The UCC church denomination condemns domestic terrorism

[blackbird]

Delegates at the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) 35th General Synod overwhelmingly passed an emergency resolution this week, condemning the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids as “domestic terrorism” and accusing President Donald Trump's administration of “weaponizing the Constitution.”

 

Religious News Service reported Tuesday that the resolution targets immigration enforcement operations “carried out by ICE agents working without uniforms, wearing masks or refusing to identify themselves,” condemning these tactics as threatening and abusive.

Titled “Responding to the federal government’s attack on immigrants, migrants, and refugees,” the resolution urges the church to divest from for-profit private detention firms, specifically naming CoreCivic, GEO Group, and Management and Training Corp.— while allowing congregations to go further if they choose, according to the report.

READ MORE: Devastating CNN poll shows just how much Trump has fallen — even among his biggest supporters

Presented as an emergency motion by the Rev. Clara Sims of First Congregational UCC in Albuquerque on behalf of the Southwest Conference, the move reflects the church’s urgent response to escalated immigration enforcement under the Trump administration."

'Really corrupt': Church accuses Trump administration of committing 'domestic terrorism'

[TreeBeard]

@blackbird, don’t you disagree with everything the UCC stands for and think they are led astray by the devil?

 

Key characteristics of the United Church of Christ:

• Socially Liberal:

  The UCC is generally considered one of the most socially liberal mainline Protestant denominations in the United States. 

   
• Inclusivity:

  The UCC is known for its welcoming and affirming stance towards LGBTQ+ individuals, and it actively works towards racial justice and other forms of social justice. 

[blackbird]

"

As head of the sixth-largest Catholic diocese in the U.S., Bishop Rojas strongly criticized the escalation of ICE operations.

In his communication to Catholics, he highlighted that “authorities are now seizing brothers and sisters indiscriminately, without respect for their right to due process and their dignity as children of God.”

'Really corrupt': Church accuses Trump administration of committing 'domestic terrorism'

"

A group of immigrants who were arrested inside courthouses are suing Donald Trump’s administration and the Department of Justice over sweeping enforcement actions taking place inside immigration courts across the country.

The 12 plaintiffs — most of whom are LGBT+ or victims of female genital mutilation who fear persecution and violence in their home countries — sought protection in the United States only to have their cases abruptly dismissed, with masked federal officers waiting to arrest them on the other side of the courtroom doors.

All of the plaintiffs appeared at their immigration court hearings intending to seek asylum or other relief to remain legally in the United States, but government attorneys requested the cases be dismissed, making them vulnerable to immediate arrest, detention and swift removal from the country by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The lawsuit filed by a group of immigrant advocacy and legal groups in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday accuses the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice of unleashing a “new campaign of courthouse arrests through coordinated policies designed to strip noncitizens of their rights” and due process, “exposing them to immediate arrest and expedited removal.”

Immigrants file class-action lawsuit against Trump over ‘unlawful’ ICE arrests inside courthouses

 

[TreeBeard]

1 minute ago, blackbird said:

As head of the sixth-largest Catholic diocese in the U.S

Don’t you think Catholics are led by Satan and are going to hell?

[Fluffypants]

While you all are crying like littles wusses I look at those illegals and say

[herbie]

2 hours ago, blackbird said:

Delegates at the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) 35th General Synod overwhelmingly passed an emergency resolution this week, condemning the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids as “domestic terrorism”

 

2 hours ago, blackbird said:

As head of the sixth-largest Catholic diocese in the U.S., Bishop Rojas strongly criticized the escalation of ICE operations.

I guess so. How can you justify the current process any other way and still pretend you're even remotely a Christian?

[User]

2 hours ago, herbie said:

I guess so. How can you justify the current process any other way and still pretend you're even remotely a Christian?

Since you are the resident Biblical scholar and respecter of all things Christianity, surely you can explain to us how a nation having laws regarding immigration and a process for lawfully immigrating here to include deportations for those who do so illegally is not Christian or how it would be not Christian for a Christian to support those things. 

 

[TreeBeard]

7 minutes ago, User said:

not Christian

“The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”—Leviticus 19:34 (NIV)

It’s not Christian to deport a foreigner. 

Edited July 17, 2025 by TreeBeard

[herbie]

18 minutes ago, User said:

Since you are the resident Biblical scholar

No, I concede that to Blackbird.
Along with any claim there's little that's remotely 'scholarly' in any book of faith.

Get on with your Emergency Bible Studies, Flanders.

[User]

9 hours ago, TreeBeard said:

“The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”—Leviticus 19:34 (NIV)

It’s not Christian to deport a foreigner. 

Um, that is not what this scripture says. The scripture emphasizes the importance of treating people with respect and love. Nothing about having to have open borders in your country and let anyone and everyone in the world in, and never deport anyone. 

