of the national
office (and particularly John Thomas) action at General Synod 25 are
enormous. As Mike Downs from UCC Pensions Board said in his
letter to John Thomas, questions
exist "with the precedent setting implications of voted actions,
integrity of process and trust. What will the process be next week,
next month or next Synod when an important matter with similar
complexities must be considered for action?" Effectively, the
deliberations of the committees at General Synod do not matter - if
the national office doesn't agree with their findings, they will
simply change the resolution. This is a violation of the spirit of
General Synod and it's violation of the national office role in
respecting the other covenanted bodies of the UCC. If the national
office can exert this kind of influence arbitrarily, does General
Synod really matter?
Finally, as the year began to wrap
up, the UCC Insurance Board (UCCIB) began having problems. After
changing CEO's and sending out mixed messages on whether or not
churches would have liability insurance, UCCIB settled on coverage
on December 13. The fallout is still being realized and UCCIB is
probably the leading story going in to the New Year. As many as 7
conferences (including the Kansas-Oklahoma conference) have opted out of the
new UCCIB program and new concerns are being raised about the
viability of UCCIB with a shortage of conference participation.
2006 is already shaping up to be just
as interesting as 2005. As more churches consider leaving the
denomination, will the national office have the humility to learn
from the past or will they continue making the same mistakes? Will
the national office begin respecting covenant as much as it expects
the local church and conference to respect covenant? Will the
national office stop blaming others and start taking responsibility
for some of the problems of the denomination? We know John Thomas
will spend January visiting other church leaders concerned about the
direction the denomination... will he take responsibility and offer
proactive solutions or will we see more ultimatums about "covenantal
responsibilities"?
It's our hope for the New Year that
John Thomas will stop playing games and start exercising leadership
by becoming less reactionary and listening better.
This will be the last post of the
year. Next year (next week), this site will have a whole new look
and design that will better facilitate users of the site and
(hopefully) garner more participation from a variety of people. I
want to thank everyone who has contributed their time to this site
and in particular, I want to thank Dexter Van Zile, Richard
Weinhagen and Don Niederfrank and the nearly 300 message board
members.
_______________
December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas!
December 21, 2005
UCC President John Thomas issues
statement on Iranian leader
UCC President John Thomas issued some
strong words in response to recent comments by Iran's leader.
John Thomas' statement:
| |
In recent days
the president of Iran, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, has escalated his
already abhorrent rhetoric against the Jewish people and the
state of Israel. Reprising commentary from the late
Ayahollah Ruhollah Khomeini that the state of Israel “must
be wiped off the map,” Ahmadinejad has continued by
suggesting that the Jewish Holocaust of World War II is a
myth created as a pretext for establishing a state for the
Jewish people in the Middle East.
The United Church of Christ condemns such discourse for its
violence and ignorance. Revisionist history of genocide
must never be accorded credibility among civilized people of
any faith tradition. Anti-Semitic efforts to rewrite evil
events – not new in history or unknown even in the United
States – endanger the Jewish people, disgrace faith
communities who perpetuate them or choose to remain silent
in their presence, and degrade the value of human life
everywhere. We have a responsibility to reject this
unacceptable rhetoric both in support of the Jewish
community and in solidarity with all people of faith who
desire peace with justice throughout the world. The United
Church of Christ has spoken often against anti-Semitism
through its Executive Council and General Synod (1983, 1987,
2001) and in local congregations in the past and will
continue to do so wherever it surfaces, and joins with its
ecumenical partners as they do the same. |
To those that closely
and honestly follow politics in Iran, the statements from
Ahmadinejad should come as no surprise. Iran's moderate leaders have
been puppets of an Islamist government and have been ever since the
revolution. The failure to recognize this popped up in
Evan Golder's
puff piece on Dale Bishop's travels to Iran back 2002 in UC News.
In 2004, UCCtruths
pointed out the gross misrepresentations from the UCC Justice
and Witness Ministries on Iran's nuclear program that actually
suggested that "possession
of a nuclear weapon is the best deterrent to a pre-emptive strike by
the United States" as if justifying Iran's nuclear program.
While the UCC national
office position on Iran seems to ride on the politics of the day,
lets hope that John Thomas' good comments reflect a change in
attitude about Iran's leadership.
Now... if he would just
apply the same scrutiny to Lydia Veliko's comments...
