Archive

From November, 2005:

November 25, 2005

Cleveland Imam to be deported

Damra called "inspiration" by UCC historian

past at a UCC-related seminary. From the UC News article: Damra himself admits raising money for "oppressed" people like the Palestinians, but says he has never knowingly supported terrorist organizations and always has cooperated with federal investigations.

In 2002, church historian and missionary associate for the Global Ministries Board, Rev. Barbara Brown Zikmund called him an "inspiration".

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November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving

Former UCC pastor honored for his giving

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Click here for complete story

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November 16, 2005

More UCC Insurance Board confusion

Churches AGAIN receive mixed messages about coverage

One thing is certain - Rev. Bennie Whiten's start as acting CEO of the UCC Insurance Board is off to a very bad start. In the last week, two different messages from Whiten have only lead to greater confusion about liability coverage. Initially, local churches were told that their liability coverage through UCCIB would end on November 30 and that the reasons, in part, were due to financial losses from the hurricanes... without explanation of how liability coverage relates to property damage which property insurance would normally cover. Now Whiten has sent out a new message that "coverage has been extended through 12/31/05, giving the IB time to finalize the liability coverage for the coming year." Certainly this is a challenging time for the insurance board, but the mixed messages are only adding to the confusion and it has more local churches questioning UCCIB. More discussion and reaction on the message board...

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November 15, 2005

UCC Insurance Board in crisis: No more liability coverage

The UCC Insurance Board and UCC conferences have begun telling congregations that they will need to find an alternative carrier for liability coverage as of December 1. The insurance board cited "hurricanes and other recent losses" as the primary reason for not being able to offer the coverage. According to the UCC/IB email "the property, worker's compensation and auto coverage are secured, but the general liability and professional liability expires 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, December 1, 2005."

I'm not sure what a hurricane has to do with liability coverage ~I thought that was what property insurance was for~ but then again, I'm not an insurance agent.

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November 14, 2005

The United Church of Christ vs. Wal-Mart

The United Church of Christ has undertaken another short-sighted "awareness" campaign in the name of labor unions disguised as social justice, wrapped in rhetoric and short on hard facts. This time the target is Wal-Mart.

According to UC News, Ron Stief, head of the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries office in Washington D.C., "at one time, the largest U.S.-based corporations — such as General Motors — paid living wages, offered comprehensive benefits and provided for retirement. 'People need to compare Wal-Mart with General Motors and ask, 'Where is our nation going?'"

Stief is either incredibly disingenuous or incredibly stupid. First, there is a dramatic difference in the business model of an auto manufacturer and a retailer. Everything, including cost structure and distribution, is completely different.

Secondly, the skill of the labor force is distinctly different. As capable as they may be, the senior citizen greeter at Wal-Mart giving my kid a sticker as we walk in is not going to be assembling car engines any time soon. It's also incredibly insulting to the line worker at GM.

Then there's Edith Rasell, "the UCC's minister for labor relations and community economic development" who claims "the time has come for the UCC to very visibly support the right of [Wal-Mart] workers to organize for a higher standard of pay and benefits". It's strange that we don't see Wal-Mart workers pouring into the street to protest their oppressive wages.

Finally there's UCC President John Thomas who rhetorically asks "Does Wal-Mart really support strong, healthy families with its employment practices?" The same could be asked about pastor salaries and benefits in the UCC, but that's a different topic for a different rant.

The simple fact is that there are over 1 million apparently happy employees who were not coerced into working for Wal-Mart. According to the Wall-Street Journal, 90% of those employees receive benefits either through Wal-Mart or some other source. In addition, traditional part-time workers at 34 hours per week are considered full-time at Wal-Mart.

What is Wal-Mart's real effect on the economy? It's a great question that involves many factors including Wal-Mart's leveling effect on inflation. Because of Wal-mart's size relative to the economy and their strategy of reducing prices, it's been argued that Wal-Mart has actually absorbed inflation at a time when you would expect to see soaring interest rates with fuel prices increasing so dramatically. Low interest rates have also fueled home ownership which is at an all-time high in the U.S. All of these things need to be considered.

On the flip side, others have raised serious economic concerns about Wal-Mart. There's a Fast Company article titled "The Wal-Mart You Don't Know" that details how Wal-Mart is able to leverage their size to lower the price of the products it sells and the effect that is felt by suppliers.

