The Reverend Wright Controversy Draws Attention to the United Church of Christ
The UCC leadership, embracing controversy, welcomes debate over its liberal stands
By now, just about everyone knows about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the fiery sermons that have clouded the political prospects of Barack Obama, long a member of the now retired pastor's Trinity United Church of Christ. But all the controversy is also provoking curiosity about the Protestant denomination to which that predominantly black South Side Chicago church belongs—and about how Wright's brand of black liberation theology fits within the traditions of a largely white denomination with roots extending to America's colonial past.
To the Rev. John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, Wright's preaching over the years has been in step with what he and others proudly describe as the UCC's progressive, diverse, and prophetically bold character. "I continue to support his ministry and his prophetic stance," says Thomas, though he adds that some of Wright's recent remarks "did not represent the style and theological depth that I've associated with him in the past."
Until Wright became the object of ubiquitous media chatter, the United Church of Christ was probably best known for its self-depiction as the church without a bouncer at the door. That reputation came out of a successful national branding effort launched four years ago by the still relatively young church that emerged in 1957 out of the union of two Protestant denominations, the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches, themselves products of earlier mergers of even older churches. Accentuating the UCC's progressive theology and its ethos of tolerance, the campaign kicked off with a TV ad that showed bouncers in front of a church admitting a white husband and wife but turning away a gay couple, a black woman, and person in a wheelchair. "Jesus didn't turn people away," the ad declared. "Neither do we."
Distinctive brand. Whether or not viewers liked the message, they now knew where the UCC stood. And the leadership of the church was pleased that the UCC—which had sometimes been confused with the more conservative Churches of Christ—now had a distinctive brand. "The campaign increased a sense of identity and pride within the denomination," says the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, the church's director of communications.
But not all UCC members shared that pride. To many pastors and laypeople, the campaign merely affirmed the church's drift away from orthodox Christianity and toward theological chaos and overly liberal political and social positions— typified, such dissenters now say, by Wright's inflammatory sermonizing. And that direction, they add, is the main reason that the now 1.2 million-member church has lost around 800,000 members since its founding and gone from 8,283 congregations in 1957 to 5,518 in 2007.
To some degree, the UCC's problems with dissension and defections can be found in most mainline Protestant churches today. But the UCC, by dint of its history, its system of governance, and its leadership, has become an even more intense arena of theological controversy. That history embraces several denominational histories, including that of the Congregational church planted by dissenting Pilgrims and Puritans who came to America in the early 17th century. Congregationalism arose out of dissatisfaction with Presbyterianism's hierarchical governance, and the tradition of local autonomy remains strong in the UCC to this day. That structure, says Robert Wuthnow, director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, "has given [the UCC] freedom to maneuver, allowing it to go in some wildly different directions."
The first mainline Protestant church to ordain an African-American pastor (Lemuel Haynes, in 1785), it became the first to accept a woman and an openly gay person into the clergy. Wuthnow says that during the 1960s, "partly because they were smaller, partly because they had a strong Northeast membership, and partly because they were so involved in the civil rights movement, they carved out a niche that was more progressive than those of other mainline churches."
In that period, the UCC also began to incorporate more black churches into the denomination. Minorities today make up about 10 percent of the membership, and predominantly black Trinity is the single largest congregation in the denomination. With prominent clergy and members like the outspoken Yale chaplain and pastor of New York's Riverside Church, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, and NAACP leader Julian Bond, the UCC moved on to embrace other progressive causes, including opposition to the Vietnam War, legal abortion, and gay and lesbian rights. In the mid-1980s, the church adopted its "Open and Affirming" program, by which congregations could choose to identify themselves as welcoming people of all sexual orientations. Recently, the nation's largest gay and lesbian congregation, the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, Texas, affiliated with the UCC.
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Reader Comments
learning together
The very freedom that many people welcome and embrace in their daily lives is the same freedom that they appear to denounce if it happens within the walls of the church.
In politics, many people realize the diversity of opinions within each of the major parties. Unlike other denominations where the hierarchy mandates certain positions, the United Church of Christ warmly welcomes a wide variety of views.
Each person joins a faith community for their own individual reasons. Not everyone agreed with Jeremiah Wright’s views when he was pastor at Trinity any more than every Republican agrees 100% with George Bush or every Democrat agreed 100% with Bill Clinton.
