Clergy Leadership Network

Below is a collection of articles featuring the Clergy Leadership Network. The latest news will appear at the bottom of this page.

Bought and paid for

Actually, they are bought and paid for... almost all of their fund raising came from a single source: Billionaire George Soros' "Americans Coming Together" - a shadow advocacy group that skirts campaign finance laws by funneling soft money to IRS classified "527's" like the Clergy Leadership Network.

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The Clergy Leadership Network and Faith

Jordan Ballor of the Acton Institute examines the theological challenge of the Clergy Leadership Network (CLN). This could also be true of the UCC:

Christians of all political inclinations should be able to agree with the CLN’s conclusions about the importance of faith in public life. As the group says: “religious faith provides the lens through which public life is viewed and consequently engaged. Faith will not allow us to be bystanders.” The difficulty arises when God’s will is simply and easily equated with the platform of a particular party. The express partisanship of the Clergy Leadership Network undermines the inherent complexities involved in Christian political affiliation. The church is witness to this higher reality. As theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg writes, “This means ipso facto, by the very existence of the church and in the living of its liturgical life, a challenging of the claims of every political and judicial order, whether monarchical, oligarchical, or democratic, to embody the form of social life that is ultimately in keeping with human destiny.” To this end, individual Christians, and to an even greater extent Christian institutions, should not identify so closely with any secular agenda that they lose their autonomy and abdicate their prophetic responsibility. An extreme and frightening example of such abdication is the German state church’s complicity in Hitler’s grab for power in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

No one should be deceived- the Clergy Leadership Network is not about religion at all... it is about politics. They are funded by a secular, partisan billionaire, not by clergy. Their message doesn't advocate a prophetic witness, just recycled political rhetoric.

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CLN financier Soros attacked with glue in Ukraine

Billionaire George Soros, chief financier of the "shadow" political action group that funds the Clergy Leadership Network, was attacked with glue in the Ukraine today. Besides spending millions in the U.S. skirting campaign finance laws, the Hungarian-born billionaire and his hedge fund have been blamed for breaking the British Pound in 1992 (and making 1 billion in one day doing it), starting the Asian financial crisis of 1997 by attacking the Thai baht (which virtually destroyed the economies of Thailand and Indonesia) and almost bankrupting Russia in 1998. It's no wonder that Ukrainians are skeptical of his political meddling. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review says it best:

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Clergy Leadership Network Bankrupt?

According to the Center for Public Integrity, as of April 15, 2004, the Clergy Leadership Network has expenditures of $79,237 while only bringing in $51,570. Even more interesting, $45,000 was donated by one source: George Soros' "Americans Coming Together." If fundraising is any indication of their support, the Clergy Leadership Network is in trouble.

Updated 4/21/2004: The Center for Public Integrity updated contributions and expenditures for the Clergy Leadership Network... only $2,770 raised in 2004.

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Clergy Leadership Network Meets

The fledgling Clergy Leadership Network is meeting in Cleveland this week... but you wouldn't know it from the media. Nothing was mentioned on the local news and a small article appeared in the Plain Dealer. Even with the minimum coverage, the group's theme remains the same:

Perhaps not, but they certainly are in the pockets of billionaire George Soros, whose group "Americans Coming Together" is the primary backer of the CLN according to the Center for Public Integrity. In spite of the contribution, the group appears to be functionally bankrupt - as of April 15, 2004, the Clergy Leadership Network had expenditures of $79,237 while only bringing in $51,570.

Of note from the meeting: Presidential candidate John Kerry was on the original agenda to speak, but it appears he couldn't fit it into his schedule. Sen. John Edwards will be speaking today at 11:30am. You wonder if the expected turnout of 150 people was the reason for the Kerry snub. Former UCC President Paul Sherry is scheduled to speak on "A Faith-based Social Vision on Jobs-Education-Health-Poverty".

The whole purpose of the Clergy Leadership Network is pretty fuzzy. After years of complaining about the political activities of groups like the Christian Coalition, the religious left wants to fight fire with fire. It's also worth wondering what message is being sent by hosting a meeting about jobs and poverty at one of the most expensive and ostentatious hotels in downtown Cleveland.

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Clergy Leadership Network Meeting a Bust

The Clergy Leadership Network meeting in Cleveland this week fizzled. According to the Plain Dealer:

There are a number of reasons why the event was a failure. While the leaders of the group will undoubtedly put their own spin on the event, this failure exposes some of the fundamental problems with the Clergy Leadership Network. The philosophy behind the group was to counter groups like the Christian Coalition and the religious right... not out of a profound sense of creating a positive political influence. At the core, the movement is more about removing George Bush from office than providing an alternative religious voice. The low turnout, is not a reflection of support for George Bush, rather, it is a rejection of those who want to leverage religion to influence an election.

Update 5/19: The Clergy Leadership Network website has been virtually dead for two days.

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