Spongebob welcome at the UCC

In case yo may not know, Spongebob Squarepants has recently come under fire from some Christian groups.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4190699.stm

Today the UCC (United Church of Christ) has publically offered Spongebob a place in their congregation if he so chooses.

http://accessibleairwaves.org/2005/01/ucc-welcomes-spongebob.html

The cute picture alone is worth clicking the link.

I would have so much more respect for religous organizations if more of them did this.

Sponge Bob made me gay!

Yeah well sponge bob kept me straight, so I guess we cancel out

Odd that a cartoon character made of right angles would fall under accusations of underminining straightness...

Sponge Bob is such a tacky dresser he could never be gay in my book.

lol, well said - dude no way that Spongebob could be gay.

seeing a church invite a cartoon character to join the congregation kinda does the opposite for me.

The cartoon character is symbolic, it is the gesture of tolerance that I applaud as well as admitting that there are some Christians who feel that tolerance is important and a "Christian Value".

Pesticides made you gay.

I don't quite understand how holding hands = gay. There's something terribly wrong with our culture, I think.

Scince when do Patrick and Spongebob hold hands O_o So does that mean the kids on the rugrats are gay also because they walk around holding hands!11 No offense to you gays, but some gay guy probably wrote this just because he was insecure about being gay himself.... THAT IS ALL.

Oh yes, jsut because you people assort holding hands as being gay is your own damn problem. Male to male butt fumping is gay, not holding hands. And spongebob deosn't really have a gender, he's a sponge =)

I'll note that the UCC isn't neccessarily accepting Spongebob because he is supposidly gay. Rather, the Church is trying to reach out to those who have been kicked aside by the policies and dogma of many other Christian churches. As they said, Jesus didn't turn anyone away. Why should they start?

This is really part of the church's "Open and Affirming" and "God is still speaking," campaigns. The Open and Affirming program allows each congregation to file, if they so choose, a declaration that they will happily accept anyone who comes to them in good faith. It doesn't matter if you are young or old, straight or gay, man or woman. The church will accept you. That being said, it is the general policy of the church that it is open and affirming, however due to the structure of the church, each congregation can deliver the general synod's message in whatever manner they want. They don't have to be registered as Open and Affirming, but they can if they so choose.

Anywho, I am rambling again....

In summary, I think this was just a playful way for the church to try to set itself apart from some of the other denomenations who tend to like damning cartoon charecters.

--Brian Livingston.

Just curious, because I am not a Christian, but wouldn't extending their hand to those that had been rejected by intolerant dogma of other religions be avocating tolerance for all and in fact, rejecting intolerant dogma? Using Sponge Bob, was just a symbol of how silly and dogmatic their intolerance is?

It could be I was reading more into it than was intended. But I'd like to give them credit. I'd like to know that there are more than just a handful of Christians out there that reject dogma, hate and intolerance.

<------ PollyAnna, probably.

The really amazing thing is that the UCC is the direct descendant of the Puritans, who emigrated to America in order to practice their faith freely. Of course once here, they were pretty intolerant of any other faiths, but that's a lot of water under the bridge...

Phew! At least I won't be accused of gay proselytization.

Yea, the UCC is a decendent church of the Puritans, as well as several others. Either way, that was in the past and the church has grown past that, learning from previous mistakes and misguided fears. Many of the denominations present in the US today also descend from Puritans or puritanical roots.

Yep, that sounds about right. Although the UCC has adopted a policy of respect and tollerence for other religions, this news item seems to show that although the UCC may respect the other religons, they don't believe in or accept the intollerant policies of some denominations. There is a whole bunch of info on this and their policies at:

http://www.ucc.org

We are here, Rose...we just don't speak as loud as our conservative brethren. Not all people who have faith in the teachings of Jesus support the radical insinuations the Religious Right likes to make.

Political opinions should *not* be mixed with religious faith, IMHO. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Your faith is in your home...not in your legislature. The Religious Right is more about the "Right (as in wing)" ideaology than it is the "Religious" ideaology. They are *not* the mouthpiece of the Christian faith. they are more like the loudmouths of the Christian faith.

Like you could get drunk sailors to follow you into a whorehouse, even...

If I had any clue wtf you were talking about, I'd post a pithy reply!