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November
29, 2006
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Cha-Ching!
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Missouri Mid-South Associate Conference Minister John Dorhauer turns
phony conspiracy theory into seminar and book
We've been entertained for months now by Missouri Mid-South
Conference Minister
John
Dorhauer's semi-regular postings on
Talk2Action.org about a
vast right wing conspiracy to bring down liberal churches and
frankly, I'm a little disappointed not to be included in the
conspiracy. I mean, come on,
even Chuck Currie gives this site props for being an evil agent
of the conspiracy.
Talk2Action, for those of
you with normal lives, is a web site run by
Frederick Clarkson who writes books about how bad the Religious
Right is and calls himself an expert on the Religious Right
conspiracy to take over the country. He couldn't quite cut it
blogging about it
himself so he built this Talk2Action web site so he could draw
in other like-minded conspiracy theorists. Don't get me wrong, the
regulars to this site know that I'm no fan of the Religious Right,
but I also don't live in an imaginary world that thinks the
extremists are about to take over. The Talk2Action site is to
religious conspiracies what Art Bell is to UFO sightings.
In any case,
John
Dorhauer posts anecdotal stories about churches being taken over
by the vast right wing conspiracy. His very first post contained
this missive:
Stay in
touch. Each Tuesday I will write about those things
which I, and others, have experienced watching local
churches, judicatory authorities, and entire
congregations endure one attack after another. This
isn't right. It needs to stop.
Well, for nearly a year
we've read, waiting for the dreaded details of the conspiracy only
to be disappointed by a handful of stories about churches struggling
with theology, angry congregants battling for power on church boards
and some genuinely goofy anecdotes about local church politics. No
conspiracy. Dorhauer does try to pull renewal groups into the fray
and unsuccessfully tries to tie the Institute on Religion and
Democracy, the UCC's Biblical Witness Fellowship and Faithful and
Welcoming Churches into his stories about a few local churches but
nothing concrete.
Could these groups be
pulling churches away from the UCC? It's entirely possible although
I haven't seen it in my discussions with these groups and Dorhauer
doesn't make the case at all. In fact, it's impossible to find any
links or documentation to his claims.
I detest the idea of
church stealing and have said repeatedly that it is very, very
wrong. But I also think it's important to distinguish between petty
church politics (which happens to many churches across the
theological and political spectrum) and a genuine conspiracy.
Now
Dorhauer is taking his conspiracy show on the road with a
seminar series and a book. Maybe it will be like those wealth
building seminars at hotels. Heck, Dorhauer could build an entire
infomercial on church conspiracies.
The
Berkley Blog has humorously covered Dorhauer's conspiracy
seminar:
So Dorhauer equips his
seminar attendees to be on the lookout for such hostile
actions by sleeper cells waiting to destroy churches for
right-wing political reasons. And sure enough, “In the
short time since we made our presentation,” Dorhauer
crows, “we have heard from one of our local churches,
which talks about the immediate and direct impact the
presentation made on their church.” Again, ever the
comic, Dorhauer acts as if he is not the least bit
hesitant to praise himself.
A woman in one church, it appears, has blundered into
suspicious territory. She asked that her church “cut all
funding from the local church to the denomination
offices,” in which offices, coincidentally, Dorhauer
serves and depends upon for his livelihood. Aha! An IRD
henchman at work? An evil plot to take over the church
uncovered?
Well, actually, no, it turns out, in a rather awkward
denouement. The lady simply didn’t think the church
could afford to pay the assessments. She had nothing to
do with IRD or any other renewal group. In fact, she
fell over herself to undo her suggestion and pledge
allegiance to the UCC.
Clarkson and Dorhauer
don't permit dissenting opinions on their site which is why the
commentary there seems pretty chummy and it's impossible to
challenge Dorhauer on his facts (Cheap Plug:
All are welcome
to comment on the UCCtruths.com message board whether you like this
site or not). So lets put some light on this a bit. Here's an
open challenge to Dorhauer: Give me three concrete examples
(complete with documentation, links, evidence, etc.) of church
stealing by renewal groups and I'll post them at the top of this
site together unedited and without commentary for all to read. I'm
not going to accept hearsay or "I heard from a friend who heard from
a friend who heard from their Great Aunt Betty..." stories. I want
hard facts without the BS. If John is being honest and there is a
conspiracy, there should be some documentation - something to
support his theory besides his few first-hand stories.
Here's your chance to
put up or shut up, John. Convince me there is a conspiracy and
you'll have a new ally.
