Free Republic

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. Dozens of anti-illegal immigration activists faced off against immigrant-rights backers at a rally outside a church where an illegal immigrant is being sheltered with her U.S.-born infant son. One immigrant-rights advocate was injured with a chemical spray during Sunday's confrontation at the United Church of Christ, officials said. Members of the anti-illegal immigration group Save Our State, which organized the rally that drew about 120 protesters and counter-protesters, said they had hoped to make a citizen's arrest of the woman, who has identified herself only as Liliana. Liliana is living in the church's former parsonage as part...

Judge Upholds Decision of Church to Leave Denomination Over Homosexual "Marriage" By Elizabeth O'Brien HUNTINGTON, July 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Indiana judge upheld the decision of a church congregation to leave the United Church of Christ (UCC) because of the denomination's official recognition of gay "marriage." St. Peter's First United Church of Christ has been part of the UCC for 50 years, the Indianapolis Star reports. The congregation was concerned, however, when the UCC voiced its official support for homosexual "marriage" in 2005. At its 25th General Synod the UCC declared that the 1.3-million organization officially supported same-sex "marriage"....

You've got to hand it to Barack Obama. He used his presidential campaign speech to a church to call for separation of church and state and then divided himself from the "religious right" by labeling the movement "divisive." Not every rhetorician could get away with that kind of sleight of mouth. First off, the very presence of Obama speaking before the United Church of Christ's 50th anniversary national General Synod is somewhat remarkable. He's running for president. And this is the congregation of Barry Lynn, the founder of American United for Separation of Church and State, who runs a personal...

Doubts continue to swirl over Fred Thompson's faith ... Thompson shot back that he's not only a Christian, but a member of the fundamentalist Churches of Christ. ...Professor Mark Elrod of Harding University said he doubts Thompson is "filling out an attendance card at a Church of Christ on Sundays." ...he hasn't been able to find any information regarding the former senator's actual membership... "In our tradition," Elrod said, "that's called 'being out of fellowship' or a 'lapsed member.'" ... WND has learned Thompson was baptized into Christ in the early 1950s at the First Street Church of Christ in...

Five years ago, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson and Naperville native Jeri Kehn exchanged wedding vows inside a DuPage County church.For richer, for poorer.For better, for worse.In good times and bad.The Washington power couple were talking about their marriage, but the words also are apropos of the ambitious political journey upon which the Thompsons are about to embark.On Friday, Fred Thompson, 64, took the first official step toward a presidential bid by establishing a preliminary campaign committee. The Tennessee Republican and Hollywood actor is expected to formally enter the race as early as July.His late start will put him behind...

Evangelical prof 'bets' $100 TV star not active in church Doubts continue to swirl over Fred Thompson's faith even among members of his own church. First, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson was reported to have said the Republican presidential hopeful is not a real Christian. Thompson shot back that he's not only a Christian, but a member of the fundamentalist Churches of Christ. Now a political science professor at a Church of Christ-affiliated college charges Thompson is a "lapsed member." And he has issued a challenge on the Internet to anyone who can come up with evidence that...

The head of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has endorsed a call for McDonalds to improve working conditions and raise the pay of its tomato pickers. In a letter released on Wednesday, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the two-million-member denomination, challenged the fast food chain giant to “put an end to human rights violations” by bringing an “adequate solution to the grievous conditions and sub-poverty wages of farmworkers.” "Farmworkers are explicitly excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, which denies them the right to organize, the right to negotiate with their employers, and the right to appeal grievances to...

It's almost beyond satire: A resolution affirming that Christ is Lord put forward in the United Church of Christ is not expected to pass. "It is highly detrimental to the health and growth of UCC churches and extremely embarrassing for UCC pastors and members to be viewed as non-Christians," the resolution notes, adding that the denomination has long been viewed as being a magnet for "Unitarians Considering Christ." The Rev. Albert W. Kovacs, who supports the resolution, says that the denomination now has "significant numbers of clergy who don’t believe in God." The story added: "A Haworth pastor said the...

ATLANTA, Ga., July 4 - With a movement to amend the United States Constitution to ban gay marriage picking up steam, the United Church of Christ became the first mainstream Christian denomination to officially support same-sex marriages today when its general synod passed a resolution affirming "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender." The resolution was both a theological statement and a blow to discrimination, said the Rev. John H. Thomas, the president and general minister of the denomination, which has 6,000 congregations and 1.3 million members. "On this July 4, the United Church of Christ has courageously acted...

As the United Church of Christ stands poised to consider a resolution endorsing equal rights for same-sex couples, the head of the church has thrown his support behind marriage equality. "I believe the General Synod should affirm the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons to have their covenanted relationships recognized by the state as marriages equal in name, privileges, and responsibilities to married heterosexual couples," the Rev. John H. Thomas, president and general minister, said in a speech on Tuesday in Atlanta. Church delegates will consider a resolution in support of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples this...

A venerable Protestant denomination - at the behest of some of its conservative members - is preparing to vote next month on a measure declaring that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and making it mandatory for clergy to accept his divinity. It may seem like a slam dunk, but delegates for the 1.3 million-member United Church of Christ may reject the resolution. Several Bergen County pastors, who aren't delegates to the convention, said they expect the measure to fail. "Religiously speaking, it sounds like apple pie," said the Rev. Raymond Kostulias of the First Congregational Church of Park Ridge. "But...

UCC: "CBS, NBC refuse to air church's television advertisement" December 1, 2004 - According to a UCC press release, CBS and NBC have refused to air the new UCC television advertisement... and predictably, UCC leaders are going nuts. According to the release, CBS offered this explanation: "Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast...