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Switch to Forum Live View UCC passes out condoms at worship services
4 years ago  ::  Jun 17, 2009 - 12:20PM #1
Bevo
Bevo
Posts: 561

 From the Confessing Movement web page:


Good News, Or Perhaps Not

 

 

 

The United Church of Christ, which prides itself on being a Progressive denomination, through its HIV and AIDS Network, is encouraging condom distribution at UCC places of worship.  A statement explains: "Condoms are a sign that people of faith take sexuality seriously as part of human life and that we endorse all options for preventing HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases." 


 


The UCC statement is critical of Pope Benedict XVI, who urges abstinence as a way of dealing with AIDS.  Anglican Bishop Andrew Proud of Ethiopia responds that the sexual politics of churches like the UCC compromise the churches' witness in Africa by legitimizing the behaviors that cause AIDS and abetting the Islamization of Africa and inviting violence against Christians.

 
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4 years ago  ::  Jun 17, 2009 - 8:46PM #2
Bevo
Bevo
Posts: 561

Passing out condoms at worship services?  Can anyone cite the Biblical basis for this?  I mean, if the condoms were for married couples, then I could sort of see the rational.  But these condoms are for same-sex couples, engaging in sexual activities that Scripture declares as sinful behavior.


The UCC will inevitably become little more than a footnote in the pages of history.


 
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4 years ago  ::  Jun 18, 2009 - 9:09PM #3
Bevo
Bevo
Posts: 561

So, what's the problem?  All the UCC has done is taken your arguments to their logical extreme--pass out condoms at their worship services.


 
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4 years ago  ::  Jun 20, 2009 - 1:30AM #4
Corgi
Corgi
Posts: 61

Actually, the condoms are for whomever takes them, of whatever gender or relationship status.  Maybe you didn't realize that all kinds of people engage in behaviors that can be risky without protection.  Preventing disease and death is a good thing. 


 
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4 years ago  ::  Jul 08, 2009 - 3:27PM #5
Bevo
Bevo
Posts: 561

So, you believe the church should encourage persons to engage in such unbiblical activities, huh?


Tell me, how's business?  I mean, how many folks are flocking to the UCC?  Not too many, are there?
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4 years ago  ::  Jul 08, 2009 - 3:35PM #6
Bevo
Bevo
Posts: 561

Business isn't so good, is it?


spectator.org/archives/2006/04/06/ejecti...


"Despite all of its welcoming and affirming, the UCC has lost one million members over the last 40 years, or over 40 percent of its original membership. Like the Episcopal Church, the UCC remains overwhelmingly a denomination of the white, upper-middle class. Minorities and working-class whites have not been ejected by the UCC but are not attracted to its brand of New England-style liberal Protestantism."
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4 years ago  ::  Jul 09, 2009 - 8:43PM #7
Bevo
Bevo
Posts: 561

From the same news article:


"Last year's decision by the UCC to become the first major U.S. denomination formally to endorse same-sex "marriage" only contributed to the UCC's membership plunge. At least one hundred congregations have voted to leave the UCC just since 2005, as recorded by www.faithfulandwelcoming.org. The ultimate number probably will be several times that."
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3 years ago  ::  Dec 04, 2009 - 1:03AM #8
Intotheblue
Intotheblue
Posts: 265

I don't think a church should be a "business" or a popularity/numbers contest, so that's moot. Personally, I'm relieved to see there is a church that actually uses common sense when it comes to sexuality. I was starting to think such a place didn't exist. It baffles me how people can go to Africa and self-righteously preach to the poor and sick that it's their fault they're poor and sick because they have sex. Right... How dare they be intimate with their spouse... These "missionaries" don't seem to realize that a signature on a piece of paper, or a rite conducted by a priest, doesn't make AIDS disappear from a person's body. Human couples are going to be intimate with each other, that's a fact. It is foolish to live in fantasy-land where everyone is your idea of pure and perfect, and sex doesn't exist. We don't live in that world. And I applaud any church that encourages people to be responsible for the health of themselves and their partners and families.


And what's with this "Islamization" or whatever? I thought the competition between Islam and Christianity for the most members ended centuries ago, in the days of the Inquisition. For some of us, following Christ's teachings of love is what being "Christian" is about. Not a race against other religions to be bigger and more powerful.

Namaste.

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"It is not our differences that divide us, but our inability to accept and celebrate those differences."
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2 years ago  ::  Dec 10, 2010 - 4:49PM #9
JonAtFaithUCC
JonAtFaithUCC
Posts: 294

Granted it's a year since this thread was started, but thought I would reply.  I'm not aware of any UCC churches where condoms are being passed out during worship.  It's hard to determine the actual statement from the UCC HIV and AIDS Network, given that there is no link to the quote or article.  Assuming that someone from that program recommended that condoms be passed out during worship, local UCC churches establish their own rules for worship and would have to authorize such as action.


That said, I think there's something to be said about access to condoms  in order to prevent risk for HIV and STIs.  Heck, even the pope recently supported condom usage in limited situations, like male prostitution.
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