In context, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. 

9 hours ago, herbie said:

No, I concede that to Blackbird.
Along with any claim there's little that's remotely 'scholarly' in any book of faith.

Get on with your Emergency Bible Studies, Flanders.

You are the one who thinks you can proclaim what is and isn't Christian here... but seems you can't actually back any of that up when challenged. 

[West]

They are also getting millions in government aid and are pushing homosexuality. Basically the religious propaganda arm of the Democrats

[Deluge]

15 hours ago, blackbird said:

Delegates at the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) 35th General Synod overwhelmingly passed an emergency resolution this week, condemning the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids as “domestic terrorism” and accusing President Donald Trump's administration of “weaponizing the Constitution.”

 

Religious News Service reported Tuesday that the resolution targets immigration enforcement operations “carried out by ICE agents working without uniforms, wearing masks or refusing to identify themselves,” condemning these tactics as threatening and abusive.

Titled “Responding to the federal government’s attack on immigrants, migrants, and refugees,” the resolution urges the church to divest from for-profit private detention firms, specifically naming CoreCivic, GEO Group, and Management and Training Corp.— while allowing congregations to go further if they choose, according to the report.

READ MORE: Devastating CNN poll shows just how much Trump has fallen — even among his biggest supporters

Presented as an emergency motion by the Rev. Clara Sims of First Congregational UCC in Albuquerque on behalf of the Southwest Conference, the move reflects the church’s urgent response to escalated immigration enforcement under the Trump administration."

'Really corrupt': Church accuses Trump administration of committing 'domestic terrorism'

I condemn leftism. It needs to be expelled from the U.S. 

[TreeBeard]

1 hour ago, User said:

Um, that is not what this scripture says.

I quoted it directly.  Of course it is what scripture says.  Treat the foreigner as the same as native-born.  

[User]

7 minutes ago, TreeBeard said:

I quoted it directly.  Of course it is what scripture says.  Treat the foreigner as the same as native-born.  

Yeah, I know you quoted it directly, but the scripture doesn't speak to deportations or a country's laws on having to have open borders and never deport anyone. 

Those are your specious inferences. 

I provided the context of the scripture and how it simply means what it says, to treat people well. I am all for not mistreating illegal immigrants and treating them well and respecting them as humans as the law is enforced and they are deported. 

 

[TreeBeard]

9 minutes ago, User said:

but the scripture doesn't speak to deportations

The scripture has to be prescriptive in this instance?  I assume you know there’s no mention of abortion in the bible, yet you think the bible would ban abortions.  
 

What a wildly hypocritical way to interpret passages.  🍒 picking.

 

[User]

1 hour ago, TreeBeard said:

The scripture has to be prescriptive in this instance?  I assume you know there’s no mention of abortion in the bible, yet you think the bible would ban abortions.  
 

What a wildly hypocritical way to interpret passages.  🍒 picking.

 

You are here forming a doctrinal position on illegal immigration, trying to declare what is and is not Christian. 

You need more than your own personal inference on more meaning than was actually said to push that. 

You are here calling me a hypocrite on cherry picking passages when I have offered no arguments here regarding abortion. However, generally speaking, we are talking about basic logic when you say it is wrong to murder, that is a comment that covers the unborn child since it is also a human life and there is scripture backing up the unborn child being a human life. 

Are you even a Christian? Do you even believe what the Bible says?

 

[TreeBeard]

1 hour ago, User said:

You are here forming a doctrinal position on illegal immigration, trying to declare what is and is not Christian. 

I did it based on a plain reading of a very clear bible passage.  It doesn’t fit your narrative, so you feel comfortable dismissing it.  How could the bible ever side with “illegal” immigrants when you don’t like them?  Simply not possible!  

1 hour ago, User said:

However, generally speaking, we are talking about basic logic when you say it is wrong to murder, that is a comment that covers the unborn child

And when the bible says treat the foreigner as you would the native-born, basic logic tells us that passage is much more clear than the abortion=murder biblical interpretation you’re pushing.  Which is exactly the point I was making. 

Edited July 17, 2025 by TreeBeard

[User]

14 minutes ago, TreeBeard said:

I did it based on a plain reading of a very clear bible passage.  It doesn’t fit your narrative, so you feel comfortable dismissing it.  How could the bible ever side with “illegal” immigrants when you don’t like them?  Simply not possible!  

LOL, no part of your "plain reading" mentioned deportations, open borders, national policy on immigration or enforcement. 

I don't like illegal immigrants like I don't like DUI drivers. So, is your next argument that we should abolish the entire crminal justice system?

15 minutes ago, TreeBeard said:

And when the bible says treat the foreigner as you would the native-born, basic logic tells us that passage is much more clear than the abortion=murder biblical interpretation you’re pushing.  Which is exactly the point I was making. 

