Thoughts in a Haystack

That would be the United Church of Christ, which is holding its 26th General Synod at the Hartford (Connecticut) Civic Center from June 22 to June 26. Slated to speak there are Senator Barack Obama, Bill Moyers, Lynn Redgrave and Marian Wright Edelman.

As might be guessed from that speaker's list:

The UCC has long been in the forefront of progressive social justice issues. Many renowned political activists are members of the UCC, including the man who nearly single-handedly revived the Democratic Party, Howard Dean.

Perhaps most tellingly, the Rev. Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is a member. The UCC believes that religious faith should play a part in American society but not impose its will on governance.

The church's official policy includes:

[The UCC] seeks to be Multiracial, Multicultural, Open and Affirming, and Accessible to All—A Church where everyone is welcome!

The UCC was the first "mainline" Christian denomination to sanction homosexual marriage in 2005 and was also the first to ordain openly gay ministers in 1972. It has caused controversy with some of it's TV ads, including the following, leading to their being refused by various networks.



But it was this from the author of the piece, Alan Bisbort, that drew my attention:

More Americans believe in angels than in evolution. Whether you're an atheist or a fundamentalist, ignoring the role of religion in American society, and how that shapes our political discourse, is wishful -- if not delusional -- thinking.