Yuck within UCC

The UCC Synod could be good politics and defining cultural moments. They haven't voted on the marriage-equality resolution yet, but the posturing is good theater.

Chuck Currie has taken a vacation from his blog to blog the synod. It should be worth checking out at least daily. Big cultural issues are on the table.

He cites a call for UCC President John H. Thomas to resign after speaking out at Emory University for same-sex marriage. It seems a UCC fundamentalist cell, the Biblical Witness Fellowship, is trying to stir up anger and maybe hate on the subject.

In response to Rev. Thomas' statement that he believe UCC churches should move toward marriage equality, the cheerless Witness folk called for his resignation and added:

God is still speaking, but it is an unprecedented arrogance for Dr. Thomas to speak as and for God on such a primary reality of revelation. He now no longer enjoys the credibility to continue as a religious leader of a Christian church. The implications are staggering. Marriage is the ordained human covenant from which all other covenants including the identity of the Christian Church derive. His declaration means that all covenants including all those which connect churches and persons within the UCC are now wide open to whatever interpretation suits ones need for personal validation and fulfillment. Moreover by including bi-sexual in his list of possibilities he obviously intends and says that marriage should be extended to covenants including more than two persons. We are deeply dismayed and saddened by this further erosion of the integrity, unity and authenticity of our church.

I love this jumping from the specific to general. The statement is a great example of several logical fallacies. Nonetheless, the opposition serves to clarify the issue – choose love and compassion on one side or blind, self-righteous fundamentalism on the other. Both sides have their adherents.