Ultimately, the concerns raised by the UCC and others about Wal-Mart are not new. As Brink Lindsey, an economist with the Libertarian Cato Institute says,"Every single major advance in mass retailing has produced firestorms of protest. When Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward started the mail order business… rural retailers went crazy because of the unfair competition."

Which leads to a bigger question about why the UCC has attached itself to this issue. Making conclusions about what constitutes a 'moral economy' that relies on anecdotal stories without really looking at the full economic impact of Wal-Mart hardly sounds moral.

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November 9, 2005

Rabbi Korn: 'Liberation Theology' Threatens Interfaith Work

Rabbi Eugene Korn, Director of Jewish Affairs at the American Jewish Congress, has an article in the Jewish Exponent that plainly states that the UCC's relationship with Naim Ateek and the Sabeel Center for Liberation Theology is an extremely serious issue and a barrier to interfaith work between Christians and Jews. From the article:

This crisis has only been compounded by the UCC General Synod's passage of a divestment resolution this past July. Prior to the General Synod, the Executive Director for the American Jewish Congress, Neil Goldstein, implored UCC President John Thomas to reject the proposed divestment resolutions. Instead, John Thomas participated in getting divestment language inserted back into a resolution that the committee studying the issue had removed. With the UCC's sponsorship last month of the Sabeel divestment conference in Toronto, John Thomas and the leadership of the United Church of Christ have not only seriously harmed our relationship with Jews, they have made it difficult for conference ministers and local ministers to work with local Jewish leaders.

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November 8, 2005

(Credit: Missouri Mid-South Conference Picture)

Thomas helps raise $6,000 for church camp... the hard way

We regularly give UCC President John Thomas a very rough time for his handling of the General Synod divestment issue and his conflict management skills, but we have to give him credit for helping raise $6,000 for Camp Mo-Val in the Missouri Mid-South Conference during their Biennial Meeting in Washington, Missouri. For a fee, participants had the opportunity to drench the UCC President. The complete story is at the Missouri Mid-South Conference web site.

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November 7, 2005

Please help Crossroad Ft. Wayne Children's Home

Founded by the Reformed Church (predecessor to United Church of Christ) in 1883, the Crossroad Ft. Wayne Children's Home provides some incredible services for emotionally troubled youth. The center is still supported by a number of UCC churches. There are a number of ways you can help and their web site has a 'wish list' of items they need.

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November 6, 2005

Crabtree comes unglued, blames internet for "misinformation"

More unnecessary innuendo from Connecticut Conference Minister Davida Foy Crabtree:

Outside of the national office leadership, Crabtree has been the biggest instigator of rumor and innuendo about church stealing in the UCC ~ all the while scapegoating her failure as a conference minister after losing the largest church in her conference and then losing her own home church. Instead of assuming some responsibility and trying to find ways to build relationships, she has chosen the path of blaming everyone else.

Here, in the quoted post above, she talks about "misinformation" but doesn't talk about specifics. Last November, after her home church left the denomination, she said "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. 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."

But she doesn't name names... she just keeps spreading rumors and innuendo. The conspiracy theories are getting tiresome and she simply doesn't have the credibility to make these assertions without offering more information. If she wants to state her case here - we'll give her all the space on this homepage she needs.

She shouldn't blame the internet - she should blame herself.

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November 4, 2005

It's in our blood

According to ExploreFaith.org... UCCtruths.com is "a fascinating, 21st century symptom of the traditional Protestant identity."

Never really thought of it that way... but it sounds OK.

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November 4, 2005

UCC television ad shelved until March

According to UC News, the planned UCC television advertising buy has been postponed until March of next year. It's a surprising and unexpected move. The announcement a few weeks ago of the possible cancellation was perceived as a publicity stunt here because of the surprise $1 million grant from Local Church Ministries. Clearly, it wasn't a stunt. Despite opposition to the campaign, this should be a disappointment to everyone in the denomination.

It's not likely to happen but we can hope that the delay might give the national leadership some time to reconsider the wisdom of a national branding campaign ~or at least give it a different form.

Most members who understand our polity also understand that we are a diverse denomination which makes our identity difficult to communicate in a 30 second television advertisement. With only 40% of churches signing on and with fundraising unable to support it, it's clear that the campaign has not generated broad support.

This shouldn't be the end of the campaign... but it does need a makeover.