_______________
December 21, 2005
"Theology of
Suffering"
UCC Leader Rationalizes Deicide
Imagery
on Trip to Israel
In a shocking article about her
recent trip to Israel, Lydia Veliko, Ecumenical Officer for the
United Church of Christ,
defends Naim Ateek and deicide in the usual UCC leadership
double-speak: (For more on Naim Ateek and the Jewish response to
Ateek, please read our
September 26, 2005 article on Sabeel)
| |
I found it in 2003, and
find it now, excruciatingly hard to be a Christian in this
land. Our visit to Naim Ateek, founder and director of the
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, reminded me
how fragile are the relationships among people of faith.
Ateek is strongly criticized by both the Jewish community
and conservative Christians for his work to raise the plight
of Palestinians in international consciousness. In so doing
he uses imagery of the cross, as is customary for liberation
theologians and others. Centuries of charges of deicide
against Jews, a tradition of which Christians must – and in
many cases have – offered sincere apology with repentance,
have made it necessary for modern Christians to be very
careful about how we speak of the crucifixion, especially in
a land as holy to Jews as to Christians.
But as Christians we
cannot be asked to relinquish our theology of suffering,
known to us first and most powerfully in the death of Jesus,
because it is in our knowledge of where God is in suffering
that we understand both our own suffering and our guilt in
that of others. This is a part of what it is to be
Christian, and a part of the lens through which we see the
world. |
What is this nonsense - talking about
apologies and repentance and then defending that which we should be
apologizing and repenting for? Veliko's comments are disturbing on a
number of levels - but most importantly, her rationalization of
deicide based on our "theology of suffering" is not only inaccurate,
it is repugnant no matter what your opinion is of the conflict in
Israel.
We don't touch theology much on this site -
primarily because it is often used as a tool to hurt others -
especially by Christian Conservatives like Pat Robertson and Jerry
Falwell - and especially because, in the UCC, there is no single
theology or doctrinal standard. Because of this, Veliko's comments
do not ~and can not~ reflect the theology of the UCC. Her
theological rationalization is also a little bizarre - we shouldn't
be helping those who suffer because of the way
Christ suffered,
we should help those who suffer because of the way Christ
lived and lives through us now.
In spite of all of the problems we
see in the leadership in the UCC, we have never called for the
resignation of anyone - until now. Veliko's comments are so wrong
and so damaging that she must be called on to resign immediately and
without hesitation. As Veliko notes in her article, charges of deicide have been
used historically to harm Jews. No UCC leader has the right to
promote a theology that can be used to harm others and rationalizing
deicide this way does embolden those who would harm Jews. The UCC
leadership, and specifically UCC President John Thomas, must
repudiate Veliko's comments and immediately ask for her resignation.
****
As usual, any comments from the UCC
leadership on this issue are welcome and will be posted here -
simply email me.
There will be more comments from
guest writers on this topic throughout the rest of the week - stay
tuned.
_______________
December 19, 2005
POLL: What were the top stories of
2005?
Which story do you
think was the most significant to the UCC in 2005?
o "God is
Still Speaking" ad campaign postponed
o UCC disaster response (domestic and international)
o UCC Wal-Mart campaign
o Lexington Confession
o General Synod 'Equality in Marriage' resolution
o UCC conspiracy theories about why churches are leaving
o General Synod divestment resolution
o OC Inc. outdated
o General Synod 'Tear down the wall' resolution
o UCCIB problems
o John Thomas' statement on the new pope
o Churches leaving the UCC
o GISS advertising controversy
o Bernice Powell Jackson leaving
To vote, visit the
message board poll.
_______________
December 19, 2005
Communists uncover 'Christian
Fascist' conspiracy
The conspiracy theories coming out of
the UCC national office (and from some conference leaders) about
conservative churches 'stealing' UCC churches is finally making
sense - it's a conspiracy of 'Christian Fascists'. I could kick
myself for not understanding this sooner -
the communists have figured it all out:
| |
Yes, the Christian Fascists
have a systematic plan to seize control of what are called
the "mainline" Protestant churches, as well as the National
Council of Churches, and to transform them into fascist
strongholds. These churches have had a mainstream liberal
character for decades, and have been the churches of what
used to be called the "establishment"--the elite and upper
middle classes of most of the 20th century.
