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The Family Research Council (FRC), one of the leading religious right groups, sent an e-mail alert to supporters today concerning the president's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Writes FRC spokesperson Tony Perkins:
When the Senate "Gang of 14" made their judicial deal last week conservatives had little to celebrate beyond a guaranteed up-or-down vote on three outstanding judges. The disastrous "compromise" did not promise a fair up-or-down vote on ALL the judges though, just a select few. One nominee whom the "Gang" threw overboard is Brett Kavanaugh, President Bush's choice for to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Perkins hopes supporters of the religious right will contact Congress and demand that Kavanaugh be placed on the court.
There are plenty of good reasons why senators should exercise their right to filibuster this nomination. People for the American gives three solid reasons why Kavanaugh should be opposed:
1. Strong Views or Strong Partisanship?
Kavanaugh has shown a stunning willingness to twist and shift legal theories and philosophies to best serve partisan interests. During the Clinton administration, Kavanaugh spent five years as part of Kenneth Starr’s Office of Independent Counsel, where one of his roles was to gain unprecedented access to the records of the President of the United States. In his role in the Bush administration, however, Kavanaugh seems to have radically changed his views on presidential privilege, and has worked diligently to ensure that the current President works with an unprecedented ability to keep presidential actions and records secret from Congress and the public. As summed up by The Washington Post, “within a few years, Kavanaugh’s work has gone from being described as ‘a serious blow to the presidency,’ as Clinton lawyer Lloyd Cutter put it, to promoting an ‘imperial presidency,’ as Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) put it.” 1
2. The Extremist Who Picked the Extremists
As Associate Counsel to the President from 2001-2003, Kavanaugh served as White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez’s “main deputy on the subject” of judicial nominees.2 In particular, according to several accounts, Kavanaugh personally “coordinated” the Administration’s extremely controversial and unsuccessful nominations of right-wing extremist Priscilla Owen to the Fifth Circuit and Miguel Estrada to the D.C. Circuit.3 Kavanaugh’s active role in picking such divisive nominees raises serious concerns about his own judicial temperment.
3. Troubling Lack of Experience
A 1990 graduate of Yale Law School, Mr. Kavanaugh’s legal resume is thin at best. When asked in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s questionnaire to state the number of cases he has tried to verdict or judgement, he replied “[n]one, as I have not been a trial lawyer.”4 Of the 22 judges appointed to the D.C. Circuit since the Nixon administration, only one – his own mentor Keneth Starr – had less legal experience at the time of his appointment than Kavanaugh.
Click here to read their full report.
Kavanaugh is not qualified to sit on any federal court. He lacks the judicial experience for this position and his extremist views on the role of the Constitution – as evidenced in part by the role he played as Ken Starr’s sidekick during the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton (charges he was found innocent of by the senate) – shows a fundamental lack of respect for the law and due process. His nomination should either be withdrawn by the president or filibustered by the senate.
The Leadership Council on Civil Rights offers additional information on the nomination on their web site.
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Endnotes
1 Dana Millbank, Whitewater Lawyer Turns Proponent of Presidential Power, Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2002; Jack Newfield, More Bad Judges, The Nation, Jan. 6, 2004.
2 Jeffrey Toobin, Advice and Dissent, The New Yorker, May 26, 2003.
3 Millbank.
4 Answers to Senate Judiciary Committee Question 17(c)(4).
American Christians are walking a difficult path in trying to bear witness to the biblical mandates we are required to follow related to issues of peace and justice. How we respond to events in Israel and Palestine illustrate this difficulty. Can Christians be advocates of peace and against the occupation of Palestinian communities without alienating Jewish communities?
This past week Christian leaders in the US met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and the National Council of Churches USA released a letter to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders supporting peace efforts. NCC reports:
NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar, along with other Christian leaders, met May 26 with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, who is in Washington to meet with government officials and religious leaders. Edgar told President Abbas of his deep sadness when he saw the so-called security walls between Israeli and Palestinian neighborhoods. "Walls separate, bridges heal," he told Abbas. Edgar also told Abbas that there is support for justice for the Palestinians from a broad spectrum of Christians in the U.S. Following an official delegation to the Middle East earlier this year, the NCC wrote to both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Abbas to express alarm and worry for the people in the region and to ask for a meeting to discuss the longstanding concern for peace, security and justice in the Holy Land. Click here for more information.
The Presbyterian Church USA has adopted a strategy of economic divestment from companies profiting from the occupation. The United Church of Christ will consider a similar proposal this summer at General Synod.
