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NEW YORK (AP) — Membership in the nation's two largest Christian church bodies, the Roman Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention, declined slightly in 2007, according to the latest edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. The Catholic church remains the largest body of believers in the U.S., with 67 million members, the yearbook said. But from 2006 to 2007 the church shed 398,000 members in the U.S. — a 0.59 percent drop. Southern Baptists reported 16.2 million members for a decline of 0.24 percent, or a loss of nearly 40,000 members. Although the declines are relatively small,...

Gradye Parsons, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has added a new twist to the messianic aura that seemed to surround the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. “Mr. President,” he said, “before you save us, let us have a chance to profess our ills.” -snip- John Thomas, the president of the United Church of Christ, expressed his appreciation that Obama had been “schooled by a preacher named Jeremiah” to serve as a “public theologian who shapes the way people understand their relationship to God,” RNS reported.

(CNSNews.com) – Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that labeling sex outside of marriage as sinful or having multiple partners as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.” At a telephone news conference in advance of World AIDS Day, AIDS activist groups and representatives of various religious groups said that counseling teens and others to be abstinent and restricting sex to marriage just isn’t “realistic,” and called on churches and the incoming Obama administration to deal with HIV/AIDS in a “truthful” and “medically accurate way.” The Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer, executive for health and wholeness advocacy...

At Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side, where President-elect Barack Obama embraced Christianity, the congregation rejoiced today and shouted, "Yes, We did!" Hundreds of worshipers packed into the sanctuary for a joyous service that celebrated the church's role in the spiritual awakening of a future president. Trinity's pastor, Rev. Otis Moss III, said history would note that Trinity was the holy place where "God stirred a young man's soul and put him on the path to the presidency." "You have much to be proud of this morning," Moss said. "We rejoice today." In his memoirs and campaign...

Obama's misuse of tax exempt resources prompted IRS investigation of the United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ's Web site reports that Barack Obama's delivery of a campaign speech at its annual synod--a blatant misuse of the church's tax exempt resources--prompted the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the church. That is, Barack Hussein Obama's knowing, deliberate, premeditated, and willful misuse of his church's resources to support his Presidential campaign put the church's tax exemption at risk.Obama's General Synod speech prompts IRS to investigate UCC's tax-exempt status Written by J. Bennett Guess February 26, 2008 The Internal Revenue Service...

A Muslim student who said a masked gunman assaulted her after he wrote anti-Muslim slurs in a women's restroom at Elmhurst College has been arrested for filing a false police report, officials said today. A week after the incident roiled the small college, Elmhurst Police Chief Steve Neubauer said officers had cited Safia Z. Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook, on a single count of filing a false police report. Filing a false police report is a Class 4 felony, punishable by one to three years in prison. The announcement -- made jointly by Elmhurst Police, the college and the DuPage...

With quiet vows and an eye toward November's Proposition 8 referendum, Stephanie Sue Spencer and the Rev. Arlene Nehring made their 16-year union a legal California marriage in Hayward's Eden United Church of Christ, where Nehring presides as pastor. This "much-awaited day" wasn't quite the wedding they'd hoped for, but with voters going to the polls in a month in an election that could make their union unconstitutional, the couple felt it was better now than never. "People are hedging their bets," said Todd Bove, a member of the church who married his partner of 10 years just a month...

Content of "disappeared" Trinity United Church of Christ bulletins could cost Obama the election. Napoleon's general Antoine Charles Louis Lasalle once told an associate, “My friend, any hussar who does not die by thirty is a blackguard.” We would not have appointed someone with this attitude to a command during the horse and musket era of warfare, because cavalry was too expensive an instrument to throw away in swashbuckling, glorious, but suicidal enterprises. Our ideal commanders would have instead had enough common sense to stay well away from intact infantry formations that presented solid hedges of fixed bayonets, but enough...

Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts: 1. Commitment to God 2. Commitment to the Black Community 3. Commitment to the Black Family 4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education 5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence 6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic 7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and...

We've all seen the shocking clips of Reverend Wright screaming, "God damn America," "US of KKK," and declaring with seeming delight in his heart -- a mere 5 days after the 9/11 attacks -- that "America's chickens have come home to roost." While Obama unconvincingly attempted to dismiss Wright's rantings as mere out-of-context "snippets," the reality is that such sentiments are entirely consistent with the theology of Obama's church -- that is, black liberation theology. As Reverend Wright has explained, black liberation theology is based on the teachings of Dr. James Cone. So who is Dr. Cone and what does...

ATLANTA - The United Church of Christ’s rule-making body voted overwhelmingly Monday to approve a resolution that endorses same-sex marriage, making it the largest Christian denomination to do so. Roughly 80 percent of the members of the church’s General Synod voted to approve the resolution. They debated for about an hour before voting. Traditionally strong in New England, the liberal denomination of 1.3 million members has long been supportive of gays and lesbians. In the early 1970s, the UCC became the first major Christian body to ordain an openly gay minister. Twenty years ago, it declared itself to be “open...