The takeover of these
institutions is a very strategic part of the chess game the
Christian Fascists are playing; this is a further effort to
remove any platform in society from which any dissent at all
against the new order can be mounted. In addition, the
Christian Fascists derive their claim to legitimacy from
their insistence that they represent "Gods word," morality,
and people of faith; this makes it all the more pressing for
these fascists to undercut, destroy and finally suppress
voices from the pulpit that counter that claim. |
But who is really being played like a
game of chess here? More from the communists:
| |
As communists, we do not
believe in gods, whether literal or metaphorical. Such gods
are not real, and belief in them ultimately stands in the
way of people figuring out how, by relying on themselves,
they can bring in a world without exploitation and
oppression (and without, therefore, the "need" for the
consolation provided by religion). At the same time, we can
and certainly do unite with religious people in various
struggles today, appreciating their contributions and
insights, and struggling with each other over these
questions as we unite for larger ends. |
So all this political /
religious gamesmanship is really about control. Makes you wonder
about the motivations behind the UCC conspiracy theories.
_______________
December 15, 2005
Networks, Children's programming
advocates, including the UCC's OC Inc., reach compromise
From
MSNBC:
| |
WASHINGTON -
The major cable and broadcast networks
reached an agreement with a coalition of
child-welfare advocacy groups Thursday that
could end the legal game of chicken being
played over children’s digital TV
regulations adopted by the Federal
Communications Commission last year.
The networks
had contended that the FCC acted unfairly
when it approved the digital children’s TV
regulations in 2004. The regulations become
effective on Jan. 1, 2006.
|
There is certainly room
in public debate over how network television programming effects
children, but how this concerns the UCC is not clear at all. As we
mentioned
a few
months ago, the Office of
Communication, Inc. (OC Inc. for short) is the media advocacy
arm of the United Church of Christ - a legacy of the UCC's fight in
the civil rights era when media options were limited to a few
television and radio stations where the programming didn't reflect
the ethnic diversity of the audience, primarily in the south.
But what does this rich
history have to with Children's television programming?
No doubt this compromise
will be touted as a victory by OC Inc. as it struggles for
legitimacy. We are in the midst of dramatic changes in technology
that offer more outlets for ~and greater access to~ communication
than could have ever been imagined when OC Inc. was created. The
fight has changed, but is this really our fight? What does this have
to do with the mission of the church? And finally, do we really want
religious institutions influencing government guidelines on
programming?
Sound off on the
message boards.
_______________
December 14, 2005
Church fire blamed on Advent candles
As a follow-up to the story we
reported last week, the fire at the Evangelical & Reformed United
Church of Christ in Waukesha, WI
was started by advent candles. UCC President John Thomas
visited the site to offer support this past weekend and a fund
to rebuild the site has been established:
Donations can be made at any of the
Waukesha State Bank locations directed to the E & R UCC Rebuilding
Fund.
Alternatively, donations can be mailed to:
E & R UCC Rebuilding Fund
Waukesha State Bank
PO Box 648
Waukesha WI 53187-0648
_______________
December 14, 2005
Christianity Today editorial:
"Some denominational splits are justified"
From the
Decemer 5, 2005 Christianity Today editorial:
| |
|
"But
look at Jesus' prayer in John 17,"
some say, "and how urgently he prays
that his disciples will be one."
Indeed, that is the reason we should
lament even the most justifiable of
church splits. But nothing in John
17 nor the rest of Scripture
suggests that oneness demands
institutionalized unity, certainly
not where unity of belief is
lacking.
The
paradox today is that biblically
minded Congregationalists, Baptists,
Episcopalians, Methodists, and Roman
Catholics experience more genuine
unity across organizational
boundaries than they do within their
own traditions. Many fail to
recognize that Christ's prayer for
unity is indeed being answered,
though the shape of that unity is
not what we had imagined.
This
is not to deny that in the long run,
we should seek greater unity among
the faithful. What that unity looks
like this side of the kingdom may be
subject to debate, but the goal
should not be. We continue to
applaud reformers in troubled
denominations where there is clearly
cause for hope. For example, United
Methodist courts recently upheld
orthodox practice (see "Deciding for
Orthodoxy," p. 20). But given the
crisis of some situations, we do not
feel a one-style ecumenism fits all. |
|
|
|
The Christianity Today
editorial also mentions the UCC specifically. Most of the churches
leaving the UCC seem to be leaving because of the General Synod
resolution on gay marriage - not over what we, in our denomination,
would call "the essentials". The problem, however, is the perception
that the gay marriage issue has eclipsed "the essentials" in our
denomination and, presumably, dissenting churches are blaming the
national office for it and believe it is irreconcilable.
Who is right?
Sound off on the message boards.