Such strategies have come under fire from Jewish groups. That is one reason Christians and Jewish leaders have been meeting in the US over the last year – and have now jointly planned a trip to the Middle East. NCC reports:
A dialogue table begun a year ago between staff and representatives of several Christian denominations and mainstream Jewish organizations is showing signs of maturity, says the NCC executive who coordinates the Christian partners in the dialogue. At its most recent meeting May 13, the table members agreed on plans for a Jewish-Christian trip to the Middle East September 18-23, and reached a consensus on a set of principles about how the groups speak to one another and to the media. "The table, which sometimes experienced intense negotiations and often felt tenuous, has held," Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, NCC Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations, said Wednesday. "There was hardly a 'tea and sympathy' phase in this dialogue," he said, citing a phrase attributed to Rabbi Leon Klenicki. "The stakes for peace in the Middle East were too high." For more information, click here.
Continued dialogue is important. All people of faith have a stake in the events occurring in the Middle East. We must pray for peace – but we must also find ways to take actions that further the cause of peace. There may be times when such actions are unpopular but still wise.
Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, one of the largest UCC congregations in the nation, was profiled this week on PBS’ Religion and Ethics News Weekly:
LUCKY SEVERSON, guest anchor: In the eyes of some African Americans, the role of Christianity has not always been a positive one, especially in the context of slavery and the civil rights movement. And yet, before Africans became slaves in this country, many of them embraced the Christian tradition in their old country. Now, we see a trend that combines Christianity with the African-American identity. Kelly Hudson reports from Chicago.
KELLY HUDSON: Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's black South Side. More than 30 years ago, in response to the Black Power movement, Trinity decided to embrace its African heritage along with its Christianity. It called as its pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a young black activist from Philadelphia.
Reverend JEREMIAH WRIGHT Jr. (Senior Pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ): They said, "Are we going to be a black church in a black community? Or are we going to continue to be a white church in blackface?" I said, "The greatest need is for kids who have not been taught their story. To go back to Deuteronomy 6, you must teach your children their story. Who's doing it?" Nobody was.
HUDSON: So Wright started to teach what became known as "Africentric Christianity." Under his leadership, Trinity has grown to 5,000 members, the largest congregation in the predominantly white United Church of Christ.
Africentric Christianity is partly about identifying an African presence in the Bible, but it goes much deeper than that. Africentric Christians are seeking to affirm their African heritage in the context of Christianity.
Click here to read the full story and to watch the video.
Trinity has a long and distinguished history of providing a prophetic voice to the community of Chicago and to the United Church of Christ as a whole. This is the home church of US Senator Barack Obama.
This story highlights the growing diversity in the United Church of Christ.
Last week a bi-partisan group of senators averted a showdown over the president’s judicial appointments with a compromise that allowed some of the nominees to move forward but retained the right of minority democrats to filibuster others.
The elimination of the filibuster was sought by the religious right.
Now the religious right is promising retribution for those republicans who voted for the agreement. Religion News Service reports:
WASHINGTON -- Richard Land, James Dobson and Paul Weyrich are angry -- angry at "activist" judges who they say are legislating from the bench, angry at Democrats who try to derail judicial nominations and angry at Republicans who are allowing the filibuster to survive.
But these leaders of the Christian right reserve a special anger for Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who helped broker a compromise on judicial nominees with seven Democrats and six other Republicans.
McCain can "forget about his presidential ambitions" in 2008, said Weyrich, co-founder of the now-defunct Moral Majority and president of the Washington-based Free Congress Foundation.
McCain, a longtime nemesis of religious conservatives, wasn't the only lawmaker threatened with retribution.
"Trust me," said Land, president of the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "Conservatives know who to blame, and they will have an opportunity to express their feelings in the primaries of 2008."
Where does Land, representing a religious denomination, get off involving his church in partisan primary campaigns?
There is nothing wrong with religious people becoming involved in partisan politics - we do it all the time - but it can not be done through our churches.
It is simply against the law if Land and the others are using non-profit church groups to influence partisan elections.
Any chance the Bush Administration will enforce the law? Hardly.
Related Post: Deal Kills "Nuclear Option" Supported By Religious Right; Allows More Bush Nominees To Move Forward
From the World Council of Churches:
"An ecumenical movement that doesn't involve conversations between people who disagree would not be an ecumenical movement," says Michael Kinnamon in the following interview given at the 9-16 May 2005 Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).
Dr Kinnamon, a minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), is professor of mission, peace and ecumenical studies at Eden Theological Seminary in suburban Saint Louis, USA. He has served on the staff of the WCC's Faith and Order commission as well as on many national and international church committees and task groups.
Click here to read the interview.
Dr. Kinnamon is one of my professors at Eden. He is widely respected for his work on ecumenical issues. His latest book, Vision of the Ecumenical Movement: And How It Has Been Impoverished By Its Friends, is a good read for those interested in the subject.
Related Post: Church Leader Talks About Middle East With The St. Louis Dispatch
Related Post: St. Louis Professor Receives National Recognition For His Work to Bring Churches Together
Can progressive mainline Christians, conservative evangelicals and Roman Catholics work together to strengthen the Church universal?
