Darkest Suburbia...and Beyond!

I assume you're referring to this statement from the UCC's General Minister & President.

Two observations:

(1) Nowhere in that statement does Rev. Thomas actually say that he endorses or agrees with the content of Dr. Wright's comments. Essentially, Thomas is riffing on the old aphorism, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" -- though in this instance, Thomas gives very few direct clues in his text by which to judge whether or not he approves of the content of Wright's remarks.

(2) His title notwithstanding, Rev. Thomas's opinions and views are his own and no one else's. He does not and cannot speak -- nor indeed does he claim to speak -- for the views of local congregations or individual UCC members. Nor does he have the authority to discipline any UCC member congregation, pastor, or church member for engaging in political speech. The power to discipline or remove Dr. Wright from his position rests with the congregation he serves.

A clarification here for non-UCC folk: serious personnel issues involving pastors are sometimes administered at the conference level. Conferences are regional or state-level associations made up of a number of local congregations, and exist partly as administrative support for local churches, partly as conduits by which regional-level ministries and charitable activities are carried out, and partly to oversee and manage resources that require larger economies of scale to support -- for example, retreat or "church camp" facilities. But any human-resource authority a conference has over a given congregation's pastor derives from that congregation's delegation of that authority to the relevant conference officer, committee, et cetera. And insofar as I'm aware, there is no provision for either congregations or conferences to further delegate the handling of local personnel matters to the national UCC office. The hierarchy, such as it is, simply doesn't work that way.

Which isn't to say that nonsense from national UCC entities doesn't trickle down to local churches. Indeed, it's almost easier in the UCC than in a truly hierarchical denomination, because local church delegates make up a sizeable chunk of the General Synod -- and, thereby, the working groups that spin off therefrom. Example: a new hymnal whose updated "inclusive language" was apparently largely written by people who didn't understand that metric verse is supposed to scan. But local UCC churches are no more required to use that hymnal than they are to agree with such sentiments as the national administrative leadership may express, and no one will throw you out of a UCC church that does use that hymnal if you sing the traditional words to one of the badly rewritten hymns.

Thus, leaving the UCC based on disapproval of Rev. Thomas's remarks is rather like leaving the USA because the President says something you disagree with....