_______________
December 13, 2005
ADL: Divestment - One of the top
issues for Jews in 2005
From the
Anti-Defamation League:
| |
Mainline Protestant
churches, led by the Presbyterian Church (USA), launched a
campaign of divestment against companies doing business with
Israel. In one of a number of anti-Israel divestment
initiatives endorsed by Protestant denominations, the
Geneva-based World Council of Churches in February voted to
recommend that members "seriously consider" a policy of
divestment. The Anglican Church's international advisory
board followed with a vote in June, and leaders of the
United Church of Christ approved an "economic leverage"
resolution in July. |
We'll have more in our
own year-end wrap up in a couple of weeks, but clearly this issue
was one of the most important for the UCC as well as for Jews. The
way in which John Thomas and Bennie Whiten went around the
recommendation of the committee studying the divestment issue, the
national office essentially invalidated the discernment process of
General Synod - and ultimately made the General Synod process
worthless and meaningless.
_______________
December 13, 2005
Conspiracy or Incompetence?
When there's trouble, UCC leadership quick to blame others
UCC.org has an
interesting story about the new UCCIB liability coverage posted
on their web site this morning. As we reported last week, UCCIB,
after months of mixed messages, has retained liability coverage for
churches. Also from the
article:
| |
“Some churches have left
the program because they got concerned and alarmed at the
time getting away from the program, but we’ve gotten
hundreds of calls in recent weeks indicating their support
for the program,” (UCCIB Executive Vice President Kris)
Woods said.
“I have had a number of churches call and express grave
disappointment that professional carriers have been trying
to poach coverage away from our churches during very trying
times,” said Woods, who said that one insurance agent in the
western U.S. even started a competing program and began
trying to court customers away from UCCIB. |
Part of the reason churches and
conferences sought alternative coverage was because of the terrible
communication from UCCIB. Even after Bennie E. Whiten Jr. was hired
as interim executive director of UCCIB, they continued to send out
mixed signals about the availability of coverage. News about
insurance coverage is still not posted on the
UCCIB web site and the
UCC web site didn't
provide any information until
UCCtruths.com first reported on the problems in early October.
It's certainly possible that other carriers were "trying to poach"
churches, but it was the lack of leadership and poor communication
from UCCIB that opened the door for it, not a conspiracy by carriers
to poach churches.
This isn't the first time that
leadership failure in the UCC has led to conspiracy theories. Rumors
are still being circulated by national office and conference staff
of churches being lured away by other conservative churches since
the last General Synod. Instead of acknowledging the dramatic loss
of churches and finding ways of keeping churches in unity, some
national office staff and some conference ministers have chosen to
spread conspiracy theories.
At some point, leaders of good will
within our denomination have to stand up and say enough is enough.
_______________
December 12, 2005
Church not letting fire stop them
Church leverages internet to
communicate
This is a follow-up to the story
we posted last week of the fire that
destroyed the Evangelical & Reformed United Church of Christ in
Waukesha, WI. From
Greater Milwaukee Today:
| |
WAUKESHA - The
Evangelical & Reformed United Church of Christ may be an old
congregation that preaches traditional religious values but
in the wake of a fire this week, the church is turning to
technology to help keep people together.
Church officials have set up a Web site for members and
nonmembers to discuss the Sunday fire and any updates the
church might have on the investigation into the blaze. The
site is
www.uccwaukesha.org.
The site is drawing member inquiries even as investigators
continue to sift through the wreckage in an effort to
determine the cause of the fire which devastated the
downtown landmark. Investigators noted Friday they still
have no cause for the fire.
Rick Sasse,
Sussex, church council president, said Friday the site has
been drawing some attention.
"It is a kind of
bulletin board and its purpose is two fold," Sasse said. "It
is an opportunity to inform the congregation as well as to
field questions about the church without constant phone
calls."
Sasse said
"we’re trying not to give out information that cannot be
supported by fact. We want to be very cautious and this is a
form of rumor control." |
_______________
December 10, 2005
Public email to John Thomas on
representing the UCC
(This email was also copied to all
Conference Ministers)
I have followed the national office
commentary on Wal-Mart and I recently read a press
release which circulates a letter that you and a number of
other national UCC leaders signed that is addressed to the
CEO of Wal-Mart (http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=57842).
While I too have some concerns about
Wal-Mart's effect on our economy, your response, and the
response of other UCC leaders, is disturbing because of it's
representation of the UCC.