That is the question that will be considered next week in a bold experiment for the divided Body of Christ. Delegates representing most of the Christian denominations – both Protestant and Catholic – will gather in California to formally establish a new organization to be called Christian Churches Together in the USA. Their web site reports:
Christian Churches Together in the USA (CCT) will hold its organizing meeting June 1-3, 2005 at El Retiro, the Jesuit Retreat House in Los Altos, California. Over 35 representatives of Christian Churches and National Christian Organizations (25 Churches and Christian organizations is the threshold number for establishing CCT) have already indicated they will attend the meeting. At the meeting those Churches and Christian organizations who have decided to become founding participants will select a Steering Committee and adopt Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and Dues Structure. Together, they will pray, worship and consider the future of CCT. Additionally, they will hear about plans for the September celebration launching CCT which marks the historical coming together of the major Christian Faith Families in the USA. Following the meeting founding members will be announced to the public. Planning for the June, Los Altos meeting is under the leadership of Father Ron Roberson, Chair, Rev. Roberta Hestenes, Rev. Carlos Malave, and Rev. Robert Welch.
A worship service and celebration to mark the formation of CCT has been set for September 18, 2005 at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
CCT will not be a replacement organization for the existing National Council of Churches USA (NCC helped to develop this new organization). The new group will have a broader membership base – and that diversity will mean that CCT will be unable to speak on the same broad range of issues that NCC speaks on. The value in CCT will be the role it can play in fostering dialogue between different Christian bodies.
At least this Southern Baptist minister had the good sense to apologize....
A Southern Baptist pastor apologized for posting an anti-Muslim sign at his church in North Carolina, following criticism by leaders in the Muslim-American community.
Creighton Lovelace said he regretted posting a message that read, "The Koran needs to be flushed," according to a Wednesday (May 25) report by Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, which quoted a written statement made by Lovelace.
His excuse?
Lovelace, pastor of Danieltown Baptist Church in Forest City, N.C., said he was unaware that the Qur'an was so highly valued and "that devoted Muslims view it more highly than many in the U.S. view the Bible."
What is being taught at Southern Baptist seminaries? Sadly, bad theology.
It is no wonder that Lovelace pleads ignorance of Islam. It was just in 2002 that The Rev. Jerry Vines, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, told members of his denomination that:
"Some would have us believe that Islam is just as good as Christianity," said Vines. "Christianity was founded by the virgin-born son of God, Jesus Christ. Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives, the last one of which was a nine-year-old girl." In addition, Vines said, "Allah is not Jehovah either. Jehovah's not going to turn you into a terrorist that'll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands and thousands of people."
Lovelace should be thanked for apologizing. But there is something rotten at the core of a church whose leaders make such statements.
Not all Christians believe in the Southern Baptist view of Islam. The United Church of Christ has adopted a statement calling for better relations between Christians and Muslims.
Related Link: Religious Humiliation of Muslim Detainees Widespread
Related Post: Fuller Seminary Works With Muslims
Related Post: NC Southern Baptist Pastor Resigns
The United Church of Christ has expanded their on-line news service - United Church News - with a new web site. This is not simply a promotional site. You'll read there about both the successes and struggles of our denomination. Check it out.
Message from the National Council of Churches USA
The Eco-Justice Program of the National Council of Churches USA has launched a new Western Public Lands Initiative to address growing threats to our nation’s public lands and associated resources. Previously, the NCC has conducted ecumenical and interfaith programs addressing a range of environmental issues including air and water pollution, global warming, and energy conservation. Now the NCC will encourage its member denominations and partner organizations to make responsible stewardship and management of public lands an integral part of their efforts to protect and care for God’s creation. Through worship, education, and advocacy, the NCC initiative aims to begin answering the Biblical call to protect and redeem God’s lands. For more, click here.
Related Link: NCC general secretary nudges James Watt toward greater greenness
Related Post: God's Mandate: Care for Creation
Each day we hear and learn more about the crisis unfolding in Iraq as a result of the America occupation. Life has not improved for the Iraqi people. In fact, it is measurably worse in many ways. The Roman Catholic organization Pax Christi USA has made resources available on their web site for those Christians concerned about the on-going crisis in Iraq. The resources include this moving Litany of Repentance. I commend it to you and your congregations for use in worship:
Let us acknowledge the history of our nation’s relationship with Iraq and pray for forgiveness. Our response is: Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have failed to choose life over death...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have chosen ignorance over knowledge...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have not stood up to evil...Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s support of the regime of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war...Jesus, forgive us.
For the chemical and conventional weapons our nation sold to Iraq in the 1980s...Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s willingness to partner with brutal dictatorships when it serves its own political agenda...Jesus, forgive us.
For the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died during the First Gulf War...Jesus, forgive us.
For the environmental damage to air and water, the babies born with deformities, and soldiers and civilians suffering from strange illnesses due to our use of depleted uranium munitions in the First Gulf War...Jesus, forgive us.
For the bombing of Iraq’s civilian infrastructure during the First Gulf War...Jesus, forgive us.
