Free Republic

TORONTO -- An unabashedly atheist minister who does not believe in the Bible should be defrocked for her beliefs, a United Church committee has recommended in a split decision that seems likely to stir further dissent in the church. In its unprecedented report, the reviewing panel said Gretta Vosper would not be ordained were she applying today given her extreme beliefs. "She is not suitable to continue in ordained ministry because she does not believe in God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit," the report by the Toronto Conference interview committee states. "Ms. Vosper does not recognize the primacy...

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, May 11, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The mayor of Grand Rapids told a Planned Parenthood fundraiser that “the forces of darkness” are behind the drive to cut off taxpayer funding of the nation’s largest abortion provider. George Heartwell delivered the keynote address at the annual fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of West and Northern Michigan on Thursday. Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell. Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell bashed conservative Christians. The news website Mlive.com reports Heartwell, who is a former Planned Parenthood chairman, praised the organization for serving more than 10,000 “vulnerable” women last year. “What’s not to love...

The left-leaning United Church of Christ now wants to be even more politically correct, and to do so its deliberative body has replaced the reference to “Heavenly Father” with the gender neutral term, “triune God,” in the denomination’s constitution. “In the process of revamping its decades-old constitution, the Protestant denomination’s General Synod endorsed an eye-catching change: It deleted the term ‘Heavenly Father,’ replacing it with ‘triune God,’” Courier Journal reported Saturday. Though a largely liberal denomination, the United Church of Christ has conservative sections which have objected to the amendment. “Rejecting God as Father in an age of fatherlessness is...

I walked through the meadows, now overrun graciously with this season’s weeds. Various shades of beige in weed supply is an artist’s pleasure.

Pastor turns out to be sex offender But many are willing to forgive Jeff Hood Lodi Bureau Chief Published Tuesday, Aug 22, 2006 LODI - A resident near Ebenezer Congregational Church was looking at a list of registered sex offenders on the Internet recently when he saw a familiar face. It belonged to the new pastor. Neighborhood whispers and e-mails about Bill Mastro's past culminated Friday evening with a community meeting at the east Lodi church. The 48-year-old pastor talked openly to two dozen concerned residents about his history, which includes a conviction on two child-molestation charges 17 years ago...

A small fire and anti-gay graffiti were found Saturday at a church belonging to the United Church of Christ, a denomination that endorsed same-sex marriage last week. The exterior of St. John's Reformed United Church of Christ also included a message that United Church of Christ members were sinners. A member of the congregation discovered the graffiti when he stopped by to mow the grass. He found a small fire within the sanctuary. The fire was put out in a few minutes, Lt. Tim McCray said. A Virginia State Police fire investigator was on the scene Saturday afternoon, but declined...

The United Church of Christ, one of the nation's most liberal Christian denominations, accused CBS and NBC yesterday of rejecting a commercial it had produced about religious tolerance, which included an implication that other denominations did not welcome gays, because the networks feared hostile reactions from conservative political and religious groups. The networks said they turned down the commercial for the same reason they had rejected numerous issue-oriented commercials in the past: they do not allow advocacy advertising. Network executives also said that the church might have been more interested in gaining publicity. Both networks said they had accepted a...

With a new TV ad, the United Church of Christ promotes itself as an accepting alternative for alienated believers. *snip* Moving to dispel the idea that only conservative church groups know how to attract new members, the predominantly liberal United Church of Christ is launching a series of TV ads to promote itself as an open and welcoming church. In the first commercial, which will begin airing Dec. 1, two nightclub-type bouncers stand at the entrance of a church, turning away people who don't pass muster. "No, step aside please," one of the bouncers says to a would-be entrant. "No...

TORONTO - They work for God, but say workplace conditions too often are wretched. A group of United Church clergy in Ontario and British Columbia, therefore, have taken the first steps toward unionizing the 4,000 pastors in Canada's largest Protestant denomination. Citing psychological and physical abuse, bad working conditions, sweatshop wages and a corporate church that responds to their problems inadequately, a group of 30 clerics in Ontario and a similar number on the West Coast have invited unions to step in and organize the church. Physical abuse has become such a problem for clergy that in England, the giant...