_______________
November 28, 2006
Sudan Crisis
Demonstrates the UCC's Failure to Promote Real Justice
Late last October, just before the mid-term elections, the United
Church of Christ's Justice and Witness Ministries
issued an "Action Alert" calling for the U.N. to send Peace
Keepers to Sudan by encouraging people to pressure the U.S.
government via an email. The logic? According to the alert, "It
is time for the United States to take the lead in pressuring the
Sudanese government to end the violence and allow desperately needed
humanitarian aid to reach civilians."
Today, the U.N. Human Rights Council rejected a proposal to hold
the Sudanese government responsible for halting atrocities in Darfur.
As the Associated Press reports, "the council, which took over from
the discredited U.N. Human Rights Commission June, is dominated by
African and Muslim countries that have sided with China, Cuba and
other countries in preventing criticism of any government but
Israel."
Make a mental note of
that: China and Cuba, not the U.S., prevented the resolution from
going forward. Instead of actually doing the right thing by
leveraging the resources of the National Council of Churches and our
ecumenical partners overseas to apply pressure to the countries
blocking progress on the Sudan crisis, the UCC chose to play
politics just before an election by suggesting that the U.S. was not
taking the lead on Sudan.
OK, we get it. The UCC's
Justice and Witness Ministries doesn't like the Bush
administration... but is that worth dangling the lives of hundreds
of thousands of people? As UCC members, do we really want to support
these games?
The UCC's "Action Alert
makes it clear that neither Justice and Witness Ministries nor it's
Executive Minister, Linda Jaramillo, is really being serious about
Sudan. Justice and Witness Ministries exists, in great part, by
money raised by Our Churches Wider Ministries (OCWM) which receives
it's resources from the generosity of UCC members. It would be too
easy to tell other UCC members not to contribute money, but most
churches barely contribute today.
By the UCC's
own numbers, less than 1% of churches
give 10% or more of their current operating expenses to Our Church’s
Wider Mission Basic Support. Encouraging people not to contribute to
OCWM would literally be "preaching to the choir".
So what should you do?
Talk about it with other church members and educate them about the
difference between political games and the real work of justice.
o UCC's "Ejector Seat"
television ad fizzles
o "God is Still Speaking," campaign revamped
o The Cathedral of Hope joins the United Church of Christ.
o Puerto Rico Conference heads list of departed churches
o Faithful & Welcoming movement organizes regional and national
meetings
o UCC complains about religious right
o UCC complains about media coverage of Mainline churches
o William Sloan Coffin dies
o Reorganization proposed as financial woes continue
o UCC General Synod convention site change in Hartford
o Middle East flare up raises questions about UCC anti-Israel
sentiments
o UCC's Barack Obama star rising
o UCC's record breaking fundraising for Katrina victims
o UCC hosts terrorist art show
o "Americans United" Barry Lynn "concerned" about UCC mixing
church
and state
o John Thomas makes a mockery of Jewish-Christian relationship
o UCC leaders condemn Andrew Young's support for Wal-Mart
o Andrew Young resigns from Wal-Mart campaign after insensitive
comments
o UCCIB's dramatic recovery
o UCCtruths.com turns 3 years old
_______________
November 17, 2006
"Imaginative Vision of Shalom"
The entertainment was great and the artwork was beautiful... but no
one dared to mention the crimes committed by the artists (or the
victims they killed and maimed) at an art show honoring convicted
terrorists at the UCC headquarters last evening. For a church so
vocal against violence and armed conflict, the silence said more
than the art.
In his closing remarks, UCC President John Thomas referred to the
artwork of Oscar Lopez Rivera and Carlos Alberto Torres as the
"imaginative vision of Shalom" while plainly ignoring the violence
which lead to their imprisonment in the first place. Thomas's
fawning over convicted terrorist
Alejandrina Torres without
mentioning her crimes or her victims also spoke volumes about his
character, his faith and his politics. Apparently, his often
repeated message of peace and non-violence doesn't apply when it
comes to people like Alejandrina
Torres who was caught on surveillance video building a bomb in
the 80's as part of her activities with the FALN. Instead of seizing
the moment to, again, preach against violence, Thomas embraced the
indignant and unremorseful Torres. Certainly an "imaginative vision
of Shalom".
More disappointing
than Thomas was Linda Jaramillo, the UCC's executive minister of
the Justice and Witness Ministries, who called
Alejandrina Torres a
"friend" and "role-model".
The event did feature
some beautiful demonstrations of Puerto Rican pride, but this pride
really had nothing to do with the FALN terrorists, the artwork or
Alejandrina Torres.