For twelve years of crippling economic sanctions which left hundreds of thousands of innocent children dead because they had no medicines or food...Jesus, forgive us.
For our own addiction to oil and the policies which fuel the addiction...Jesus, forgive us.
For the seeds of grief and anger we planted in generations of young people who saw their brothers and sisters die because of the sanctions...Jesus, forgive us.
For the lies which our government perpetrated to make its case for war against Iraq, especially the suggestions that Iraq was responsible for 9-11...Jesus, forgive us.
For the ongoing rape of Iraq’s natural resources to serve the corporate greed of U.S. and transnational corporations...Jesus, forgive us.
For our government’s sanction and use of torture...Jesus, forgive us.
For military assaults against mosques...Jesus, forgive us.
For the racism that is inherent in our policies toward Iraq and throughout the Middle East...Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s military occupation of Iraq and manipulation of its internal politics...Jesus, forgive us.
For the mounting deaths of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have not stood up to evil...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have chosen ignorance over knowledge...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have failed to choose life over death...Jesus, forgive us.
A bi-partisan group in the US House of Representatives passed legislation this week to expand public funding for embryonic stem cell research. The president immediately threatened to veto the legislation. The religious right has declared that such research is in opposition to Christian values. But that pronouncement is not shared by all Christians. In fact, the United Church of Christ adopted a resolution in 2001 in favor of federal funding of embryonic stem cell research under the rational that “Jesus set an example, by his ministry of healing and caring for the sick and disabled, challenging us to follow his example by supporting the healing and caring ministry in our own day.”
Embryonic stem cell research has the potential to unlock cures for conditions like “diabetes, spinal cord paralysis, heart disease, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, cancer, MS [multiple sclerosis], Lou Gehrig's disease and other fatal, debilitating diseases," says Rep. Jim Ramstad, a Minnesota Republican.
No one is talking about growing embryonic stem cells simply for research. The legislation adopted by the House – which is in line with the ethical guidelines adopted by the UCC – “allows federally funded research on stem cell lines that were derived ethically from donated embryos determined to be in excess," says Republican Delaware congressman Mike Castle.
Christians can confidently and morally support embryonic stem cell research. We are called to support a healing and caring ministry in our own day and this research can help meet that goal.
Click here for additional information on the issues involved from the testimony of The Rev. Ronald Cole-Turner, a UCC minister, before the National Bioethics Advisory Committee. Another good essay dealing with the issues, this one from Dr. Betty Hoskins, is available on the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice web site.
The fallout from the bi-partisan agreement to table a proposal from the religious right that would have ended the ability of Senators to filibuster is growing. The religious right is acting like a thermonuclear device went off under their plans to take over the judiciary. As Kevin Eckstrom of Religious News Service reports, religious progressive may have reason to celebrate the political defeat handed the religious right by both republicans and democrats:
Washington, May 24 - Six months after the November elections left them defeated and demoralized, progressive religious groups by most measures continue to be outpaced and drowned out by well-organized conservative groups.
Yet progressive leaders say the fight over judicial nominations has shown they are making measured progress in moderating the influence of conservative heavyweights with close ties to Republicans. Leaders of the "religious left" say they are slowly but steadily resurrecting a moribund movement. There is a coordination unseen since the heyday of the Vietnam era, they say, and plans are taking shape to match conservatives in media, mobility and -- most important -- money.
"Victory is not moving the nation to the left," said the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches and former Democratic congressman. "It's moving the nation back to the middle."
Click here to read the full story.
Those of us driven by our faith to speak out against war, poverty and the environmental crisis are doing a better job this year of getting our message out. But we need to work harder, organize more, raise more money, and find ways to be in community and worship with one another. Progressive Christians helped win a victory for democracy last night. We should celebrate that and then get back to work. We have a long walk ahead of us.
Convicted Watergate figure and prominent religious right spokesperson Chuck Colson is linking to my site today as part of an article critical of faculty, students, staff, and alumni at Calvin College for protesting against the president. Colson, who took part in the “Justice Sunday” event which explicitly claimed those who opposed the president’s judicial nominees where “against people of faith,” is upset that people associated with the conservative Calvin College campus for what he claims where attacks criticizing the president’s faith because of the war in Iraq and his economic policies. Colson, a man who has demonstrated contempt for the truth in his carrier, ignores the facts here as well. No one at Calvin questioned the president’s faith. They just said the president’s policies benefiting the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the least of these (not to mention waging unprovoked war) didn’t match their understanding of the Christian faith. The president has actually claimed that God wants him to be president. Those at Calvin should be applauded for defending Christianity from those on the religious right who want to highjack our faith for partisan political purposes.
