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EXAMINING THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
RealClearPolitics.com ^ | May 6, 2008 | Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom

Posted on 05/06/2008 10:20:01 AM PDT by sinanju

In his recent incendiary remarks, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. claimed that criticism of his views is nothing less "an attack on the black church launched by people who know nothing about the African-American religious tradition." Can it really be that millions of black Americans regularly choose to listen to viciously anti-white and anti-American rants on Sunday mornings?

Happily, Chicago's Trinity Church is an outlier in that regard. Most black churchgoers belong to congregations that are overwhelmingly African-American and are affiliated with one of the historically black religious denominations such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) or the National Baptist Convention. Rev. Wright's Trinity Church, on the other hand, is a predominantly black branch of a white denomination that is not part of "the African-American religious tradition." The United Church of Christ (known until 1957 as the Congregational Church) has a little over a million members; a mere 4 percent of them are black. Fewer than 50,000 blacks in the entire nation worship at a UCC church.

In contrast, 98 percent of the National Baptist Convention's 4 million members are African Americans. Add in black Methodists and Pentecostals, as well as other black Baptists, and the total comes to more than 14 million members of an organized, predominantly African-American church. These churches include a substantial majority of all black adults today. In terms of sheer demographic weight, they clearly represent the "African-American religious tradition"-as Rev. Wright's branch of a overwhelmingly white denomination does not...

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS:
Okay gang, this article is especially important concerning the Wright affray. Stephen and Abigail Thernstrom are "real" leading scholars on America's history of black/white relations ("America in Black and White") and their opinion should carry real weight here as to whom Wright actually speaks for.

Unfortunately the right-on reverend has annointed himself Pope of Black America and (not wanting to disagree in front of Whitey... "dirty laundry" and all that) no black religious authority is standing up to dispute him and the usual crowd is reflexively circling the wagons around him.

1 posted on 05/06/2008 10:20:03 AM PDT by sinanju
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To: sinanju

The UCC is leftist political organization masquerading as a church.


2 posted on 05/06/2008 10:23:30 AM PDT by Aikonaa
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To: sinanju

A score-card for posters/lurkers:

1.
United Church of Christ: the liberal church body that Obama is affiliated with.

2. (mainstream) Churches of Christ: a fairly conservative church group
found mostly below the Mason-Dixon Line. Each congregation is autonomous.
Affiliated institutions include: Abiline Christian University,
David Lipscomb University, Lubbock Christian University, Pepperdine U.

3. International Church of Christ (ICC): a group that splintered off
from the mainstream Churches of Christ (in the 1970s?).
The group has been described as a cult in the media due to the fairly
harsh “discipling” and recruitment practices. A few years ago there
was talk that the leadership of the ICC was softening and might try
to re-affiliate with the mainstream Churches of Christ again.


3 posted on 05/06/2008 10:27:16 AM PDT by VOA
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To: sinanju
no black religious authority is standing up to dispute him

There have been a few that are "talking back".
One of Martin Luther King Jr.'s associate appeared on (IIRC)
Glen Beck's TV show and read Wright the riot act.

But right now the MSM is mostly happy to give Wright the bully
pulpit and give short shrift to black clergy/leaders that oppose
his moon-bat ravings.
4 posted on 05/06/2008 10:30:38 AM PDT by VOA
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To: sinanju

Help: Is the UCC the same as Unitarian?

The Unitarians in my town use the UCC church or at least the old UCC church..


5 posted on 05/06/2008 10:32:12 AM PDT by acw011 (Great Goooogly Mooogly!)
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To: sinanju

We had a UCC group set up a teen group home across the street from our house a couple of years ago. They were basically warehousing teenage girls and collecting about $250 per girl per night from the state. The staff was rude and destructive (one of them backed into my wife’s car and wouldn’t own up to it), and every time we had a problem with them, they would try to throw scripture in our faces. Fortunately, my wife knows Scripture better than they did, and would not tolerate any of their hypocrisy. We finally got rid of them after we were able to list enough offenses to warrant an inspection by Human Services. They failed on so many counts they eventually had to shut down because there was no way they could come into compliance without actually spending the money that they were collecting for storing the girls there.


6 posted on 05/06/2008 10:35:27 AM PDT by SlowBoat407 (It's a fine line between Guardian Angel and Stalker.)
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To: sinanju

7 posted on 05/06/2008 10:38:17 AM PDT by The_Republican (Ovaries of the World Unite! Rush, Laura, Ann, Greta - Time for the Ovulation!)
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To: acw011
No, the Unitarians are different. Unitarians don't have any specific religious belief, just sort of a vague spiritual one-ness with the universe. They're known for promoting policies of “social justice”, environmentalism, pacifism as an answer to war, and actively campaigning for Democrats during church functions. The closest thing they have to traditional religious worship is their holy trinity of Mother Earth (the Father), AlGore (the Son) and the United Nations (the Holy Spirit).
8 posted on 05/06/2008 1:15:14 PM PDT by spinestein (The answer is 42.)
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To: acw011

No it’s not the same as Unitarian.


9 posted on 05/06/2008 3:07:02 PM PDT by airedale ( XZ)
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To: VOA

Are any of these associated with the Disciples of Christ founded by Alexander Campbell?


10 posted on 05/06/2008 6:51:25 PM PDT by penowa
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To: sinanju

I was raised in the Congregational Church, which merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Church in the late 50’s. I served as a deacon for years. One thing is for certain, the UCC is very “left wing” and somewhat militant in it’s agenda. My congregation was 99.99 per cent white, but the liberal under-current was obvious. I recall a movement within the UCC to eliminate “Our Father” from the Lord’s Prayer, to appease the lesbian community within the UCC. The Congregational church has a rich and glorious heritage in the founding of our nation. I was at the point where I was going to suggest our church withdraw from the UCC. I’ve since left the church continuing to be a “main stream” Protestant.


11 posted on 05/24/2008 2:11:03 PM PDT by WyCoKsRepublican
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