The United Church of Christ spins crazily out of control and crashes and burns - forever.
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 there is a judgmental quality to it that implies very strongly that those who do not agree with us are condemned or damned or hopeless - and that's exactly the thing that UCC is against."
Indeed, the United Church of Christ, which traces its independent mind-set back to the Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock, is one of the most liberal and non-hierarchical Protestant churches in the nation.
The denomination, in its official statements, accepts Christ as savior and head of the church, but also approves of balancing Christian doctrine with personal conscience.
"If you join the UCC, you are not given a list of things and asked, 'Do you believe in this?' " said the Rev. Sherry Taylor, who represents the New Jersey churches in the denomination's central Atlantic conference. "There are no tests of faith."
(From NorthJersey.com via WND)
Oh, yes, there are, Sherry baby. Just you wait.
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