Friday, March 31, 2006
Another Mainline Church Joins The UCC's Fight
I posted earlier this week about the UCC's fight to get the GOP/Media Complex to acknowledge the existence of mainline churches. The National Council of Churches has now joined the fight:
Just days after the United Church of Christ launched a major new campaign to encourage the mainstream media to include mainline voices of faith on news programs (in lieu of the Religious Right political voices now seen on most news programs) the National Council of Churches USA released this important related statement:
New York, March 30, 2006 - The president of the National Council of Churches, the Rev. Michael Livingston, strongly urged church communicators to, "Tell our story. By any means necessary.""Mainline Protestant and Orthodox churches have been pounded into irrelevancy by the media machine of a false religion," Livingston said. He described what passes as religion to be, "a political philosophy masquerading as gospel; an economic principle wrapped in religious rhetoric and painted red, white and blue."
Livingston made his remarks this week (March 27) in Cleveland at the semi-annual meeting of the National Council's Communications Commission. He spoke to about 30 communicators from many of the NCC's 35 member denominations.
"Get it [our story] out there," he said, "this truth about the human condition and the work of the church, these churches, this one effort of millions of Christians alongside and through NCC/CWS [Church World Service] to live in obedience to the word of the one who sends us into the world: When you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it unto me. It all comes down to this, love God and your neighbor."
Livingston, who is also executive director of the International Council of Community Churches, lamented the media attraction to Pat Robertson and how the work seems to go unnoticed by Christians in agencies like CWS, Lutheran World Relief and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
The communicators were challenged not to mimic or imitate others.
"We need fresh approaches to telling our story, reaching and touching our nation with what we know to be a faithful response to the gospel," Livingston said. He singled out FaithfulAmerica.org as one way to share the good news of faithful Christians responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Livingston is serving the two-year term as elected president of the NCC through December, 2007. He has pastored Presbyterian churches in New York City and Los Angeles. He also served on the staff of Princeton (N.J.) Seminary prior to his current position with ICCC.
There are 35 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations who are members of the NCC comprising nearly 45-million Christians in North America.
Click here to read Rev. Livingston's full address.
And visit Accessible Airways to send a message to network executives letting them know how you feel.
You'd think that real churches would have a TV station too.
<< Home
More blogs about politics.