Before going any further, a thorough review of the campaign's objectives, costs and results should be evaluated. Instead of moving ahead with a national branding campaign, perhaps a new campaign can emerge - one that keeps the focus on  the strength, energy and real diversity of local churches... and maybe more churches would sign on and financially support it.

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November 3, 2005

Divestment - The Great Presbyterian Hoax

Israpundit cuts right to it:

It doesn’t take 5 years to divest. In practice, you simply call your broker and instruct him to sell all your holdings in Caterpillar, Motorola, United Technologies, ITT, Industries and Citygroup [sic]. In less than a month Presbyterian honor would have been upheld. Their shares would have been sold and their money safely banked. But no shares whatever have been sold during the past 5 years! And you know what? None might ever be sold according to an Arutz Sheva report (Oct. 14, 2005) quoting Reuters: “The Presbyterian Church has not yet carried out its decision to get rid of investments in targeted companies, and a church spokesman told Reuters that "we're not in a hurry." He explained that divestment only is a last resort, depending on whether Israel carries out further expulsions of Jewish residents from Judea and Samaria.” Of course, nothing of the kind was mentioned about “last resort” or expulsions of residents from Judea and Samaria when the campaign was launched in year 2000.

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November 1, 2005

World's largest gay and lesbian church votes to affiliate with the United Church of Christ under a cloud of controversy

According to UC News, the world's largest gay and lesbian church has voted to affiliate with the United Church of Christ. The Dallas-based Cathedral of Hope voted overwhelmingly on October 30 to affiliate with the UCC. However, the move is not without some controversy. Cathedral of Hope was affiliated with the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) before disaffiliating in 2003. According to PlanetOut.com, Michael Piazza, a leader in the Cathedral of Hope, had been accused of financial irregularities and was in the process of being investigated by the MCC when he withdrew his credentials from the MCC, two days before the conclusion of the investigation. From PlanetOut.com:

Sunday's vote capped a months-long dispute between Michael Piazza, the charismatic leader of the Cathedral of Hope, and a group called Cathedral of Hope Reform, which questioned his financial decisions. Led by former board member, Terri Frey, the reform faction accused Piazza of a number of fiscal irregularities, ranging from the charge of arranging health insurance for ineligible HIV-positive volunteers, to the more serious allegations that Piazza used capital campaign contributions for ongoing operations and spent thousands on "fund-raising parties" out of town, where little or no money was collected. Frey's group triggered an investigation by MCC, which began last April and was to have concluded 10 days ago. But instead, Rev. Piazza resigned his MCC credentials on July 13, and by so doing, removed himself from the jurisdiction of the MCC inquiry. MCC officials subsequently confirmed that the investigation was moot, and the findings would be sealed.

Piazza is listed as the "National Pastor & Dean of the Cathedral" according to the Cathedral of Hope web site. The group making the accusations has a web site detailing their allegations at http://www.cohreform.org/. The MCC also has a press release posted from 2003 that addresses the accusations.

The vote for affiliation also comes at a time when UCC leaders have accused conservative groups of "church stealing" UCC churches by encouraging them to disaffiliate. While no accusation has been made about Cathedral of Hope joining the UCC, it's ironic that the Cathedral of Hope is headed by a UCC minister.

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November 1, 2005

Is your church a "good church" or a "bad church"?

The United Church of Christ national office is keeping up it's campaign of labeling churches and ultimately dividing the denomination into good churches and bad churches. The latest is a campaign titled "Covenant Keepers" which prods local churches into pledging 10% of their operating budget to Our Churches Wider Mission (OCWM).

First there was the "Open and Affirming" (ONA) designation given to churches that "have publicly declared that 'gay, lesbian, bisexual"' (GLB) people (or those of all "sexual orientations") are welcome in its full life and ministry".

Then there was the "Still Speaking" churches which are those churches that are "ready to help people find a spiritual home with the United Church of Christ".

If your church doesn't have one of these designations, then your church must be a covenant-breaking, homophobic church afraid of helping people find a spiritual home (we'll call it CBHC for short). Ironically, it appears from the national office's own numbers, most UCC churches fall into this category.

Seriously, for a denomination that finds strength in it's diversity and independent congregationalism, we've quietly adopted a country club mentality. Now we have "Covenant Keepers". Presumably, if your aren't ponying up 10% to OCWM, you aren't keeping covenant. What the national office continually refuses to recognize is that covenant is a two way street... and it begins with the national office recognizing and honoring the autonomy of the local church. Labels like these break covenant, not strengthen it.

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