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the covert campaign against liberal chuches and the social justice tradition
[above: click on image for YouTube video trailer]"Renewal or Ruin": New Video Documentary By Steve D. Martin Spotlights Secretive Rightwing Effort To Destroy Mainstream Protestant Churches
Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, by Frederick Clarkson
Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort
by Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons
sample chapter
God's Profits: Faith, Fraud and the Republican Crusade For Values Voters
By Sarah Posner
Liars for Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History
By Chris Rodda
Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
: by Michelle Goldberg
With God on Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, and Democracy in George W. Bush's White House.
by Esther Kaplan
Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement
Tanya Erzen
Attack on The United Churches of Christ
Attack on The United Methodist Church
"The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy", by Chip Berlet
"Taking Over The Republican Party", a four part series by Joan Bokaer
The Woman in A Mink CoatWhile We Were sleepingAngels On a PinheadUnder Cover of Night
The Indian River Incident : What You Can Do
link > The "Stop the ACLU Coalition" Shaming Project
How you can help stop "Stop The ACLU" just by sending a few emails
The Shaming Projectdoes the violence of "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" bother you ? If so, what can you do ? Well, to begin with you can email Jonathan Hutson's stories to people you know. That will help to bring more public scrutiny of the game. Public shaming really works ! Just click on the "email" icon and link at the top or bottom of the story and you'll be taken to a form that will allow you email the first story, The Purpose Driven Life Takers or the latest installment without leaving this site. Thanks.
Making Progress |
| Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 02:27:39 PM EST |  print story | |
 
Some of them are grateful for the information shared. Others are offended by what is written, and take issue with both the facts and the conclusions drawn from them.
But two weeks ago I was privy to a most unique moment, as I found myself at once surrounded by a group of supporters and a group of detractors at the same time, from the same church. The encounter was insightful, to be sure. |
| topic: All Topics |
Key leaders had been assembled in order to speak openly and frankly about what was happening in their church, and what was at stake. In response to that, UCC leaders were asked to come and preach throughout this fall season on themes that would build stronger covenantal bonds with their wider church partners. I was the second such preacher invited for this special purpose, and it was a responsibility I accepted gladly.
While in the fellowship hall following the service, I was approached by two women who asked me about something or other I had written in a letter about their church or their pastor. Not sure what they were referring to, I probed a little and guessed that they might be referring to one of the blogs I had written here. That was in fact the case, and they were reporting that a member of the church was very upset about that.
I described what I had written, and they found it hard to believe that anyone would be upset over that. As has often been the case, they had not themselves seen the article, and what they had been told about it was not in fact accurate.
At about this time, another gentleman approached, and the women pointed out that he was the man who was upset. He confronted me, and we talked about what I had written and why. It became clear that he was not supportive of my efforts to name the ways in which our churches are being attacked, and he denied any culpability in the sustained attack on his own church.
It was at this time that a few more people gathered and engaged in the conversation. One of the women who first approached me began to describe the secret meetings that were taking place, even going so far as to share her own knowledge about where and when the next one would be held. The gentleman who was there to challenge our assumptions declared he knew nothing about any of that, and shortly after asking me who had written the bulletin insert (which was for one of the UCC's four annual, special offerings) and hearing my answer, he walked away saying he was happy that now he knew to whom he should write his letter.
The group that was left remained for some time and spoke with much animation and passion about their own discomfort at what was happening in their church, and wanting to know what else they could do to stop it. It was clear that the leaders with whom we had met had done a good job telling the story of their church's vulnerability, and preparing the members to stand up in defense of their church.
I left that church with mixed emotions. On the one hand, the confrontation with the angry gentleman left me feeling that there was still present an unhappy faction who wanted to continue to fight and struggle with the church's relationship to the wider church. Because of that, the good work of the leaders in this church will need to continue with diligence for some time yet.
On the other hand, I saw first hand what good leadership will produce when faithful members are equipped with clear information about what is going on; are invited to come to the defense of their own congregation; and display the kind of outspoken courage that I saw that day. Left in the hands of the good folk I met, churches like this one will survive the onslaught and will soon return to the purpose and mission for which they were always intended.
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