Posted on 07/08/2005 4:45:16 AM PDT by chambley1
I confess that I’ve had a stormy, love/less-than-love relationship with the church denomination of my choice over the 40 years since joining the United Church of Christ in college and subsequently graduating from a seminary as a student in its care in Berkeley, Calif., right in the midst of the civil rights, anti-war and counterculture ferment of that era.
On balance over the years, my posture toward the U.C.C. has remained positive, which is why I’ve never seriously entertained leaving, at least never for long. My complaint usually was that it didn’t match its ideals with actions. But that brings me to this week, and the action of the delegates to the U.C.C.’s great biennial conclave, its General Synod, held in Atlanta last July 4 weekend.
At that meeting, it became the first major Christian denomination to vote its support for “marriage equality” for couples “regardless of gender.” I couldn’t be more proud to be a card-carrying member, as they say, of the U.C.C.
Last weekend’s move was the perfect answer to the false claim on the nation’s morals made by the bigoted religious right that so tragically influenced last November’s presidential election and has resulted in a cascade of gay-bashing initiatives and legislation since.
If mainstream and progressive Christians were too silent in allowing the religious right to hijack “values” last year (which they were), they are no more. The U.C.C. deserves the heartfelt thanks of every patriotic American who values the nation’s commitment to justice and equality under the law for everyone.
It took a lot of guts for this denomination to make such a bold move, rather than to seek accommodation with the religious right after the election in an ill-conceived notion that it should align itself more with what America supposedly wants.
Someone at the top of the U.C.C. decided it was time to come out swinging, and began with an eye-popping television campaign earlier this year that major networks, cowering to the right, refused to air. Still, the ads caught the attention of the nation and were aired on cable and local stations, inviting gays and lesbians to worship in U.C.C. churches. They depicted right wing churches barring same-sex couples from entering, before offering the U.C.C.’s welcome.
Rather than allowing the denomination to get stalled in an endless quagmire of introverted soul-searching on the marriage equality issue, the U.C.C. leadership took the uncharacteristic step of moving the entire 1.8 million-member body with bold moves from the top. The denomination’s general minister and president, the Rev. John H. Thomas, surprised many by issuing a pronouncement in June calling on the General Synod to pass a proposed resolution “supporting full religious and civil recognition of same-sex marriages.”
His call was followed by a keynote speech at the Synod by the Rev. Andrew Young, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Mayor of Atlanta, saying that “the denomination’s affirmation of the full civil and religious equality of same-gender marriage would be a continuation of its historic witness for justice and equality.”
The U.C.C. has a long and noble history dating back, in its Congregational wing, to the Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock, which is why those names are often adopted as names of its local churches. The history includes its staunch anti-slavery, pro-abolitionist stands in the years prior to the Civil War, and in the creation of major learning institutions for African-Americans afterwards, including Howard University in Washington, D.C., where Andrew Young graduated prior to becoming the first Afro-American since Reconstruction elected to the U.S. Congress.
In the 1950s, a part of the effort to mend the wounds of two world wars, the Congregational Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged in an ecumenical gesture to create a new denomination known as the U.C.C. It was a different time then, when religious institutions were focused on finding what was common among them, not different, in the name of an “ecumenical dialogue.”
At various points in those days, the U.C.C. was near mergers with the Disciples of Christ and even the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., until forces of divisiveness arose in the land to explode the ecumenical movement to create the context for religious fanaticism and the rise of the religious right.
As a denomination that includes Gov. Howard Dean, Sen. Barack Obama and, oh yeah, me among its members, the U.C.C. not only did the right thing last weekend, it did it in a timely fashion, signaling the dawn of a new era for genuine religious values, and an adjustment of the role of the bigoted right to that of those forgettable churches who preached slavery and segregation as God’s will not all that long ago
Nick Benton:
nfbenton@fcnp.com
So... when the Dems lose elections its tragic, or stolen. When they win, America has spoken.
Sounds like a bit of therapy is needed for these folks.
The muslims bomb us because our churches promote homosexuality.
That loud humming noise you hear on the east coast are all the pilgrims spinning in their graves.
Let's see... that's 1...2...3... Now there's a mandate.
"As a denomination that includes Gov. Howard Dean, " "to vote its support for “marriage equality” for couples “regardless of gender.”
Reminds me, we need to get another Scalia or Thomas on the court. What Bible are these guys reading?
Why is it that so many atheists feel the need to band together and form "churches" or "synagogues"? Do they think that it lends credibility to their Maoist views?
The Church of the Pilgrims and Puritans is now the Church of Steve and Brucie.
Why is it that so many atheists feel the need to band together and form "churches" or "synagogues"? Do they think that it lends credibility to their Maoist views? "
Yes and it's tax free. There is a religious aspect to the socialist dream. David Horowitz does a great job on this in his book "The politics of Bad Faith". In short they believe they (socialists) are the saviours (not Christ) spread across the world to spread socialism: create peace on earth, end what they call social injustice. Of course you need absolute power to do this, that's where the supreme court comes in. Some of them (like these guys and Jesse) spread the message that Jesus was a communist. Checkout this letter to Bush :
http://saveourcourts.civilrights.org/search/details.cfm?id=32960
Did you hear about the homosexual UCC apologist who claims that Jesus' band of brothers and sisters was a daisy chain complete with fag hags?
The UCC has placed itself far outside the circle of followers of Christ.
Just who hijacked who?
Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it? They have His name but He is not in it. As it says in Revelation "Thou hast a name that liveth, but thou art dead." Call yourself "Christian" does not make you one.
"He that hath the Son hath life; He that hath not the Son hath not life."
"Just who hijacked who? "
????
> What Bible are these guys reading?
I don't remember the version, but it has inclusive language and a seventh grade vocabulary. Dumbed down and gender neutral.
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