That isn't exactly what it said though, and guess what, I would treat folks native-born the same way when it comes to following our laws, hold them accountable to those. 

The scripture said to not do them wrong and to love them. 

Why are you avoiding my questions?

Are you a Christian? Do you even believe what the Bible says?

[TreeBeard]

7 minutes ago, User said:

I would treat folks native-born the same way when it comes to following our laws, hold them accountable to those

If we use this principle then if the law allows abortion, then abortion is ok.  If the law allows migrants to come across a border, then those migrants are ok.  

Sounds like you’re putting the law above what the bible tells us in the case of migrants, but you wouldn’t do the same in the case of abortion. 

16 minutes ago, User said:

I don't like illegal immigrants like I don't like DUI drivers. So, is your next argument that we should abolish the entire crminal justice system?

This is a red herring as the bible says nothing regarding DUI drivers.  However, you can still make a moral judgement about them that they are “bad”.   While the bible tells us directly that we must treat foreigners as if they are native-born, you still have no problem judging them as “bad”.  This is in direct contradiction to the bible, and if you’re Catholic, to what the Pope says. 
 

 

[herbie]

Gee you Holy Rollers I'm not proclaiming dick shit.
I'm only pointing out FACT

All religions are beliefs, not truths.

Argue that if you can even comprehend the difference.

[Nationalist]

22 hours ago, blackbird said:

Delegates at the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) 35th General Synod overwhelmingly passed an emergency resolution this week, condemning the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids as “domestic terrorism” and accusing President Donald Trump's administration of “weaponizing the Constitution.”

 

Religious News Service reported Tuesday that the resolution targets immigration enforcement operations “carried out by ICE agents working without uniforms, wearing masks or refusing to identify themselves,” condemning these tactics as threatening and abusive.

Titled “Responding to the federal government’s attack on immigrants, migrants, and refugees,” the resolution urges the church to divest from for-profit private detention firms, specifically naming CoreCivic, GEO Group, and Management and Training Corp.— while allowing congregations to go further if they choose, according to the report.

READ MORE: Devastating CNN poll shows just how much Trump has fallen — even among his biggest supporters

Presented as an emergency motion by the Rev. Clara Sims of First Congregational UCC in Albuquerque on behalf of the Southwest Conference, the move reflects the church’s urgent response to escalated immigration enforcement under the Trump administration."

'Really corrupt': Church accuses Trump administration of committing 'domestic terrorism'

Not even Gawd cares...

[User]

1 hour ago, TreeBeard said:

If we use this principle then if the law allows abortion, then abortion is ok.  If the law allows migrants to come across a border, then those migrants are ok.  

That was not my argument: that if the law says it, then it is okay. It was your argument that we must treat them the same, and I was pointing out that we are. 

But yes, duh, if the law allows for migration, then that migration allowed for is OK. 

1 hour ago, TreeBeard said:

Sounds like you’re putting the law above what the bible tells us in the case of migrants, but you wouldn’t do the same in the case of abortion. 

No, just your poor comprehension skills here at work is all or deliberate dishonesty. 

1 hour ago, TreeBeard said:

This is a red herring as the bible says nothing regarding DUI drivers.  However, you can still make a moral judgement about them that they are “bad”.   While the bible tells us directly that we must treat foreigners as if they are native-born, you still have no problem judging them as “bad”.  This is in direct contradiction to the bible, and if you’re Catholic, to what the Pope says. 

No, you bringing up my dislike was a red herring and I was just pointing out the stupidity of that argument of yours. 

The Bible doesn't say anything about deporations or having to have particular immigration policies as a nation either. 

I judge their breaking the law as bad and I will still treat them with love. 

You have not made any Biblical argument here yet. I am not Catholic. And when the Pope starts allowing open borders at the Vatican, let me know. 

@TreeBeard

Once again, are you Christian?

Do you even believe what The Bible says?

[TreeBeard]

16 minutes ago, User said:

The Bible doesn't say anything about deporations

It also doesn’t say anything about abortion.   

[User]

19 minutes ago, TreeBeard said:

It also doesn’t say anything about abortion.   

It doesn't specifically mention shooting someone in the head either... 

Logic isn't your strong suit and the fact that you are neither a Christian or someone that actually believes the Bible shows as well with your inability to grasp basic concepts like doctrinal positions, reading scripture in context, and what it actually says. 

 

[TreeBeard]

21 minutes ago, User said:

It doesn't specifically mention shooting someone in the head either... 

exactly.  That would contradict the not killing commandment.  Just like deporting someone contradicts biblical teaching and is in direct opposition to the scripture I quoted earlier.   Glad we’re on the same page.