This post has been updated
Many Christian Groups Stood up For Democracy And Against The Religious Right’s Partisan Political Agenda
A bi-partisan group of United States Senators tonight beat back the attempt by the religious right to take away the right of the minority party in the Senate to filibuster judicial nominees. Republicans called the attempt to take away the filibuster the “nuclear option.” The deal will allow some of the 10 nominees put forward by the president (nominees that democrats have opposed because of their extreme views on issues like civil rights) to be voted on shortly but will preserve the right of senators to filibuster others. The Senate has already confirmed 95% of the people nominated by the president to serve on the federal bench. Progressives should be concerned over the nominations that will move forward. But the deal is clearly a political set-back for the White House, Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist and the religious right (groups like Focus on the Family pleaded against the compromise over the last 24-hours). Who wins? Democracy itself. The voices of progressives and moderates have – at least for today – saved the right of minority voices to be heard in the United States Senate.
Related Post: Protestant and Catholic Groups Agree: Defeat the Religious Right and Defend The US Constitution
Related Post: Religious Leaders To Senator Bill Frist: Drop Out Of “Justice Sunday” Or Risk Dividing The Country
Update: The Religious Right is already going, well, nuclear over the deal. Focus on the Family just e-mailed out the following statement to supporters making political threats against the bi-partisan group of Senators who reached the deal:
Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson blasted as a "complete betrayal" tonight a deal by Senate Republicans to forego guaranteeing all of President Bush's judicial nominees an up-or-down confirmation vote.
Under terms of the deal, Democrats will allow final confirmation votes for three filibustered appeals court nominees -- Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor. There is "no commitment to vote for or against" the filibuster against two other nominees to the appeals court, Henry Saad and William Myers….
"This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats," Dobson said. "Only three of President Bush's nominees will be given the courtesy of an up-or-down vote, and it's business as usual for all the rest. The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain in effect, and nothing of significance has changed….
"We are grateful to Majority Leader Frist for courageously fighting to defend the vital principle of basic fairness," Dobson added. "That principle has now gone down to defeat. We share the disappointment, outrage and sense of abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans who helped put Republicans in power last November. I am certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and Republicans who betrayed their trust."
Dobson has spent a lot of time since November threatening those who disagree with his extremist agenda. Independent groups have called for the tax exempt status of Focus on the Family to be investigated for engaging in partisan politics. Focus on the Family has several legal entities.
The Republican leadership in the Senate will attempt this week to silence minority voices in the debate over the president’s ultra-conservative judicial nominations by ending the right of senators to filibuster. No political party has ever tried to silence the minority party in such a manner. The right of the US Senate to advise and consent on presidential nominations will be forever compromised.
The religious right has argued – with the support of Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist – that opposing the president’s judicial nominations is tantamount to being “against people of faith.” Groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council have misused the Christian faith to promote a narrow and conservative partisan political agenda.
FaithfulAmerica.org – the advocacy arm of the National Council of Churches USA – has joined many pro-democracy groups in the United States in asking citizens to defend the Constitution and take a stand against religious extremism:
SEND A MESSAGE to your Senator saying the filibuster is NOT anti-faith and that preserving it is an important way for every voice to be heard. We must never allow social and religious fundamentalists of any faith to silence the voices of those holding different beliefs. Take action using the link below. Thanks!
The National Council of Churches USA is made up of: African Methodist Episcopal Church, The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Churches in the USA, The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Church of the Brethren, The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America, The Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Friends United Meeting, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Hungarian Reformed Church in America, International Council of Community Churches, Korean Presbyterian Church in America, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Mar Thoma Church, Moravian Church in America Northern Province and Southern Province, National Baptist Convention of America, National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, Orthodox Church in America, Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Polish National Catholic Church of America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., Reformed Church in America, Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada, The Swedenborgian Church Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America, United Church of Christ, and The United Methodist Church.
Many of the denominations part of NCC have issued statements that speak to their own members critical of the efforts of the religious right. Pax Christi USA, the Roman Catholic organization, has also been critical of the move to end the filibuster.
Click here to read more about the judges the president wants to appoint.
By J. Bennett Guess
United Church News Director
In July, the United Church of Christ's General Synod will be asked to consider a measure that would affirm the possibility of multiple paths for "forming and preparing" ordained ministers.
The long-anticipated, widely-vetted "pronouncement" - a weighty statement that calls the church to its highest levels of conversation, action and implementation - makes a case that regional training and mentoring can be effective models, in some settings, for educating persons for ordination.
Like most mainline Protestant churches, the 1.3-million-member UCC has predominately adhered to a European model of educating its clergy: four years of college, followed by three years of seminary.
"The heart of this issue," says the Rev. Richard Sparrow, "is that, as we live into our goal of becoming a multiracial, multicultural, open-and-affirming, accessible-to-all church, the one-size, 4-plus-3 educational path does not adequately address the leadership needs of the UCC in all of its settings."
Sparrow, who leads the denomination's parish life and leadership ministry in Cleveland, says the pronouncement underscores the church's commitment to maintaining a highly educated clergy, but allows room for the possibility that there can be other effective ways to equip persons for ordained leadership.
