August 2006 UCCtruths.com Archive

He forgot about the part where the crazy religious right zealots fly planes into buildings and execute women in public for minor crimes.

You're On Notice!

Courant columnist scorches the UCC

At least we aren't alone in our criticisms of the UCC's political activities. Hartford Courant columnist Laurence Cohen went right to the heart of the matter in his post-mortem of the Masullo-MacLean battle in the Republican primary in Connecticut's 1st Congressional district. From Cohen's column: :

The UCC, not alone among mainstream Protestant denominations in the creation of dumb foreign policy positions to accompany its partisan domestic policy positions, probably doesn't need Scott MacLean to be its front man on Middle East affairs.

But Masullo was sort of creative in asking the mainline Protestants whether or not they take their denominational policy statements from church leaders seriously, or whether the opining of the state and national staff amounted to just more partisan blather from another set of interested parties.

Poor MacLean, who was clearly not expecting any questions about UCC foreign policy statements, mumbled that some UCC churches are "liberal" and some are "conservative" - with the understanding that no one is obligated to pay much attention to what the denominational staff cooks up at the home office.

The whole episode wasn't really very important, but it was a rare moment for a sort of liberal, mainstream Protestant political candidate to be faced with explaining away formal or informal church pronouncements from a denomination that doesn't really do the "creed" thing. And yet, if the denominational political policy statements don't obligate the faithful, or necessarily represent the views of the faithful, why are they done at all?

Why? Cohen probably knows the answer to the question. The political activities of UCC leaders is not focused on our own members. When UCC President John Thomas and Connecticut Conference Minister Davida Foy Crabtree joined the union protest outside of the Connecticut Convention Center in April and self-righteously claimed to "stand with convention workers and hotel workers in Hartford," do you think they were fazed at all when they discovered that the convention center workers didn't want them there in the first place? Was it really about worker justice or was it about gaining political capital?

In the same way, the audience for the political messages from the UCC leadership isn't our membership, it's for political capital with an audience outside of the UCC.

God's Country?

The article also explores the political similarities between the different groups and how they have worked together successfully. Regardless of your politics and faith, this article will get you thinking. Join our discussion on the article on the UCCtruths.com message boards.

Media responds to United Church of Canada's rejection of divestment

Major news outlets have picked up the story of the United Church of Canada's rejection of divestment...

United Church of Canada rejects divestment

UCCIB Recovery Continues

It's a truly amazing turn around for the UCC Insurance Board which could have easily gone belly up a year ago. Now, the news is extremely encouraging. From UCCIB:

UCCIB CEO Cathy Green has been absolutely amazing. In her very short time with UCCIB, she has been able to turn around the struggling organization and regained confidence in the UCC's self insured system. Her effective planning and regular communication deserves recognition.

Young resigns from Wal-Mart Committee after racially offensive comments

In a truly shocking turn of events, civil rights leader Andrew Young has resigned from a committee that supported Wal-Mart From the Associated Press:

Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired to help Wal-Mart Stores Inc. improve its public image, said early Friday he was stepping down from his position as head of an outside support group amid criticism for remarks seen as racially offensive.

"I think I was on the verge of becoming part of the controversy, and I didn't want to become a distraction from the main issues, so I thought I ought to step down," Young, a former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador, told The Associated Press.

Young, once a close associate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said his decision to step down followed a report in the weekly Los Angeles Sentinel, which he said was misread and misinterpreted.

In the Sentinel interview, Young was asked about whether he was concerned Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close.

"Well, I think they should; they ran the `mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."

Young, who has apologized for the remarks, said he decided to end his involvement with Working Families for Wal-Mart after he started getting calls about the story.

"Things that are matter-of-fact in Atlanta, in the New York and Los Angeles environment, tend to be a lot more volatile," he said.

He also said working with the group "was also taking more of my time than I thought."

More whining about media coverage

The UC News commentary from the Religion News Service titled "'Where are the churches?' We're right here" again laments the failure of mainline churches in gaining media coverage for their opinions. It's not new. In fact, for the last year, mainline churches including the UCC have been whining that their views on issues ranging from the war in Iraq to domestic poverty aren't being recognized by the mass media. The argument follows that other Christian groups, often more conservative, receive more media attention while mainline churches receive little or no coverage.

