Liberal Denomination Fires Salvos at Right

LIBERAL DENOMINATION FIRES SALVOS AT RIGHT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Neela Banerjee]
The United Church of Christ, in an e-mail campaign, is accusing the ABC News political program "This Week" of booking far more conservative Christian leaders than moderates for the Sunday morning broadcast. The network has called that assertion "unfounded and not based on fact." And after stirring up publicity in late 2004 with an advertisement about tolerance, the church is distributing an even more pointed commercial that shows people who might not be considered mainstream, like a single mother and a gay couple, being shot through the roof of a church from an "ejector pew." "God doesn't reject people," the commercial says. "Neither do we." Critics of the United Church of Christ, including the Institute for Religion and Democracy, assert that the church tries to silence those who do not agree with its liberal interpretation of Scripture. The United Church of Christ appears to be battling two trends: the influence of the Institute of Religion and Democracy within mainline denominations and the influence of the religious right, particularly its influence with the news media.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/us/07ucc.html
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