‘There’s occasionally some confusion, even here on Free Republic, between the church of Christ (lowercase ‘c’) and the United Church of Christ. The former arose from the Stone-Campbell restoration movement of the 19th century. As a member of the “coC”, I have found that every congregation is very Conservative both politically and in terms of God’s Word. Each congregation is autonomous so there may be some that tilt to the left...but I haven’t encountered any.’
I’d heard of Churches of Christ for most of my life. When I first heard of the “United Christ of Church” it was in an article saying they endorsed homosexual clergymen. I was completely confused wondering why they would prohibit the use of musical instruments in worship but think same-sex behavior was OK? :? Then later, I learned that UCC was a completely different group.
‘I’ll share this story (which I’ve posted on occasion here on Free Republic). Back in the summer of 2008 when the presidential campaign was in full swing, I took a long summer vacation by car. My route took me across Texas, into Arkansas, through Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee as well as Alabama. I visited congregations of the “coC” at every opportunity for Wednesday night as well as Sunday services. I checked out the parking lot of each. There was NOT ONE Obama bumper sticker on any of the thousands of cars I must have seen. There were plenty for Palin (with the name of some other guy, the fellow she ran with...the name escapes me at the moment). And, to top it off, as far as I know, everyone at my congregation is a gun owner and that includes the preacher. Woe unto the fool who tries to lift the collection plate. We carry more than just our Bibles into the building when it’s time to Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! Amen!’
That seems more consistent with what I’ve heard about the Churches of Christ.
‘And here’s one more tidbit to help remember the substantial difference. The United Church of Christ counts Obama as a member. We’ve got Weird Al Yankovich and Meatloaf in our flock. :-)’
Weird Al and Meatloaf are COC? Interesting.
Those are among the more colorful members that usually cause a smile. Other members include Congressman Ted Poe of Texas's 2nd district, a non-nonsense Conservative and Ken Starr, now president of Baylor but perhaps better known for heading the investigation of Clinton as well as Fred Thompson. Gene Stallings, one of the Texas A&M "Junction Boys", is another member that comes to mind.