The truth is that the UCC is not Christian. They are yet another example of a church that has been gutted by liberal theology, which is simply a nice way of describing unbelief or apostasy. It's a free country, so they can call themselves whatever they like. I could call myself a feminist - and it would be every bit as true.
It is completely in character for the UCC to condemn Israel - the only nation in the middle east with anything approaching real religious freedom - while taking up the cause of a manufactured ethnic group (Palestinians) who were unknown before 1964. (In the 1920s, the term 'Palestinian' was reserved for indiginous Jews or to those who had moved to the area from Europe, the local Arab population was typically referred to as 'Arabs,' the Druze as 'Druze', etc. Liberal (in the classic sense) concepts such as religious freedom can only exist within a non-liberal framework. Thus, the only way that religious freedom can continue to actually exist in Israel is for the nation to retain its status as a majority-Jewish nation. This is due to a basic doctrine of Judaism itself, passed on to Christianity, which views all people as having been created in God's own image - even the infidel - and thus deserving of of respect as a fellow human being. In contrast, Islam permits the existence of non-believers only as dhimmis - a class of semi-humans with no rights - who can be enslaved or slaughtered at will like livestock.
The so-called "mainline" Protestant churches in the US have been hijacked by leftists and are busily persuing a leftist agenda, which includes a denial of Israel's fundamental right to nationhood. To leftists such as these, Israel is simply a colony of the USA created from our Imperialistic ambitions to oppress the Islamic world. Of course, since these allegedly "Christian" churches deny that scripture was divinely inspired, and likewise deny the validity of two millenia of Christian apostolic teaching, it is inevitable that the claim of Jews to the land of Israel would thus be denied as well.
Traditional Christians understand that God is the one who created nations, and created Israel for a special purpose. Israel's existence is non-negotiable as far as we are concerned. The greatestt threat to Israel is the same as that to all of the traditional nations of Christendom - the self-hating leftists who wish to destroy our nations from within through doctrines like multiculturalism. Imagine what would happen to Israel if the borders were opened to the Arab masses - Israelis wou;d end up as Dhimmis in an Islamic despotate.
The UCC church my mother goes to had a Unitarian as associate pastor. This person eventually left to do some sort of social activism.
Traditional Christians understand that God is the one who created nations, and created Israel for a special purpose. Israel's existence is non-negotiable as far as we are concerned.
Well it is true that this is the position many Christian churches take such as Baptists etc. But to say 'traditional' Christians take this position is misleading.
Exactly right. There are CLEAR statements in the Bible that God will not forget Israel, and that Israel will, in some form, repent before the end times. Israel is the "apple of God's eye" and he who curses Israel shall be cursed, so the UCCs best get ready because they are about to cross swords with the Almight.