United Church of Christ

The United Church of Christ is a mainline Christian denomination whose national offices frequently advocates on liberal issues including peace, employment opportunity, housing, anti-discrimination (ageism, sexism, racism, LGBT issues), Fair Trade and Globalization, Middle East issues, and the environment. C

"The Rev. Geoffrey A. Black was elected General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ in June 2009. Prior to that, he served as Conference Minister of the UCC's New York Conference for nine years beginning in 2000."

Washington Post Criticism
Washington Post reporter Christopher Stern reported on June 20, 2003, that the United Church of Christ was one of several groups, including also the Gray Panthers, the New York Public Interest Research Group and former WorldCom employee Mitch Marcus, who participated in a seemingly grassroots protest demanding harsher federal penalties against WorldCom following the company's massive fraud conviction. "The outpouring, though, was hardly spontaneous. Several of the opponents, including protest organizers and petitioners, had ties to Issue Dynamics Inc. (IDI), a Washington-based consulting firm whose clients include some of WorldCom's biggest competitors, such as the regional phone giant Verizon Communications Inc. ... IDI's practice of organizing public interest groups to support its initiatives has occasionally angered some consumer activists, who said President Samuel A. Simon often does not disclose whom he is working for. ... Last month, the Gray Panthers took out full-page advertisements in The Washington Post and several other newspapers that called on the federal government to stop doing business with WorldCom. The ad said it was paid for by the Gray Panthers but did not mention that IDI provided much of the money. ..."

Contact information
700 Prospect Ave. Cleveland, OH 44115 Phone: (216) 736-2112 E-mail: whitneyk AT ucc.org Web: http://www.ucc.org

Related Sourcewatch

 * Church Center for the United Nations
 * Action by Churches Together International
 * Waxman-Markey Climate Bill
 * Employee Free Choice Act
 * Gotham Inc
 * John H. Thomas
 * Arthur Lawrence Cribbs, Jr., former Director of Communications
 * Barry W. Lynn
 * David R. Smock
 * Andrew Jay Schwartzman
 * Gloria Tristani
 * Patricia Aufderheide
 * Frank Morris, Sr.
 * David Steele
 * Max L. Stackhouse
 * Edie Rasell
 * Audrey R. Chapman
 * Deborah Lee