"What it calls for is a deeper discernment of preparedness for ministry on behalf of our [Association-level] committees on ministry," Sparrow says. "It calls for a renewal and study of the [candidate's] in-care process as a time of formation and discernment. Committees on ministry are being called to a deeper understanding of their primary task, which is to concern themselves with the gifts, training, skills and abilities of those authorized for ministry."
Already, Sparrow points out, the UCC's Manual on Ministry outlines ordination criteria that includes the phrase "or its equivalent." However, he says, the church has had difficulty discerning, much less embracing, the word "equivalent."
"The grassroots of the church has been asking for this for 15-plus years," says Sparrow, who considers himself to be an advocate of the process, not the pronouncement itself.
The proposal does not call for a restructure of the church's three forms of authorized ministry: ordained, licensed and commissioned. More so, it opens up the possibility that licensed ministers - those who serve as pastoral leaders but often lack the formal "4-plus-3" education - could be ordained.
"We understand that for some individuals and some congregations that licensed ministry will continue to be sufficient," Sparrow says. "But for others, ordination will not be automatically barred based on formal education alone."
"We need leaders who understand and have a passion for the UCC," he says, "and that's not only a matter of 'knowing' but of 'loving' the church."
The Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, underscores the pronouncement's sweeping significance, saying, "While other resolutions have sparked interest because of their controversial nature, nothing the Synod does this summer will be more important than considering the ministry issues pronouncement. Nothing less than the capacity to provide leadership to many of our congregations in rural or transitional urban communities is at stake."
In November 2004, the UCC's Council for Theological Education, which includes the UCC's seminary presidents, among others, released a joint letter stating: "We agree that the traditional, seven-year, college/seminary path will and should continue to be the path for many persons. Indeed, we think it will and should be that for most persons seeking ordination."
However, the council recognized that other paths may be needed, even though deep consideration will need to be given to the specifics of these alternatives and their implementation.
"We also agree that other options must be developed to meet the needs of a changing church," the statement continued. "We believe that, in order to be truly effective, these options will need extensive further development, review and monitoring. In particular, we believe that the equivalency the church seeks should not be located in the preparation process but in the unique qualifications of the candidate for ordination."
Thomas agrees, saying, "Formal theological education in the seminaries of the church should, I believe, remain normative for the future of the UCC. But the diverse cultural and demographic contexts of many of our communities will require that exceptions be made."
Thomas says, if the pronouncement passes in July, then "the real work will just begin."
"The national setting, the seminaries, the Conferences and our church and ministry committees will need to begin developing the multiple paths to ordination called for," Thomas says, "and we will need to begin working on ways to help persons called to ministry discern not what will be the most convenient path to ordination for them, but what will be the most appropriate."
Thomas says the proposal will require money to support theological education in multiple settings.
"Access to theological education, in our seminaries or in yet-to-be-developed Conference-based programs is a justice issue for the church," Thomas says. "The question must not be how can a candidate pay for his or her education, but how can the church take both the financial and the educational responsibility for equipping persons for ministry."
The proposed pronouncement is available online at ucc.org/synod/resolutions/pronouncements25.htm
Faculty, staff, students and alumni protested the commencement address by George W. Bush this weekend at the evangelical Christian run Calvin College. People associated with Calvin, well known for being a fairly conservative campus, should represent the president’s political base. But over 700 people associated with the school signed an advertisement that ran Friday and Saturday in The Grand Rapids Press critical of the president’s policies in Iraq and on poverty at home. The text of the ad is as follows:
Dear President Bush:
We are students, alumni and friends of Calvin College who are deeply troubled that you will be the commencement speaker at Calvin on May 21st. In our view, the policies and actions of your administration, both domestically and internationally over the past four years, violate many deeply held principles of Calvin College.
Calvin is a rigorous intellectual institution, and a truly Christian one. Since its inception in 1876, Calvin has educated its students to use their minds and hearts to transform the world into a "beloved community" where no one is an outcast and all of God's children are cared for. Calvin teaches its students to work for peace and justice, and to be good stewards of God's creation.
By their deeds ye shall know them, says the Bible. Your deeds, Mr. President--neglecting the needy to coddle the rich, desecrating the environment, and misleading the country into war--do not exemplify the faith we live by.
Moreover, many of your supporters are using religion as a weapon to divide our nation and advance a narrow partisan agenda. We are deeply disappointed in your failure to renounce their inflammatory rhetoric.
We urge you not to use Calvin College as a platform to advance policies that violate the school's religious principles. Furthermore, we urge you to repudiate the false claims of supporters who say that those who oppose your policies are the enemies of religion.
The president used he speech to promote volunteerism. Unfortunately, his policies have resulted in the need for more volunteers to address the rising tide of poverty under his watch. His budget policies are opposed by many Christian leaders.
Calvin College professors Randal Jelks and Ruth Groenhout were two of the faculty involved with collecting signatures for the advertisement.