In April, Bob Chase of the United Church of Christ of Christ's Office of Communication, Inc. claimed that Sunday morning network news programs "favor the Relgious [sic] Right" based on a report by Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group. The report has been criticized because the timeframe for the analysis of coverage relied on a fixed time-span when the focus of news programming spanned the Clinton scandals during his last term as well as 9/11 and the war with Iraq during Bush's first term.

So what is the reality? The author of the RNS commentary claims that "editors and producers love outrageous" and that the "message of love and forgiveness we see in Francis' prayer doesn't attract much media attention". Yes, the media loves the "outrageous", but they also like relevant personalities regardless of politics or religion. Just today, a Google News query yielded 1,780 news stories on Jesse Jackson while only 758 mention Pat Robertson. If Robertson came out later today with another outrageous or stupid comment, those numbers could easily flip, but it wouldn't be the result of a conservative or anti-mainline bias.

Chase and other UCC leaders didn't complain when their news coverage surged with the UCC's first ad campaign and again when the General Synod passed the 'Marriage Equality' resolution. These events were, arguably, newsworthy events. In contrast, does the media really care about the UCC's position on the war in Iraq? Probably no more than the position of Seventh Day Adventists which barely registered a blip on the media radar.

And why should they? What is so unique and relevant about the UCC's position that it deserves coverage -besides our own arrogant sense of importance? Instead of trying to blame our lack of effective communication on a non-existent bias, maybe we should really examine our message and whether it's really relevant to everyone else. Better yet, maybe we should focus our attention on better communication with local churches.

One UCC church has it's own 'Calendar Girls'

The New York Times. Ms. April has two lobster pot buoys masking her bare chest. And Ms. December is behind a guitar she is strumming on a sandy beach."

I think this is pretty clever and it certainly puts the "fun" into fundraising. The calendar is $15.00 on Matinicus Island, or you can send a check for $17.00 (which includes postage) to “Calendar” P.O. Box 2l5, Matinicus, ME 04851.

'Faithful and Welcoming' gathering

gains attention

Last weekend's 'Faithful and Welcoming' gathering is gaining quite a bit of attention and it's obvious from the communication on all sides that some progress on cooperation is being made.

Although I am not a member of FWC, I have supported their principle of encouraging churches to remain in the UCC in spite of theological and political differences and I was invited to present a paper on Polity. Unfortunately, I was traveling on the west coast and wasn't able to present the paper in person so Ted Weis volunteered to present it for me. While I'm no expert on polity, I certainly have some strong feelings on how polity relates to dissent within our denomination. You can read the paper here.

Rudin: "Thomas' screed is a stain on a church with a rich moral tradition"

UCC Forfeits Its Role in Middle East Peacemaking
By A. JAMES RUDIN
c. 2006 Religion News Service

When the current Middle East crisis began, the Rev. John H. Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, wrote a "Pastoral Letter to Palestinian Friends and Partners." The letter speaks volumes about why UCC leadership remains out of touch with its rank-and-file members, and shows why the UCC suffers continuing sharp decreases in membership and financial support.

The letter, filled with a deep-seated animus toward Israel and the U.S.
Jewish community, probably requires a psychoanalyst to fathom Thomas'
prejudicial motives. His letter removes Thomas from playing any constructive role in achieving Middle East peace.

Thomas begins by minimizing the gravity of the lethal July 12 Hezbollah
raid on Israeli soil, calling it an "attack on military personnel near
Lebanon."

"Near Lebanon"? Thomas is unable to face facts and join with the United
States, the United Nations, the G8 nations, China, Israel, Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait -- all of which have recognized that Hezbollah --
branded a terrorist organization by much of the world community -- violated a nation's sovereignty by crossing the internationally recognized
Lebanon-Israel border.

Thomas writes: "Making this situation even more burdensome is ... that
there are many in the United States, including many Christians, who see only Israel's need for security, who focus only on a few terrorist acts ..."

"A few terrorist acts"? For the past two decades, and especially after
the July 12 attacks, thousands of deadly missiles -- not a "few" -- have hit
Israel, randomly killing both Jews and Muslims.

I doubt Thomas would be so blase if, God forbid, terrorists fired "a
few" missiles at Cleveland (home to UCC headquarters) from launchers in
Canada, just across Lake Erie.

