United Church Of Christ Research Articles

Pastors, Preaching and Parking Lot Conversations: Clergy’s Tactics of LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Mainline Protestant Churches

ABSTRACT Mainline Protestant pastors in the United States play pivotal roles in envisioning and planning changes to local congregational practices. They are highly visible and authoritative figures who must work to avoid conflicts that could splinter their churches. Often serving politically mixed laity, pastors must balance a tension between pastoral care and their own convictions. They work to avoid what one pastor called ‘parking lot conversations’, a particularly hostile form of public confrontation with congregants, which they might encounter because of their leadership or preaching. I examine two items in pastors’ tactical toolkit that allow them to advocate for institutional transformation while maintaining congregational cohesion: weekly sermons and personal conversations with congregants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in three congregations in Michigan – Episcopalian, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ – I focus on pastoral approaches to LGBTQ+ inclusion, an issue which can cause fraught debate in certain mainline Protestant contexts. Navigating when to voice their views and when to be less confrontational, pastors often preach obliquely about LGBTQ+ issues by mentioning the already-inclusive environments their congregations provide, arguing that this is a sure sign of the church’s commitment to Christian ideals of welcoming. This approach curbs conflict and lessens the chance disgruntled parishioners will confront them. Conversely, pastors use private conversations with congregants to leverage conflict into teachable moments that can deepen the whole community’s commitments to their church. In these conversations, pastors are much more direct about their planning around the role of the church as an inclusive space.

Conclusion

Conclusion Domenik Ackermann (bio) The most recent generation of scholars engaging in comparative theological discourse has elevated issues of decoloniality and questions around decentering Western Christian theology. The discourses in this issue of CrossCurrents strive to be in line with a decolonial approach both on a meta-level and on the level of theological content. Indeed, in all of the articles presented here, the contributors imply that a comparative theology that wishes to engage seriously in decoloniality must reflect on and rethink the meaning of land, with its many facets of meaning and importance. On the topic, the contributions to this special issue on theologies of land not only showcase a kaleidoscope of meanings that land can have but also reveal that there is potential for further comparative theological engagement. We delineated how places, soil, and geography have theological meanings that reach into relevant meta-theological questions, as well as cultural and even political conversations. By way of conclusion, I should like only to mention possible pathways for further conversation. Clearly, the relevance of land with respect to religious traditions' identities reaches beyond the four perspectives presented here. There has been engagement in historical theology and the question of colonization, as well as studies in scriptures about the meaning of land, soil, and Israel. However, discourse across and between traditions is still a novelty. Our discourse on land, specifically, provokes me to think about what perspectives present themselves from native traditions outside the Batak, Anishinaabe, or Naga traditions. What further insights about the significance of land can we gain from the ongoing cultural-political discourses with Native people in colonized countries (such as those in North America, Africa, and Australia, to name just a few)? How can dialogue about land include Muslim insights, especially in the context of conversations about Israel and Palestine? These are but a few questions of many that must be asked. Finally, how can land, as a [End Page 86] paradox between porosity and particularity, help us further understand multiplicity and interconnectedness? The conversations that the four of us engaged in during the process of compiling this issue were rich and insightful. It is our hope that this conversation sparks interest in a broader theological conversation. I personally thank Michelle Voss Roberts, Hesron Sihombing and O'neil van Horn for availing themselves and creating these thoughtful and thought-provoking articles. I also thank Paul Hedges for introducing us, and S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate for offering CrossCurrents as an outlet for our conversations. [End Page 87] Domenik Ackermann Domenik Ackermann studied Protestant Theology in Göttingen (Germany), Heidelberg (Germany), and Beirut (Lebanon) with a focus on ecumenical issues and interfaith questions. A Ph. D. Candidate at the Theology Department at Boston College, his research interests include comparative theological and liturgical studies on Christianity and Judaism with a particular emphasis on the function of memory in prayerful activity. His dissertation "Prayerful Memory. What Christian Theology Can Learn from Jewish Practice" explores the meaning of prayer as an experience through Jean-Louis-Chrétien and Johann Baptist Metz in dialogue with Jewish liturgical functions of prayer. Domenik is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC). Copyright © 2023 Association for Public Religion and Intellectual Life