The letter you signed claimed that the
signers were "leaders of faith representing more than 1.3
million Americans". As you know within our polity, you can
not claim to represent the views of the members of our
denomination. In your tenure as President of the UCC, this
misrepresentation has happened a number of times. At some
point reasonable people have to wonder if this
misrepresentation is deliberate because it has occurred so
many times. I respectfully call on you to honor the covenant
we share within the UCC and to stop making representations
on behalf of our membership and to avoid participation in
activities that could be misinterpreted as representing the
membership of the UCC. This doesn't and shouldn't prevent
you from expressing your opinions on any issue. As a
denominational leader, you are probably called on frequently
for you insight on a variety of issues and you should be
free to express your views. However, great care must be
taken to make sure that your view is not interpreted as the
view of the UCC or it's members.
_______________
December 8, 2005
More on the Gaewski letter...
By Guest columnist Dexter Van Zile
For my money, Rev.
Gaewski is
expressing more than
disagreement
with BWF, ucctruths and the IRD, but is expressing
fear over the technology -- namely the internet -- that has allowed
these groups to gather information, disseminate information and
contact like minded people and organize. This fear is embodied in
the following sentence in which Gaewski writes: "Beyond the letter
from Bishop Ludwig, we believe that all local clergy should be very
aware of conversations taking place on the internet that take aim at
the integrity of our family of faith."
This is as much an expression of fear over changing power
relationships as it is an expression of disagreement. Gaewski's
letter could have been written at the height of the counter
reformation. The way I see it, the internet is having an impact on
church governance similar to the invention of moveable type had on
the church in Europe. Protestants like to portray the Reformation as
the Holy Spirit manifesting itself as an eruption of intellect and
conscience (which it was), but technology made this eruption
possible.
Click here to view rest of article
_______________
December 8, 2005
UCC vs. Wal-Mart Part II
An Anti-Wal-Mart group is
circulating a letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott from religious
leaders "representing more than 1.3 million Americans". The first
signatory on the list is our very own United Church of Christ
President, John Thomas as are other national office staff. The
problem is that John Thomas (or any of the UCC staff) can't
represent anyone in our church besides himself.
It's just another example in a long
list of John Thomas' blatant lack of respect for covenant. Each
local church in the UCC is autonomous and free to speak for
themselves on any issue they choose, not John Thomas. But that
hasn't stopped him or other national staff from misrepresenting
themselves and our denomination.
Thanks John for reminding us all why
this web site is so necessary.
_______________
December 8, 2005
UCCIB gets liability coverage
But how much is the cost of covenant?
From Bennie Whitten Jr., acting CEO
and President of UCCIB:
| |
At last there is good news to
report that is not ephemeral --- the general liability
insurance for the UCCIB Program will remain in force thru
Oct. 1, 2006 without any lapse in coverage. Specifics
addressing forms, coverages, limits, etc. will be coming
shortly through our Conference and Regional Agents. |
Whiten's letter doesn't
specify what the increase in costs will be. Some conferences are
speculating that year-over-year increases are expected to be as high
as 60%. During the uncertainty over coverage, many conferences
sought alternatives that would only increase costs 5-10%. Despite
the dramatic increases, the buzz is that most of the conferences
will go along with UCCIB for at least one more year in the interest
of keeping covenant.
_______________
December 7, 2005
D-Day for UCC Insurance Board
Meeting in Baltimore today could decide future of UCCIB
-
A number of conferences tell
UCCIB that December 15 is the deadline to settle on coverage...
or they will bolt for alternative coverage
-
Some key conferences will
leave UCCIB if liability coverage is not included
-
Board expected to roll out
complete coverage but at a much higher rate
Updates on the UCCIB metting will
be posted as soon as we get them
_______________
December 6, 2005
Maine Conference Minister
takes aim at UCCtruths.com
In a letter sent late last week to the
pastors of the Maine Conference, Conference Minister David Gaewski
took aim at UCCtruths.com in response to
a letter
issued by Bishop Ludwig of the Calvin Synod.
From Gaewski's letter:
First, thanks for the
publicity. Hopefully he'll publish the letter on the Maine
Conference web site with a
hyperlink to this site.
Secondly, this site has
nothing to do with Gaewski's letter or Bishop Ludwig's letter. I
have plainly
stated on this site that churches should not withhold OCWM funds
and this site has actively encouraged churches to remain in
covenant. In fact, even though many associated with this site were
aware of Bishop Ludwig's letter, we never published it or linked to
it (until now). This site is also not related in any way to the
other groups mentioned in the letter.
Thirdly, this site has
never taken a position on the same-sex marriage issue and we have
provided links to all views of the issue on our
marriage resources page.
