Editorials
American church leader calls for critical partnership with Barack Obama
UCC-President John Thomas visits German partner churches on farewell tour
March 16, 2009
"The United Church of Christ can now contribute to readjusting the country's moral compass" said the Rev. John Thomas, President and General Minister of the United Church of Christ during a meeting with the EKD's Council chairman Bishop Wolfgang Huber in Berlin on March 10. While the churches had no access to the White House during the past eight years, the Obama administration was attentive to the voice of the churches. Explaining that president Obama's ideological position was known to be close to the UCC, John Thomas described the new role of his denomination as "highly seductive" and called for prophetic distance and "critical partnership" in its dialogue with the new administration. The new kind of partnership offered significant opportunities for an appropriate engagement of his church in public policy issues. John Thomas drew particular attention to NATO's military build-up in Afghanistan which calls for the churches' vigilance on both sides of the Atlantic.
At the close of his ten-year tenure at the head of the UCC, John Thomas visited partner churches in Europe and the Middle East together with the UCC's ecumenical officer Rev. Lydia Veliko and Peter Makari, the UCC's Europe and Middle East executive. In 1980 the United Church of Christ entered into full communion with the United regional churches (Landedskirchen) of Germany which belonged to the Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU). This partnership was extended to all United and Reformed member churches of the EKD in 2003 when these regional churches constituted the Union of Evangelical Churches (UEK). Eight of the EKD's regional churches maintain links with regional conferences of the UCC. Mutual visits, joint projects and personnel exchanges are part of the lively transatlantic relationship.
The UCC which resulted from the union of several Protestant traditions in 1957 is partly rooted in German 19th century immigration and has a close affinity with German Evangelical theology. The denomination with a membership of approximately one million has gained a reputation as one of the most progressive American churches through its sustained commitment to civil rights and its advocacy for the rights of gays, lesbians and transsexuals in church and society. Its unambiguous campaign for disarmament and the concept of just peace has had influence on the German churches' Peace ethics.
After their meetings with bishop Wolfgang Huber and bishop Martin Schindehuette who heads the EKD's international relations' department, the UCC delegation was welcomed by church leaders and partnership groups in the cities of Hanover, Düsseldorf, Frankfort, Darmstadt and Karlsruhe. During these encounters the conflicts in the Middle East and the pflight of nearly four million displaced persons and refugees from Iraq were high on the agenda as the delegation reported from its visit to Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Following the latest Gaza strip battle and the on-going construction of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem John Thomas sees almost no indications for a peaceful solution. It was the UCC's feeling that neither the Israeli government nor the Palestinian leadership seemed able or willing to negotiate in spite of the Obama administration's remarkable diplomatic efforts. The German church representatives and the UCC delegation stressed that for the churches it remained essential to strive for just peace in the region and to continue their work for reconciliation between the different ethnic, religious and political groups involved in the conflict.