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Howard Dean, front-runner to become the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, is a member of the United Church of Christ. J. Bennett Guess has an article up on UCC web site talking about Dean's involvement with the UCC and general information on the denomination's history.
Related Post: Howard Dean for DNC Chair
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This post has been updated
Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberson and Albert Mohler will be pleased with the State of the Union address made by the president tonight. A transcript of the speech made available by the White House shows that the president is seeking to pay back his friends in the religious right with proposals designed to foster intolerance and limit women’s rights. What the speech didn't do is offer an agenda rooted in Christian teachings. Take a look:
Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of society, it should not be re-defined by activist judges. For the good of families, children, and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage.
– President Bush
Many religious leaders – even some of those opposed to gay marriage – oppose amending the United States constitution. If the president’s proposal were enacted in would represent the first time the constitution would be amended to limit the rights of a single class of Americans. Leaders of the United Church of Christ have been particularly outspoken in opposition to this amendment.
Because a society is measured by how it treats the weak and vulnerable, we must strive to build a culture of life. Medical research can help us reach that goal, by developing treatments and cures that save lives and help people overcome disabilities - and I thank Congress for doubling the funding of the National Institutes of Health. To build a culture of life, we must also ensure that scientific advances always serve human dignity, not take advantage of some lives for the benefit of others. We should all be able to agree on some clear standards. I will work with Congress to ensure that human embryos are not created for experimentation or grown for body parts, and that human life is never bought and sold as a commodity. America will continue to lead the world in medical research that is ambitious, aggressive, and always ethical.
– President Bush
Stem cell research – which has been severally limited by the president – is critical. How does it promote human dignity to leave people in wheelchairs without hope? Healing is the sick is a primary concern of Christians and all that can be done ethically to promote research should be done. The president’s approach isn’t ethical – it is obstructionist.
Because courts must always deliver impartial justice, judges have a duty to faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench. As President, I have a constitutional responsibility to nominate men and women who understand the role of courts in our democracy, and are well qualified to serve on the bench - and I have done so. The Constitution also gives the Senate a responsibility: Every judicial nominee deserves an up-or-down vote.
- President Bush
This entire paragraph is about one basic issue: abortion. Many Christian denominations support a women’s right to choose. Taking away health care choices shows that this president lacks fundamental respect for women and their ability to make difficult person decisions. Barbara Bush, the president’s mother, understands. She’s pro-choice.
The religious right will love the speech. But does the president's agenda represent the "Christian agenda?" Not for many of us.
The National Council of Churches USA released a set of Christian principles during the last election that I think better represent the Gospel than the agenda laid out by the president. Wouldn't it be nice if he had spoken out on these issues?
Christian Principles in an Election Year
Our Christian faith compels us to address the world through the lens of our relationship to God and to one another. Public discourse is enhanced as we engage civic leaders on the values and ethics affirmed by our faith. At the same time, religious liberty and the integrity of our democracy will be protected as candidates refrain from using faith-based organizations and institutions for partisan gain. We offer these ten principles to those seeking to accept the responsibility that comes with holding public office.
1. War is contrary to the will of God. While the use of violent force may, at times, be a necessity of last resort, Christ pronounces his blessing on the peacemakers. We look for political leaders who will make peace with justice a top priority and who will actively seek nonviolent solutions to conflict.
2. God calls us to live in communities shaped by peace and cooperation. We reject policies that abandon large segments of our inner city and rural populations to hopelessness. We look for political leaders who will re-build our communities and bring an end to the cycles of violence and killing.
3. God created us for each other, and thus our security depends on the well-being of our global neighbors. We look for political leaders for whom a foreign policy based on cooperation and global justice is an urgent concern.
4. God calls us to be advocates for those who are most vulnerable in our society. We look for political leaders who yearn for economic justice and who will seek to reduce the growing disparity between rich and poor.
5. Each human being is created in the image of God and is of infinite worth. We look for political leaders who actively promote racial justice and equal opportunity for everyone.
6. The earth belongs to God and is intrinsically good. We look for political leaders who recognize the earth's goodness, champion environmental justice, and uphold our responsibility to be stewards of God’s creation.
7. Christians have a biblical mandate to welcome strangers. We look for political leaders who will pursue fair immigration policies and speak out against xenophobia.
8. Those who follow Christ are called to heal the sick. We look for political leaders who will support adequate, affordable and accessible health care for all.
9. Because of the transforming power of God’s grace, all humans are called to be in right relationship with each other. We look for political leaders who seek a restorative, not retributive, approach to the criminal justice system and the individuals within it.
10. Providing enriched learning environments for all of God’s children is a moral imperative. We look for political leaders who will advocate for equal educational opportunity and abundant funding for children’s services.
Finally, our religious tradition admonishes us not to bear false witness against our neighbor and to love our enemies. We ask that the campaigns of political candidates and the coverage of the media in this election season be conducted according to principles of fairness, honesty and integrity.
Update: The reviews from the religious right are starting to come in and my prediction they’d love the speech was right on target:
Dr. James C. Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family Action, said he was delighted to hear the president's turn his attention to home and family.