Many graduating seniors were reported to be wearing “God Is Not A Republican… or a Democrat” buttons on their gowns during the commencement address.
The retraction of a Newsweek story claiming that Americans had desecrated copies of the Koran is not the end of the story. There is widespread evidence that the United States has engaged in systematic torture and religious humiliation of Muslims. Human Rights Watch reports:
(New York, May 19, 2005)—U.S. interrogators have repeatedly sought to offend the religious beliefs of Muslim detainees as part of their interrogation strategy,
Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch said that the dispute over the retracted allegations in Newsweek that U.S. interrogators had desecrated a Koran at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has overshadowed the fact that religious humiliation of detainees at Guantánamo and elsewhere has been widespread.
“In detention centers around the world, the United States has been humiliating Muslim prisoners by offending their religious beliefs,” said Reed Brody, special counsel for Human Rights Watch.
On December 2, 2002, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized a list of techniques for interrogation of prisoners at Guantánamo, which included “removal of all comfort items (including religious items),” “forced grooming (shaving of facial hair, etc.),” and “removal of clothing.” Each of these practices is considered offensive to many Muslims. These techniques were later applied in Afghanistan and Iraq as well.
The purpose of these techniques, Human Rights Watch said, is to inflict humiliation on detainees, which is strictly prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
Several former detainees have said that U.S. interrogators disrespected the Koran. Three Britons released from Guantánamo have alleged that the Koran was kicked and thrown in the toilet. A former Russian detainee, Aryat Vahitov, has reportedly made the same claim. A former Kuwaiti detainee, Nasser Nijer Naser al-Mutairi, has said that the throwing of a Koran on the floor led to a hunger strike at Guantánamo that ended only after a senior officer expressed regret over the camp's loudspeaker. Human Rights Watch also interviewed detainees who described a protest at a U.S. detention site at Kandahar airbase in Afghanistan in early 2002 that was set off by a guard’s alleged desecration of the Koran.
Click here for more.
The National Council of Churches USA has issued several statements calling for the protection of the human rights of prisoners in Guantánamo. The most recent statement issued this week reads:
NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar, in a letter to Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker, has urged a second look into allegations that the Qur'an has been desecrated on U.S. military installations. Newsweek retracted a report that Guantanamo Bay interrogators flushed a Qur'an down a toilet after the magazine's source proved unreliable. But Edgar said there are similar stories documented in the press, including the New York Times. In his May 19 letter to Newsweek, Edgar urged "the Secretary of Defense to immediately inquire into these allegations and appropriately and officially reprimand those who are responsible for the desecration of the Qur'an." He also urged President Bush to clearly echo the remarks of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice "that the desecration of holy books is not in keeping with the values this country holds dear."
Click here to read the full text of the letter.
All people of faith should be concerned over the on-going pattern of human rights abuses fostered by the United States government. This is a moral and spiritual crisis. We should pray to God for forgiveness and work for justice.
When I served as the executive director of the Goose Hollow Family Shelter at Portland’s First United Methodist Church it was not uncommon for over half the families staying at the shelter to arrive with at least one family member employed full time. Most of those people were working minimum wage jobs with no benefits.
Homelessness is a condition of poverty.
Churches are getting behind a much needed new effort in Congress to increase the minimum wage. The National Council of Churches reports:
Washington, D.C., May 20, 2005--Organizers of the "Let Justice Roll: Faith and Community Voices Against Poverty" campaign, including the National Council of Churches USA and the Center for Community Change, today announced its support of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2005, which was introduced in the U.S. Senate and House on Wednesday, May 18 by Senator Edward Kennedy and Rep. George Miller, respectively. If it passes, the legislation, which calls for an increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15/hour to $7.25/hour over two years, would be one step toward alleviating the increasing numbers of people who live in poverty in this country.
Faith and community groups are concerned about the increasing number of workers paid poverty wages in this nation. Since the last minimum wage increase was passed in 1997, the value has eroded by more than 15 percent. Consequently, to have the purchasing power it had in 1968, for example, the minimum wage would have to be $8.90/hour, $3.75 more than it is today.
You can learn more about homelessness by visiting the National Coalition for the Homeless. I served for several years on the board of directors of this group and encourage you to support their work with a donation. Visit the web site of the Let Justice Roll: Faith and Community Voices Against Poverty Campaign to learn more about how you can support this critical faith effort to overcome poverty.