A Washington Post "On Faith" religion blogger, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, is so affected by PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) that she has launched a hate-filled screed against Palin's religion. This might seem an uncharacteristic thing for an ordained minister to do but not when you find out a bit more about Our Miss Brooks. Her bio on the Washington Post site describes Thistlethwaite's area of expertise as "contextual theologies of liberation." Liberation theology which is another way of saying Marxism wrapped in a phony religious wrapper to make it seem more palatable. Thistlethwaite launches a distinctly un-Christian snarky attack upon Palin...

A Washington Post "On Faith" religion blogger, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, is so affected by PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) that she has launched a hate-filled screed against Palin's religion. This might seem an uncharacteristic thing for an ordained minister to do but not when you find out a bit more about Our Miss Brooks. Her bio on the Washington Post site describes Thistlethwaite's area of expertise as "contextual theologies of liberation." Liberation theology which is another way of saying Marxism wrapped in a phony religious wrapper to make it seem more palatable. Thistlethwaite launches a distinctly un-Christian snarky attack upon Palin...

Barack Obama's campaign has made a point about not taking money from big donors, even though it has received six figure bundled contributions from "little, ordinary people" like Goldman Sachs, Lehman Broters, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Execlon, and Microsoft,* and even though Obama broke his pledge to accept Federal campaign financing and the accompanying spending limits. The Obama campaign's fundraising ethics also include illegal and possibly rigged lotteries like "Dinner with Barack;" the "Backstage with Barack" lottery was modified to allow entry without a donation under pressure from Minnesota and possibly other law enforcement agencies. While Barack Obama is at...

This article is the first in a series that underscores Barack Obama’s serious deficiencies in character, ethics, and integrity. The links appear at “Barack Obama: Powered by Hate,” (http://www.stentorian.com/Obama/) a compilation of Obama’s questionable campaign financing practices, plus enablement and empowerment of racists, anti-Semites, and Catholic-hating bigots. In all cases, we provide links and references so the reader can verify for himself/herself the truth of the statements. This is very important because of the numerous smears and urban legends that are in circulation. Barack Obama’s unethical, dishonest, and possibly illegal campaign financing schemes include: 1. “Dinner with Barack” lotteries that...

The Episcopal Church has been at the forefront of baptizing active homosexual lifestyle as God-blessed. Since 1960, that denomination has decreased in membership by 48%. The United Methodist Church has been roiled by those adamant on establishing homosexual lifestyles as Christian legitimate. In the fight for one side or another that denomination has decreased in membership by 25%. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has likewise been embroiled in the tussle. That denomination has decreased in membership by 44%. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has also been riddled with in-house fighting over homosexual lifestyles as anti-God or pro-God. That denomination's membership...

Donald Young, a vibrant, charismatic choir director at one of Chicago's largest open and affirming black congregations, Trinity United Church of Christ, was found shot to death this past Sunday in his home. Young,47, was a longtime member of Trinity's choir, initially singing bass and then moving up the ranks to become one of its most electrifying and popular directors. He was also a faithful attendee at the conferences of the Gospel Music Workshop of America. The details about why and exactly how he died remain unclear; there is, however, one story that emerges with some semblance of clarity: a...

This past weekend, Barack Obama passed up two key opportunities to stand up and be counted when it comes to making good on his campaign themes of bringing people together, healing, and fighting cynicism. But instead of action to realize his proclaimed goals, all we got was slippery evasion and bland talk. If you think Obama can be a leader, examine his brhavior this past weekend and draw your own conclusions. Background While many Christians, notably the evangelical community, are deeply supportive of Israel, the leaders of a few Christian church groups in America have issued anti-Israel resolutions over the last...

"No issue has bothered me more than the UCC's [United Church of Christ] relationship with convicted Puerto Rican terrorists that are responsible for over 150 bombings in the U.S. during the 70's and 80's. There is no moral or theological reason for defending members of this group who have killed and injured dozens of people. What is further shocking and completely contradictory to any of our beliefs is that there is no record (in the nearly 30 years that the UCC has been advocating for these terrorists) that our denomination ever reached out to the victims of FALN violence." Source:...

He ran. After twenty years of sitting with apparent acquiescence in the pews of Trinity United Church of Christ, after doing a slow-motion backslide from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright when the campaign spotlight flickered on, a backslide that eventually ended in an open break, Senator Barack Obama has now officially cut his ties with Trinity UCC altogether. Faced with a choice between bringing change to his own congregation, or simply turning his back, Obama chose the latter. As he would do in Iraq, so he has now done with Trinity. The question now is, will he leave the United Church...