Blazing a trail for Barack Obama

Blazing a trail for Barack Obama

Source: Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada

Author: David Olive, Columnist

Date: 31 August, 2008

Forty years before Barack Obama, chosen last week as the Democratic Party's nominee for the U.S. presidency, there was the Rev. Channing E. Phillips. The son of a Brooklyn pastor, Phillips, a District of Columbia-based civil-rights leader and social activist, was the first African American whose name was placed in nomination for the U.S. presidency by a major political party, the Democrats. His name was put forward at their tumultuous 1968 convention in Chicago…

Phillips was pastor at Washington D.C.'s Lincoln Temple – like Obama's long-time Chicago church, from which Obama estranged himself this year, a congregation of the United Church of Christ. Phillips was later a minister at Manhattan's Riverside Church…

Churches use gas giveaways to boost attendance

Churches use gas giveaways to boost attendance

Source: Detroit Free Press - United States

Author: BLAKE NICHOLSON • ASSOCIATED PRESS

Date: 31 August, 2008

Carol Umsted got more than the word of God during services this summer at the Congregational United Church of Christ of Valley City.

She also got $50 worth of free gas, thanks to winning a raffle. For the local farmer, it was a nice side benefit, at a time when gas was more than $4 a gallon.

New pastors merge marriage, ministry

New pastors merge marriage, ministry

Source: Southtown Star - Chicago, IL, USA

Author: ARENA FULKA, Staff writer

Date: 31 August, 2008

"In the United Church of Christ, no matter who you are or where you are in life's journey, you're welcome here. We ask that people be respectful of one another," Bean said.

The United Church of Christ was birthed through a merger of four faith traditions: Evangelical, Reformed, Congregational and Christian, Bean said.

Church devoted to Obama's ex-pastor

Church devoted to Obama's ex-pastor
Source: The Star-Ledger - NJ.com - Newark, NJ, USA

Author: JEFF DIAMANT, Star-Ledger Staff

Date: 31 August, 2008

When comments from old sermons thrust the Rev. Jeremiah Wright unfavorably into the national spotlight during the Democratic primaries, the Chicago pastor maintained wide support among black churchgoers who have admired him for decades.

And few black churches have stayed more loyal than Elmwood United Presbyterian in East Orange, where Wright next Sunday will begin a weeklong church revival, titled "Recapturing Our Prophetic Voice." He has led revivals there every September since 1989…

They hit it off instantly, connecting on a spiritual level, said Burkins, who himself preaches one Sunday a year at Trinity United Church of Christ in...

Politics trump morals for Obama, Biden

Politics trump morals for Obama, Biden

Source: Chicago Sun-Times - United States

Author: CARL A. ANDERSON

Date: 30 August, 2008

Obama's troubles with Catholics and evangelicals can be traced to his many years of attendance at the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ, a church that professes a belief in "liberation theology." According to "talking points" listed on Trinity Church's Web site, "The vision statement of Trinity United Church of Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone's book, Black Power and Black Theology."