I really learned a lot about the UCC Church from Megan and Carla's presentation. First, I learned that this relatively young church is usually associated with contemporary liberal beliefs. That is, liberal in a political context. The big theme through out the presentation was not "playing god." This theme is reflected through out their beliefs on abortion, homosexuality, war, and many other social issues. They are the largest supporting gay rights religion. However, at Immanuel, the church, a mostly older crowd, tends to be a bit leery about this issue as there are no openly gay members. Right now it's more of a "we are waiting for it to happen to us before we have to form an opinion" kind of thing. On Abortion, they prefer it didn't happen but they believe it's the women's right to choose. They believe the life of the mom is more important and that in certain situations, such as rape and incest, it is justifiable. On war, they believe it is wrong. They believe that killing people is wrong and that it's humans just trying to play god. Women are allowed to be pastors, and historically women have been pastors in their church for quite a long time. There is still some bias about women in the church, but is overwhelmingly accepted. Divorce is not a problem. However, before getting married, regardless of orientation, couples are expected to meet with the pastor for marriage counseling type meetings. Their overarching ideas behind their religion are: take care of the "least of these," human dignity, love and compassion, and charity and justice.
When it comes to the Washington neighborhood, I found Carla and Meghan's assertions that Immanuel's interactions with the neighborhood are run on fear to be very interesting. This is something I've noticed too with my own conversations with Annie from St. Mary's about interacting with the Washington Neighborhood. It seems that everyone is scared to do anything with this neighborhood. My biggest question: why are we so scared? Obviously, there have been a few instances of violence that's possibly gang-related. However, I always pictured religious orders being sort of fearless in the determination to help those less fortunate then them. It saddens me in someways that even now these religious groups are afraid to step in and help because of a few instances of violence. This raises the question in my mind: how much of this fear is based on race? This saddens me even more if it the case that some of this fear is associated with racial tensions. I still believe that it's religious groups such as the UCC Church, especially because this particular Church does have a strong black following in different areas of the country, would be the best groups to go in and help make a difference. I know that the UCC Church does do some activities to help the neighborhood and is talking about more ideas, but I hope that all of our Churches can move past this fear and actually do something to help.
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I agree that the UCC does have a strong black following in other areas of the country, but Immanuel does not. They are a group whose major descriptions are "white" and "older". They're still reluctant to accept some of their own church doctrines. I don't think any of them really have any way to relate to the neighborhood. Though I suppose they could try, they have lived a completely different type of life. Not only is it hard for them, I think it would also be difficult for the neighborhood to feel welcome in the church, no matter how friendly the others were to them. The demographics are just so different. I think race is an issue, but I think it's an issue for both sides.
ReplyDeletePeople are afraid of things they don't fully understand. That's sometimes a reason why people have such trouble with doing service. It can be terrifying trying to help people when you're not entirely sure what the need or if you can fulfill that need. Though I suppose you could just go ask, that is also a slightly terrifying prospect. Violence being involved puts an even larger block. Though I assume that the majority of people aren't violent, it only takes a few incidents to scare people against an entire neighborhood. It's sad, but it might only just get worse. :(
I hope it gets better.