Gen. Robert E. Lee descendant leaves pulpit after backlash (CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN

Updated 4:52 PM ET, Tue September 5, 2017

(CNN)A descendant of Gen. Robert E. Lee has stepped down as pastor of his North Carolina church after facing blowback from parishioners and others for his comments denouncing racism and lauding the Black Lives Matter movement.

As a minister and newspaper columnist, Robert W. Lee IV, the fourth great-nephew of the Confederate general, has spoken and written countless words, but the five sentences he uttered during MTV's Video Music Awards last week were just too much for some members of his congregation.
Here is the short speech he delivered before introducing Susan Bro, mother of Charlottesville victim Heather Heyer, at the August 27 awards show:

"My name is Robert Lee IV; I am a descendant of Robert E. Lee, the Civil War general whose statue was at the center of violence in Charlottesville. We have made my ancestor an idol of white supremacy, racism and hate. As a pastor it is my moral duty to speak out against racism, America's original sin. Today, I call on all of us with privilege and power to answer God's call to confront racism and white supremacy head-on. We can find inspiration in the Black Lives Matter movement, the women who marched in the Women's March in January and especially Heather Heyer who died fighting for her beliefs in Charlottesville."

Lee, who was pastor at Bethany United Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, has long supported removing monuments to the Confederacy and had already drawn attention for his lineage and for his stand against white supremacy prior to his MTV appearance. His speech that night drew unprecedented attention to his church, he wrote in a Tuesday statement announcing his resignation.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/05/us/robert-lee-iv-resigns-church-pastor-mtv-vma-confederate/index.html

[marybourg]

1. I thought the United Church of Christ

was a fairly progressive denomination. Am I confusing it with another of similar name? Or is this what passes for progressive in North Carolina?

[Jake Stern]

2. The UCC churches here in Denver are among the most liberal

Probably THE most liberal after the Unitarians.

[bobbieinok]

3. There are 2 denominations

One from the 1800s is sometimes known as the Campbellites and is a conservative denomination. (I heard that when it first started the churches did not allow any musical instuments in the church.)

Then there's the one formed some decades ago from the the merger of the Congregational churches with some other denominations. That one is a progressive Christian denomination.

The names of the two denominations are very similar.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Churches of Christ and The United Church of Christ - they are often confused in headlines...

especially when editors get lazy and sloppy.

[bobbieinok]

8. The United Cburch of Christ (UCC) is the denomination with the Congregational Church denomination.

[bobbieinok]

9. The Obamas attended a UCC church in Chicago

[sweetloukillbot]

4. My family in Pennsylvania was UCC

They were originally Dutch Reformed and got swept into the UCC back in the 70s or 80s. VERY conservative. Their historic church ended up leaving the UCC because of the whole gay marriage thing, when 3/4 of the congregation walked out after the new pastor said that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality.

The ones out here in Phoenix are practically UUs.

[marybourg]

5. Yes, I got the impression here in AZ, at least, they they

were next only to the UU Church in progressivism.

[sweetloukillbot]

6. I think a lot of it is like the split between Episcopal and American Anglican

Once teh gay starts getting talked about in church, schisms occur, sadly. At my old Lutheran church one of our older parishioners went and nailed a treatise on the church door after the pastor performed a blessing ceremony (not even a gay marriage).