The regrettable part of the Jeremiah Wright controversy is that it apparently hasn’t led to the realization by society that there are much more hurtful statements made in faith communities throughout the country each week. We need to continue the difficult conversations that will bring true progress to the many issues facing our society.
ainsworthucc_earlyedition@yahoogroups.com
An article in US News and World Report about the UCC.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright's "God Damn America" Speech
It seems to me that Rev. Wright's theology has long ago changed from Christianity
to an antiwhite ' religion' as espoused in this 'sermon.' In his words here, he mentions how governments fail and he mentions the USA and several more countries, mostly whitecountries, whose governments have failed him. But he conveniently ignores the African governments who are systematically eliminating their enemies through ethnic cleansing.
There is only one word for this: racism. Even though most people in the USA have been trained to believe that 'racist' only applies to white people, all races have their own racists, and the Rev. Wright is certainly one of the African-Americans.'
The UCC will have to come up with some magic to convince us Rev. Wright is
not a black racist. Whether his beliefs have rubbed off on Sen. Barack Obama
remains to be seen.
I am praying for both of them.
Being a member of a UCC church means that I am allowed to question, to think, to search for answers. Unlike more traditional mainline churches, it is a safe place to admit what I am uncertain of, to explore deeper that which I feel more confident about, and where I and my family can profess our faith and not feel as if we must consider ourselves to be somehow better than all others simply because of our beliefs. I don't consider myself to be liberal or conservative when it comes to my theology...I am simply trying to discern God's will for my life. Somehow I don't recall ever seeing anywhere in the Bible that labeling myself "Liberal" or "Conservative" would somehow allow me to be ranked higher than others in God's hierarchy. Those labels and their inherent meanings are applied by mankind and depending upon one's personal perspective it causes one to be placed higher or lower on some sort of arbitrary Christian litmus test.
Thankfully, UCC has no litmus test...ALL truly are welcome and ALL truly can ask "What does all of this mean for me?" without being shown the door because one doesn't appear to be "Christian enough" to satisfy others.
The Jeremiah Wright controversy has everything and nothing to do with UCC. It has everything to do with being UCC because he, like all of us, has a right to question and explore his faith, to lead others to do the same. It has nothing to do with UCC because it speaks to one church within the denomination, and while we all have a common denominator in our desire to truly live Christ-like lives, each individual UCC church has the freedom to express that in it's own unique and wonderful way. We are united in our diversity, and while I would not necessarily agree with many of Reverend Wright's statements, taking one look at how God has blessed his ministry over the years and used him in a profound way to help others speaks volumes about who Jeremiah Wright, the man and minister, really is. I don't have to agree with him, but I will stand beside him and support his right to have an opinion that may not be popular.
And that is what UCC is really all about.
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United Church of Christ
I'm proud of my denomination and our lively theology. We take he gospel seriously enough to ask how it affects our lives, our communities, and social issues of today. We've taken the controversy surrounding Rev. Wright and used it to launch a "sacred conversation about race" set to officially begin on May 18th. What a wonderful opportunity to use Scripture, infused with the Holy Spirit to celebrate God's diverse creation while looking squarely at the damage-- the sin-- of discrimination and bigotry!
Some folks ask how Obama could have stayed a member of Trinity UCC. Maybe he liked being a part of a church that sincerely tries to live out the gospel. Trinity feeds the poor, and cares for the sick, just as Jesus commanded us to do. The church pulls kids of the street, away from the gangs and hopelessness, and puts them in mentoring programs, job training programs, and the choir. When they are ready they can apply for one of the many scholarships the church sponsors. Then there are the senior centers, AIDS/HIV ministries, child care, encouragement to make strong families, and the expectation that once members are on a strong financial footing they will help others get their feet under them.
I've watched Trinitiy's archived services on-line. The music provided by the six choirs is wonderful and the prayers are sincerly lifted to God. I've appreciated the preaching of Rev. Otis Mos III and have used some of his ideas in my own preaching.
Whatever you have to say about Rev. Wright, Trinity United Church of Christ and its large pastoral staff, are hard at work to tell the Good News of the risen, alive, Christ who seeks in holy love to save us from aimlessnes and sin.
May 12, 2008 13:01:19 PM [permalink] [report comment]