Thomas complains that "Many in our own churches are subject to intense
lobbying by Jewish groups ..."

"Intense lobbying"? After 35 years of active participation in the interreligious encounter, I do not believe it is "intense lobbying" when
Jews talk to their Christian neighbors about deeply felt concerns, or when
rabbis speak to UCC ministers about important issues of mutual interest.

Aren't such conversations the proud hallmark of American religious
pluralism, where we work together to build mutual respect and understanding, and develop positive relations? Thomas' letter poisons that process with his deliberately inflammatory words, "intense lobbying."

But then, I suppose it's not "intense lobbying" when, as Thomas wrote in
2003: "The UCC has been associated with Sabeel for many years." Sabeel is a Palestinian Christian organization that does not recognize the moral right of Jews to reclaim national sovereignty in their biblical homeland.

Thomas writes: "We remain steadfast ... in our readiness to use our
church's economic resources, including the possibility of divestment,"
against Israel. This, despite the recent action of the Presbyterian Church
(USA) to move away from such an unfair policy. Thomas rattles the saber of divestment even though Michael Downs of the UCC's Pension Boards, who would have to carry out divestment, expressed serious concern to Thomas about "the precedent-setting implications of (such) voted actions, integrity of process and trust."

Thomas' errors of omission are as egregious as those of commission.
Shockingly, there is not a single reference or mention in his "Pastoral
Letter" about the healing themes of compassion, mercy, reconciliation or
love.

Thomas' screed is a stain on a church with a rich moral tradition. The
UCC was the spiritual home of Reinhold Niebuhr, one of the great American Christian leaders of the past century. Niebuhr preached and taught "Christian Realism," the belief there is radical evil in the world that must be vigorously confronted and overcome. Niebuhr, a strong supporter of modern Israel, was a staunch foe of Nazism and all forms of anti-Semitism.

That magnificent legacy is the very opposite of Thomas' one-sided
"Pastoral Letter," a text that one hopes will soon be relegated to the
dustbin of history.

But there is reason for optimism. Thomas is serving his last term as UCC
leader. Perhaps a Niebuhrian "regime change" will take place within that
declining denomination. It is surely needed.

It's interesting to note, but not surprising, that the usually lazy Executive Council of the United Church of Christ has been silent on Thomas's letter as have Conference Ministers. This is where we get into trouble with the 'herd mentality' of the UCC leaders that surround John Thomas. While these half-wits have little problem helping Thomas spread conspiracy theories about the UCC being under siege from the right-wing, they remain silent on a letter that is so obviously inflammatory and wrong.

UCC Yearbook: Church numbers decline

CT Conference meeting moves back to Convention Center

In light of the suspension of the union boycott of the Connecticut Convention Center, the Connecticut Conference of the UCC will be moving their annual meeting back to the center. From Conference Minister, Davida Foy Crabtree:

"Within the past week, we made the decision to move our fall Annual Meeting on October 20-21, 2006 from the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford to South Church in New Britain. Then this past Saturday, we learned that Mayor Perez had called for a cooling off period and the unions had responded by calling off their boycott and picketing.

"In light of that decision, and out of a desire to support the possibility of resolution of the dispute and to support our Connecticut Convention Center, and after consultation with Rev. Bonnie Bardot, Interim Co-Pastor at South Church and chair of our Annual Meeting planning committee, we have decided to resume our plans to meet at the Convention Center. We are pleased to be able to do this and look forward to a wonderful two day meeting at this beautiful location.

"We wish it were possible for next June's General Synod also to be held at the Convention Center because of its beauty and facility, but we affirm that the planning for Synod has progressed beyond the point at which such a decision could be made. The Annual Meeting of the Conference involves about 600 people for about a 24 hour period, whereas this General Synod will involve over 10,000 people over a minimum of five days. Needless to say, the planning for such a massive meeting requires a firm decision a full year in advance, and so the Synod will proceed with plans to use the Civic Center coliseum in downtown Hartford.

The whole fiasco over the location for both the conference meeting and the General Synod has been an embarrassment for Crabtree. As we noted last week, Not only is the UCC sapping Connecticut taxpayers of $100,000 to relocate our General Synod in a constitutionally questionable deal, there was no real "justice" issue and the national office's support of the boycott only hurt the workers they were pretending to support.

What would we do without UCC ordained Psychologists?