"The president delivered a powerful, moving speech this evening," Dobson said, "speaking to the most important issues of the day with forcefulness and confident cadence."
Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, president of American Values, said it was the best speech the president has delivered.
"It was a tremendously effective speech," Bauer told CitizenLink. "He has said himself that speechmaking is not one of his strong suits, but this speech was exceptionally well-done."
Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., the House leader of the Values Action Team, also was wowed.
"The president left no doubt about where he stands," Pitts said. "I think the family-values people should be very pleased about what they heard tonight."
You can read the full press release from Focus on the Family by clicking here.
If you read the full release you'll notice how these Christian brothers of ours in the religious right never lifted up poverty, health care, the war in Iraq, or the needs of children as issues Christians should be concerned with.
When they read the Bible do they just skip over the Prophets and the Sermon on the Mount?
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President Bush will offer the following words on the environment during his State of the Union address tonight (according to the White House transcript):
To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy. Nearly four years ago, I submitted a comprehensive energy strategy that encourages conservation, alternative sources, a modernized electricity grid, and more production here at home, including safe, clean nuclear energy. My Clear Skies legislation will cut power plant pollution and improve the health of our citizens. And my budget provides strong funding for leading-edge technology - from hydrogen-fueled cars, to clean coal, to renewable sources such as ethanol. Four years of debate is enough - I urge Congress to pass legislation that makes America more secure and less dependent on foreign energy.
No one can take the president’s commitment to the basic protect of God’s creation seriously. He has a long record of putting the interests of polluters ahead of clean air and clean water. Just today religious leaders testified before Congress to advocate opposition to the president’s environmental agenda.
Washington, D.C., February 2, 2005--Religious leaders representing the National Council of Churches USA and five of its member denominations have joined together to ask members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to reject the proposed "Clear Skies Act" of 2005. In testimony that was submitted this morning during a full committee hearing today, religious leaders from the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and NCC, testified against the bill because it fails to implement policies needed to clean up our the nation's air and excludes provisions to address the threat of global warming.
"[W]e believe the legislation delays the critical action necessary to clean up our nation's air and fails altogether to address the real and present threat of global warming. We urge this committee to adopt amendments that would strengthen standards, speed up implementation, and control emissions of carbon dioxide," says the testimony.
In addition, the testimony states that "clean air is a basic right and necessity for all life" and that "we have too often abandoned (our) sacred responsibility . . . leaving a legacy of pollution that threatens the health of communities and the very future of our planet." Citing the harm air pollution can cause humans, including premature deaths, asthmas attacks, and lost productivity, the religious leaders urged Senators to enact strict emission controls to clean the air.
Visit the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs web site to learn more about Christianity and the environment.
Related Post: Defend God's Creation This November
Related Link: Clear Skies Proposal Crafted By Polluters
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Action Alert from the United Church of Christ
This week the U.S. Senate will debate and vote on the nomination of Judge Alberto R. Gonzales for the office of U.S. Attorney General. Judge Gonzales has faced stiff questioning from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress, on his troubling record and unresponsiveness to questions regarding human rights, detention, torture, the death penalty and other civil rights issues. The U.S. Attorney General serves as the nation's chief law enforcement official, responsible for enforcing federal law on behalf of all persons under the Constitution. Nothing less than a full and careful review of Judge Gonzales' record is required. Given that significant questions remain unanswered, urge your senators to oppose his nomination.
Visit the UCC Take Action Center to send a letter to your Senators.
Related Link: An Open Letter to Alberto R. Gonzales from Religious Leaders
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Dana Reeve, wife of Superman Christopher Reeve, will be in the audience tonight for the State of the Union Address. She'll be there as a guest of US Representastive James Langevin. Langevin told the press that "it is my hope that having Dana present at the State of the Union will help refocus the nation's attention and the president's attention on stem cell research and the need for more funding." The congressman knows something about the importance of this issue. He was paralyzed at the age of 16 when he was accidently shot while serving with the Warwick Police Department as a cadet in the Boy Scout Explorer program.
Related Post: Ron Reagan, Stem Cell Research & Religion
Related Post: California's Prop 71
Related Post: Christopher Reeve
Related Link: The stem cell debate
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Here is some news you don't like to see:
WASHINGTON - The Saudi Arabian government has had a role in the distribution to American mosques of documents that reflect a "totalitarian ideology of hatred that can incite to violence," according to a new report.
The report, published by Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom, was based on a year-long examination of over 200 documents that, it said, were disseminated, published or otherwise generated by the Saudi government.
Why is it again we treat the Saudi leaders as friends? Oh, that's right. Money.
No matter the administration our foreign policies tend to be driven by economics. Few would be surprised if we find ourselves at war with Saudi Arabia in the near future. Dancing with the Saudi prince is the same as when we danced with Saddam. We're making the same mistakes all over again.
We should just say now that the Saudis are not our friends - and define our relationship with them in those terms. We can avoid more war if plans are develop to engage the middle east from a new prospective - one where we don't treat the bad guys as good guys and were we put human rights above economic interests.
