Tag Archives: United Church of Canada

Whence comes the church’s hope?

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As the psalmist said:

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you. Ps 39:7

A number of recent articles in secular papers have chronicled the decline of liberal Christianity. In Canada, the Globe and Mail, hardly a bastion of theological conservatism, explains that the United Church and Anglican Church have largely replaced God with the NDP; the resulting avalanche of fleeing members betokens their imminent demise. Church liberals, ever reluctant to connect cause with effect, are obstinately staying the course: they are convulsed in an orgy of post-theistic openness, inclusiveness, egalitarianism and progressivism.

For example: the Anglican Church of Canada has placed its hope in the advice of Phyllis Strupp, a brain fitness coach. She, in turn, has placed her hope in a better tomorrow with regard to the environmental crisis, a tomorrow where no brain will be left unmolested by Strupp callisthenics; every brain will be a fit brain. Fit for what, I wonder: fit for little other than conformity.

So is there any hope for liberal Christianity? Evidently not.

“Thirty years ago, I thought that with enough good science we would be able to solve the environmental crisis. I was wrong. I used to think that the greatest problems threatening the planet were pollution, bio-diversity loss and climate change. I was wrong there too. I now believe that the greatest problems are pride, apathy and greed. Because that’s what’s keeping us from solving the environmental problem. For that, I now see that we need a cultural and spiritual transformation. And we in the scientific community don’t know how to do that. But you [in the faith community] do. We need your help.”

Is the Episcopal Church nurturing seeds of hope for better tomorrow with regard to the environmental crisis and secular venues where hopelessness persists? Are church-going Christians more hopeful than the fast-growing “spiritual but not religious” crowd? Hope is contagious. Hope is the best yardstick to use for benchmarking the church’s performance and prospects. Hope opens our minds to the things of God—no matter what the current numbers say. All things are possible with God.

United Church of Canada: now is the time to say goodbye

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The United Church of Canada has replaced heaven later with utopia now, salvation of your soul with sustainable solar and the resurrection with renewable resources. Consequently, it is on the way out, expiring, soon to be no more; it is rotting from the head down, decaying in its own corrupt putrescence, a stench in the nostrils of God – the sooner it is dead and buried the better.

Just like the Anglican Church of Canada.

Read it all here:

Two weeks from now, the United Church of Canada will assemble in Ottawa for its 41st General Council, where it will debate church policy and elect a new moderator. The top item on its agenda is a resolution calling for a boycott of products from Israeli settlements. Fortunately, nobody cares what the United Church thinks about Israeli settlements, or anything else for that matter, because the United Church doesn’t matter any more.

For many years, the United Church was a pillar of Canadian society. Its leaders were respected public figures. It was – and remains – the biggest Protestant denomination in a country that, outside Quebec, has been largely shaped by centuries of Protestant tradition.

But today, the church is literally dying. The average age of its members is 65. They believe in many things, but they do not necessarily believe in God. Some congregations proudly describe themselves as “post-theistic,” which is a good thing because, as one church elder said, it shows the church is not “stuck in the past.” Besides, who needs God when you’ve got Israel to kick around?

 

United Church attendees are enthusiastic supporters of euthanasia and abortion

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This isn’t too surprising: on the rare occasion when I have had to sit through a United Church of Canada sermon, by the end of it I was longing for someone to put me out of my misery, too.

From here:

A majority of The United Church Observer magazine readers, most of them church goers, are more liberal in their views than the general Canadian population when it comes to ethical issues such as abortion, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, a survey has shown.

A significant majority (82%) of readers who participated in the poll said they support euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide when life support is disconnected at the request of a terminally ill patient. Only 48% of the general population gave their approval.

[…]

83% of readers and 69% of non-readers believe the decision to terminate a pregnancy should be left to the woman; 9 % of readers and 19% of non-readers said there should be laws prohibiting/restricting abortion regardless of a woman’s wishes.

The United Church of Canada really does hate Israel

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What other conclusion can one draw from the cockamamie responses in this interview:

Q&A: Why United Church activists are targeting Israel:

Q Your task force has 15 members and you say that the boycott expresses the will of the 60 congregations in your church region. How do you know it reflects the views of those 7,000 members in those congregations?

A A corporation doesn’t have all its policies approved by all their shareholders, do they? We did not go to every single individual and every single congregation, but we’re a body of the United Church that has the authority to make these decisions and we did that.

Q Has the national church ­endorsed what you’re doing?

A The national church has not endorsed this campaign, but it hasn’t unendorsed it either.

Q What other countries are you targetting for boycotts?

A We’re active in a whole bunch of issues.

Q But what other boycotts have you called for?

A Oh, boycotts. Well, not necessarily boycotts at this point. But this is a long entrenched problem and boycotts have been called for against Israel by civil society in many other countries.

Q But I am wondering what other boycotts your group has called for or been involved with.

A We have participated in other boycott campaigns. In South Africa we participated during the era of apartheid.

Q That was a while ago. What oppressive regimes have you called for boycotts against since then? There are many oppressive regimes in Africa and the Middle East. Or what about communist China?

A No, we have not.

Q So why a boycott of Israel?

A Number one, because Israel purports to be a democracy. Number two, they are in violation of international law and even the UN has tried to call Israel to account. So what is left for people who want to see international law enforced? Libya just happened and the U.S. jumped to take on the presumed responsibility to protect civilians; they jumped in with all kinds of force. But they won’t do that against Israel ever because Israel purports to be a democracy.

Q You say five of the companies extract minerals from occupied land or exploit labour or is a supporter of the IDF. Does Indigo make books in Israel?

A Chapters Indigo owners [Heather] Reisman and [Gerald] Schwartz founded the HESEG foundation, which provides scholarships and other support to “lone soldiers” who have been in the Israeli military. [Lone soldiers are Jews who leave their home countries to join the Israeli army. They have no family in Israel, but often want to stay once their military service is done.]

Q Why would you boycott the company then? This is not the company doing this, but a couple as private citizens.

A I don’t know what to say to you. It’s not a purely private interest. They use the profits from their ownership from this huge company. They are supporting the occupation. This was the only way we could bring the light of day to how the profits of this company support this foundation.

Q Are you concerned that people think you’re fixated on Israel?

A This is not our only effort. We do anti-poverty work, we’ve lobbied about aboriginal rights and environmental issues.

Q But to be clear, you don’t target other countries.

A No.