Free Republic

The United Church of Christ, the denomination whose Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright blasted the United States and white people for years from the pulpit while Barack Obama sat in his pews, has decided to banish God "the Father" from its organizational documents. A report from Eric Anderson on the denomination's website confirmed that delegates to the UCC's "General Synod 28" agreed late Monday to a series of proposed amendments to the constitution and bylaws. The vote was 613 in favor of the changes, 171 against and 10 abstaining. The changes include a pointed deletion of a reference to God "as...

No wonder they say their church was stolen from them – by the leaders of the faith they practiced, the same leaders who changed the locks to keep them out of that church. Their forefathers built their North Branch church in 1934 with two by fours cut from trees they felled here in western Sullivan County. Their mothers and fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers were baptized, married and laid to rest in their church set among the pine trees in this hamlet tucked in the snowy mountains of the western Catskills. And when local children couldn't afford winter coats to keep...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined by 12 leaders of Christian churches and organizations, urged the Obama administration to support a resolution submitted to the U.N. Security Council which calls on Israel to stop illegal construction of settlements on Palestinian land.      "We are Christian leaders deeply committed to building a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians," the Christian leaders wrote in a Feb. 2 letter to U.S. President Barack Obama. "We also share a concern for our Christian companions, who are constantly working for the good...

A federal judge has dismissed claims that Augsburg Fortress Publishers violated federal labor law when it moved to dissolve its pension plan so that 500 current and former employees will receive less than originally promised. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found the retirement plan is a "church plan," exempt from the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act of 1974. "We're pleased with the result," said Charles Knapp, an attorney for Augsburg Fortress. "But it's a regrettable situation all the way around. If Augsburg Fortress hadn't terminated it, the plan would have run out of money in five years. It was...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the ELCA Board of Pensions responded publicly to a Dec. 3 lawsuit filed against them in a Minnesota state court by four plaintiffs. The plaintiffs claim the ELCA Board of Pensions acted improperly to reduce annuity payments to retirees participating in an annuity retirement fund. The suit was filed in a district court in Hennepin County, Minn., by the Rev. Arthur F. Haimerl, the Rev. Benjamin A. Johnson and two former pastors, Larry D. Cartford and Dr. Ronald A. Lundeen. Named as defendants were the...

A local church conference questions how much the CEO of a social services nonprofit earns. A local congress of Lutherans wants to know why the top executive of a large, church-affiliated social services agency has a compensation package topping $1 million. In 2006, the Rev. Dr. Daun E. McKee, CEO and president of Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries, collected $385,947 in salary, $582,925 in benefits and a $63,591 expense account for a total $1.03 million, according to tax records. McKee's compensation topped all other nonprofit executives in the region, according to the Central Penn Business Journal. Diakon officials defend McKee and...