The United Church of
Christ's Art Exhibit "commemorating" the incarceration of terrorists
Oscar Lopez Rivera and Carlos Alberto Torres opens tonight with a
reception at 6pm in the Amistad Chapel at the UCC's National Office.
While the UCC has
maintained that Rivera and Torres are political prisoners and that
"their sentences were disproportionately long," the facts say
otherwise. According to the United States Sentencing Commission,
which analyzed this matter specifically, "the federal sentencing
guidelines generally would call for sentences as long as or longer
than those actually imposed, if the defendants had been sentenced
under current law (in 1999)."
Specifically to Oscar
Lopez Rivera, (an individual so "non-violent" that he wouldn’t
renounce violence to get out of prison): In addition to crimes
committed in furtherance of FALN goals, he plotted two escapes from
federal prison. One was from Leavenworth Penitentiary and, according
to a Victim Impact Statement, he "planned to blow up Fort
Leavenworth with the most powerful plastic explosives known to the
military, riddle guard towers with rounds from automatic weapons,
and throw grenades in the path of those who pursued them. To achieve
their goals, Lopez considered killing the inmates who threatened
Richard Cobb, killing George Lebosky after they became suspicious of
him, and killing firearms dealer Michael Neece to gain his weapons."
He set in motion plans to obtain the following for his escape
attempt: fragmentation grenades, smoke grenades, phosphorus
grenades, eight M-16 rifles, two silencers, 50 pounds of plastic C-4
explosives, eight bulletproof vests, ten blasting caps to use with
plastic explosives, 100 thirty-shot clips to use with automatic
weapons. In Lopez’ probation officer’s assessment, "[Lopez’] level
of remorse, rehabilitation and positive regard for this court’s
process is minimal, if not nonexistent. He demonstrates a sustained
consistent commitment to the use of violence and weapons. He will
use any means to gain freedom for the purpose of undermining the
principles of the United States government. He has already
determined that human life is expendable for this purpose."
This is what we are
commemorating today.
_______________
November 10, 2006
Mainline Influence?
Mainline church leaders, and specifically the United Church of
Christ,
are
giving themselves high marks for getting "a clean sweep of
voter-approved wage increases in Ohio, Colorado, Montana, Missouri,
Arizona and Nevada" although the real influence of the Mainline on
the initiatives is questionable.
A search on Google News yielded only 24 articles 30 days before
the November 7 vote featuring the "Let Justice Roll" campaign, many
of which were press releases.
_______________
November 3, 2006
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
Lessons
learned... and not learned
Periodically over the next year as we celebrate the UCC's 50th
anniversary, we'll be posting some of the lessons learned... and
not learned since the denomination was formed. The topic of the
first in this series couldn't be better timed. This resolution is
from the 12th General Synod and was passed on June 26, 1979:
Resolution on Klu Klux Klan
Activity WHEREAS, the history of the Klu Klux Klan has
been a tragic story of intimidation and terrorist
activity; and
WHEREAS, we believe there is no justification for
vigilante tactics and extra-legal punishments regardless of
presumed offenses; and
WHEREAS, we know that the racial hatred preached
by the Klu Klux Klan is the antithesis of the teaching of
Christ;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: the Twelfth General
Synod of the United Church of Christ deplores the recent
increase in Klu Klux Klan activity, and resolves further to urge
local congregations of the United Church of Christ and all
persons everywhere to condemn Klan intimidation and terrorism as
unconscionable, ungodly, undemocratic, un-American, and
un-Christian.
We should be proud of
our denomination's history of racial justice as demonstrated by the
12th General Synod's resolution on the Klu Klux Klan... but we
should be ashamed that the lessons of domestic terrorism on innocent
people haven't fully be learned.
All of United Church of
Christ's 1.2-Million Members to Gather on Sunday --
Online
News Advisory:
In an experimental, interactive, online
teleconferencing event, members of the
1.2-million-member United Church of Christ will kick off
the denomination's 50th anniversary celebration by
gathering en masse at 6 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, Nov. 5, at
http://www.ucc.org
The webstreaming event is
the denomination's first attempt to create an online,
interactive, multiple-site experience.
"The notion is that the whole church --
from Maine to Hawaii - - will be participating in the
same event at the same time, no matter where they live,"
says the Rev. Robert Chase, the UCC's communication
director. It's also a sign of how the church is
embracing emerging technology, he says.
OK... we get it... it's
a stunt.
We'll be online too.
_______________
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