Finally, this site has
not taken "aim at the
integrity of our family of faith". We have questioned the wisdom of
church leaders when their actions lead to further division of our
church and we have questioned the truthfulness of some of the
statements made by our church leaders when the facts contradict
them... but this site has never challenged our "family of faith".
Whether Gaewski wants to admit it or
not, our denomination has a number of problems and some would say we
are in a crisis. The failure of our national leadership, the failure
of General Synod and the failure of conference ministers to
recognize and respect covenant is at the root of these problems. All
of the issues that divide our denomination shouldn't be divisive. We
are bound by a polity that respects the local church first and
foremost. Specifically, that means that the local church should
decide for itself if same-sex marriage is right for them and is
consistent with the belief system of the local church - not General
Synod, not the conference and not the national office. Gaewski is
only kidding himself if he thinks John Thomas' prayer (referenced in
his letter) trumps the publicity generated by General Synod
which was interpreted to be denominational support for same-sex
marriage. Some might argue that the same-sex marriage issue (and
other divisive issues like it) should not have been raised at all
within General Synod if we really believe in the autonomy of the
local church to decide for itself about these matters. As defined by
our denomination's constitution, these issues are not our first
priority, they do not respect covenant and they certainly are not
more important than our unity in Christ.
_______________
December 5, 2005
Historic church burned down
From
CBS
channel 5 in Green Bay, Wisconsin (with video):
| |
(AP) WAUKESHA The
Evangelical & Reformed United Church of Christ, which was
built in 1891, was destroyed by fire Sunday night and early
Monday, authorities said.
The state fire marshal's office will lead the investigation
to determine what caused the three-alarm blaze at the
downtown structure, Battalion Chief Joe Vitale of the city's
fire department said.
Two firefighters sustained minor injuries and were treated
at a hospital, he said.
The town of Waukesha, town of Brookfield and city of
Pewaukee fire departments joined the city of Waukesha's fire
department in fighting the smoky blaze, Vitale said.
The Rev. James Gorman, the church's pastor, said it has
about 600 members. |
Jim Gorman is a friend
to many on our
message boards. Our prayers go out to him and his church family.
Additional coverage at
the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
_______________
December 3, 2005
Politically correct holidays
From the
Cleveland Plain Dealer today:
_______________
December 1, 2005
McDonalds is New Target for NCC
National Council of Churches opposes
industry self-regulation of farm worker justice in favor of
organized labor
|
You would think that a
Christian-based ecumenical organization that seeks justice
for migrant farm workers would welcome a fast food supplier
organization that wants to monitor worker conditions in
their supply chain, but that isn't the case for the National
Council of Churches. This morning, NCC General Secretary Bob
Edgar
released a statement calling on McDonalds to work with
Coalition
of
|
 |
Immokalee Workers (CIW) instead trying to monitor
suppliers themselves. From Edgar's statement:
| |
In June of
2005 the NCC wrote a letter to McDonald’s urging it to
follow Taco Bell’s lead and work with the CIW to implement
within its own supply chain the principles of social
responsibility established in the Yum! Agreement. Now
McDonald’s has announced it will be partnering with a newly
minted, grower-dominated initiative called SAFE (Socially
Accountable Farm Employers) rather than working with the CIW,
a human rights award-winning farm worker organization that
is internationally recognized for its groundbreaking work on
labor issues. Instead of throwing its substantial weight
behind the proven model of the Yum! Brands agreement that is
already benefiting workers, McDonald’s has chosen to lift up
SAFE’s anemic code of conduct, which was designed by growers
without worker input and does not address stagnant poverty
wages. |
This just looks like
more political games from Edgar. In October,
Edgar was roundly criticized by the United Methodist Church for a
politically loaded fund-raising letter that the NCC sent out.
Edgar's initial reaction to the criticism was to suggest a
conspiracy of "those who try to dilute our witness and mislead our
friends by suggesting that the National Council of Churches is a
partisan, left-leaning organization." After the UMC criticism, NCC
President Thomas Hoyt, said that
Edgar now “has acknowledged that the letter was sent from the
development office without proper review." Today's statement
about McDonalds is a continuation of Edgar's games. By not
encouraging the fast food industry to monitor the working conditions
of it's suppliers, Edgar makes it clear that this is not about farm
worker justice. Edgar should withhold his criticism of SAFE until he
see the results of their efforts and if this were really about
SAFE's "anemic code of conduct", he should have asked them to
make the standards stronger. Instead, this is just more of the same
games from Edgar.
_______________
Questions?
Comments? Email:
UCCtruths@yahoo.com