Related Link: Human Rights Watch: Saudi Arabia
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This post has been updated
From the United Church of Christ...
Feb. 1, 2005
Tune in tonight (Feb. 1) to MSNBC'S Countdown with Keith Olbermann, (8 pm EST - Check your local listings) The Rev. Katy Hawker, pastor of Evangelical UCC in St. Louis, will discuss the SpongeBob controversy.
As part of the UCC's extravagant welcome, the St. Louis congregation invited SpongeBob Squarepants to services on Sunday.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a Jan. 31 article on the UCC church, including the SpongeBob story. Rev. Hawker received a call from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and invited her to appear on his show.
So gather 'round the TV to watch MSNBC tonight!
(I'll add that Katy is an Eden graduate. )
Update: Here's the transcript:
OLBERMANN: Now back to “SpongeBob SquarePants” already in progress.
Our number two story on the COUNTDOWN, I‘ll be joined in a moment by the Missouri pastor who invited the cartoon character to her sermon Sunday to try to counter effect what she had described as “bullying and name calling.” First the latest on the bullying and name calling. I don‘t want to go back to the beginning on this, but Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family evoked SpongeBob‘s name while decrying the producers of a tolerance video for elementary school kids. He said the producers had a “pro-homosexual” agenda.
When we reported this and showed the video, Dr. Dobson‘s minions created an e-mail generator on their Web site, so members who did not see our report or did not accept tolerance in public schools could spam me and four other reporters. I‘ve gotten about 2,000 them so far. I‘m happy to report though, that a lot of people outside that organization have now accessed the Focus on the Family Web site and begun to send e-mail of support. So, they‘re running about 50/50.
More importantly, a peck of religious leaders have rallied to the defense of SpongeBob or more accurately to protest Dr. Dobson. A minister in Rochester, New York has asked his congregation to buy the SpongeBob dolls and stickers and bring them into to church next Sunday to promote tolerance. He said he‘ll put them up in the church windows. The United Church of Christ with 6,000 churches around the country went further. It‘s leader, John H. Thomas, said that the Dobson criticism “Is one more concrete example of how religion is misused over and over to promote intolerance over inclusion. Jesus didn‘t turn people away, neither do we.”
And outside St. Louis, Pastor Katie Hawker already has gone a little further. She had SpongeBob over for a welcome during her sermon this past Sunday at the Evangelical United Church of Christ in Webster Grove, Missouri. The Pastor Hawker Joins us now. Great thanks for you time tonight.
REV. KATHERINE HAWKER, EVANGELICAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: Hi.
OLBERMANN: What was your SpongeBob Sunday all about?
HAWKER: Our SpongeBob Sunday was about an opportunity to celebrate diversity and to speak about the importance of tolerance and the danger of labeling and name calling. And simply to have fun.
OLBERMANN: Dr. Dobson has been hammering home that he said SpongeBob is gay. That he didn‘t complain about the video that was being distributed. Instead, he said, he finds that the agenda behind it is sinister and everything that this organization has said is predicated that there‘s some sort of huge difference between those two points of view.
Do you see any difference in them?
HAWKER: Well, they seem pretty remarkably similar to me. Obviously, SpongeBob doesn‘t have an orientation. He‘s a toy. And we agree with Dr. Dobson on that score. Dr. Dobson, that some how the teaching tolerance is going to teach our children to be something we don‘t want them to be. We feel very differently. We think teaching tolerance is a first step to celebrating diversity. And we believe that celebrating diversity is very central to our faith.
OLBERMANN: So Pastor Hawker, give me some guidance here on the point that a lot of the people who have e-mailed me have raised. For those parents whose beliefs are really cut that fine, they believe they tolerate...and they tolerate gays and love them even if they don‘t go along with the idea of it, but their religion says, they do not want their kids being told that being gay is OK. What should they do about teaching materials in public schools that do not say being gay is wrong?
HAWKER: Well, that‘s the point. This video doesn‘t say that being gay is right or being gay is right or wrong. It doesn‘t talk about being gay. This video just talks about the wonder of our diversity. It‘s really a delightful video. I saw it on your Web site. It was very delightful. So what we celebrate in our church is that our children don‘t know those labels. What they know is that Jonathan has two mommies, and Marie has a mommy and daddy, and Harley has a mommy. And they‘re all happy together.
OLBERMANN: What do you do, though, if somebody says to that, well, I don‘t want my kids believing that?
HAWKER: Well, they don‘t—it‘s not a matter of believing. We are in a delightful, wonderful world where there‘s all kinds of diversity. It is not a matter of believing it. It is a matter of how we respond to it. And we as parents, and particularly as religious leaders, have a very important role to play in helping our children to embrace those differences, rather than to be fearful of them.
OLBERMANN: Pastor Katie Hawker, of the Evangelical United Church of Christ in Webster Groves, Missouri. Beautifully spoken, and great thanks for your time tonight.
HAWKER: Thank you.
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President Clinton will be appointed later today to serve as the United Nations special envoy to oversee relief and reconstruction efforts in Southeast Asia. You couldn't find a better person to head up the effort.
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