Among the supporters of the effort to raise the minimum wage are:
ACORN
African American Ministers Leadership Council (People for the American Way)
American Friends Service Committee
Arizona Ecumenical Council
California Church Impact
Center for American Progress
Center for Community Change
Cleveland ACORN
Dunk the Vote
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
Families United for Racial Economic Equality—FUREE
Interfaith Worker Justice
Just Harvest
Kansas Ecumenical Ministries
Kentucky Council of Churches
Lehigh Valley Interfaith Mobilization
Let Justice Roll—Rochester
Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry in New Jersey
Minnesota Council of Churches
Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation
National Council of Churches USA
New Mexico Conference of Churches
North Carolina Council of Churches
Ohio Council of Churches
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
Philadelphia Unemployment Project
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Progressive Christians Uniting
Progressive National Baptist Convention
Protestants for the Common Good
Social Concerns Network at Candler School of Theology
South Carolina People’s Agenda
Southern California Ecumenical Council
The Episcopal Church USA
The Interfaith Alliance
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association
United Church of Christ, Justice & Witness Ministries
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
Voices of the Electors (V.O.T.E.)
Washington Association of Churches
Welfare Engine
WHALE Center
Wisconsin Council of Churches
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has also urged Congress to increase the minimum wage this year.
Andrea Cano, who works for the United Church of Christ and is based in Portland, Oregon, sent along this e-mail for distribution. For additional information contact the Central Pacific Conference of the UCC.
Portland, OR – God is Still Seeking Racial Justice is the theme of a timely multiracial, multicultural national consultation slated for Nov. 10-13, 2005, Ambridge Event Center, 300 NE Multnomah St, Portland, Oregon, as part of the retirement celebration of the 41 years of ministry of the Rev. Dr. Hector E. Lopez, Co-Conference Minister of the UCC Central Pacific Conference.
The planning team comprised of the leadership from the CPC Conference in partnership with the UCC Office of General Ministries, Local Church Ministries, Justice and Witness, Wider Church Ministries, and representatives from the Council for Hispanic Ministries, Pacific Island and Asian American Ministries, and United Black Christians, is extending a wide invitation and extravagant welcome to all people who see racial justice as a foundational element of the United Church of Christ to come and share with each other their mutual stories.
Explains Rev. Lopez, “As I pondered my upcoming retirement I wondered how best to celebrate the ending of my journey of ministry within the community of the UCC. The thought of a vast banquet with countless people roasting me was not too exciting. But then I thought that the fulminating reason for my coming to ministry was God’s incessant call to our generation for racial justice. The events and people of the 1950’ and 1960’s such as the Brown Act, Rosa Mae Parks, Dr. King Jr., Larry Itliong, Wounded Knee, and Cesar Chavez were the impelling reason for my heeding a call. So, I thought it would be appropriate to end as I began, with the focus on racial justice. The consultation can be a helpful resource to local churches, conferences, ecumenical partners, and our national church as we assess the state of our mutual ministry for racial justice and discern what God is calling us yet to do.”
Speakers confirmed to date are former UCC President Paul Sherry, Linda Jaramillo, and Larry Burnley. The event will feature the voices reflecting upon the past, present and future from every major community within the UCC family on an intergenerational basis – African American, Latino, Pacific Islander, Asian American, Native American, European American, and the international presence, through worship, plenaries, mixed groups to discern God’s call to the People of God, fellowship, cultural and artistic expressions, and visits to local exemplary racial and ethnic projects in the Portland Metropolitan area. It is anticipated that inspired common resolutions emerging from the discussions will contribute to a Convent of Unity and Commissioning at the close of the consultation.
Registration for the event is $75 which will include the closing banquet. Pre-registration and information about housing at union hotels, homestays, travel can be obtained by calling (503) 228 3178, by requesting via e-mail: centralpacific@cpcucc.org, or visiting the website in early June: www.cpcucc.org.
On our trip back from Oregon and Washington we had to fly into Salt Lake City on Tuesday afternoon for a connecting flight to St. Louis. Unfortunately, our connection was cancelled due to mechanical problems and we ended up stranded for 36 hours in Utah (with twin 10-month olds). Note to Delta: You are in such big trouble with us.
So what are a UCC seminarian and his family to do when stranded in Salt Lake City? Tour Temple Square. This is the downtown city block where the Mormons have set-up their national shop. We visited the outside of their temple (non-Mormons aren’t allowed inside), walked through some truly beautiful gardens, toured their new convention center with its really breathtaking roof-top garden and view of the mountains, and ate some pretty good food. Everyone we met on the tour was incredibly gracious and friendly. Neither Liz nor I had ever visited the city before. Theologically I have some rather profound differences with the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (the official name of the denomination). We enjoyed our trip there regardless of any differences and hope that some time in the future we get to spend a little more time in Salt Lake City (maybe exploring the mountains). Since we often fly Delta there is a high degree of probability our wish will come true….
One of my recent purchases at the Eden Bookstore was John Shelby Spong’s The Sins of Scripture. Spong retired as the Episcopal bishop of Newark in 2000 and has taught at Harvard Divinity School and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He has previously written the best-selling Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism and several other books. Beliefnet.com published an interview this week with Spong discussing The Sins of Scripture. Make sure you read the interview. The book itself is well written and accessible to all types of people and Spong offers insightful biblical commentary. A great Sunday school class could be put together around this book. I may try and put together such a course myself.