Featured Poet Kiki Petrosino: “The Red Earth of Terra”

Featured Poet Kiki Petrosino: “The Red Earth of Terra”

Reflections on the 1980s and After: An Interview by Pamela Riney-Kehrberg with Paul Lasley and David Ostendorf, February 24, 2022

Paul lasley and david ostendorf were crucial participants in Iowa's response to the Farm Crisis of the 1980s. Paul Lasley had just finished his PhD and a postdoc in rural sociology at the University of Missouri when he came to Iowa State University. He worked on many projects that helped farmers cope with the decade's troubles, and often mediated between competing groups in his position with Iowa State Cooperative Extension. He was the founding editor of the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll, which gathered important evidence of the effects of the crisis at the ground level. Rev. David Ostendorf came to Iowa as part of the advocacy group Rural America. He arrived thinking he would be working on rural housing issues, but quickly found himself working with embattled farmers. When Rural America dissolved, he founded and headed PrairieFire, one of the decade's most important activist agricultural organizations, which demanded and provided aid to distressed farmers. Lasley has recently retired after forty years in Extension and rural sociology at Iowa State. Ostendorf continues to be a minister in the United Church of Christ, as well as organizing on issues of social, economic, and racial justice.In an hourlong conversation, the two of them reflected on their experience of the 1980s, the changes that have happened in agriculture and rural communities in the decades since, and the importance of history.

Church Talks on Peace Talks

Abstract This article studies the rhetoric of a traditional Protestant denomination, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), in advocating the resumption of peace talks during the Duterte administration. The church believes that the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and communist revolutionary groups will solve the fifty-year conflict that has claimed thousands of lives of combatants and civilians in the countryside. At the beginning of Duterte’s term, the UCCP extended support for his administration. This was based on the alignment between the church and the President’s goals of purging of systemic sins in Philippine society through peacemaking. Using the theological rhetoric of the social gospel as framework, the UCCP first considered President Duterte as the ideal rhetorical audience who can address urgent needs through the resumption of peace talks. However, after two years of Duterte’s broken campaign promises, the church began to address its own constituents as the rhetorical audience they need to persuade in order to purge the systemic sins of Philippine society. Church members must be in solidarity with their leaders in opposing President Duterte’s policies. Through a shift from a rhetoric of transcendence to that of resistance, the church persuades its audiences of the sacredness of political support or opposition, giving religious justification to the mission of social reform.

Overall Congregational Vitality in the United Church of Christ: Predictors and Implications

This article examines the predictors of overall congregational vitality in the United Church of Christ (UCC), a US mainline Protestant denomination of approximately 5,000 churches and 800,000 members. This analysis is based on data from the UCC version of the Faith Communities Today survey, which surveyed all UCC congregations in early 2020. An overall congregational vitality scale was created from survey questions; factors associated with congregational vitality were tested to see which ones had a statistically significant relationship with a congregation's level of overall vitality. Aspects of congregations that were significantly associated with overall congregational vitality included the fit between the pastor and congregation, innovative worship, racial diversity, and total number of participants, while the percentage of young adults, contemporary worship, founding year of congregation, percentage change in worship attendance over the past five years, current financial health of congregation, and percentage of female participants did not influence overall congregational vitality. This research may be useful for congregations seeking to maintain or increase their vitality and for researchers interested in identifying the components and predictors of congregational vitality.

A Study on the Effectiveness of Japan’s Religious Control Policy in Wartime : Mainly on United Church of Christ in Japan

A Study on the Effectiveness of Japan’s Religious Control Policy in Wartime : Mainly on United Church of Christ in Japan

What do Christian Clergy Say?: Advice from Christian Pastors to Family Therapists about Working with LGB Clients

This qualitative study informed by queer theory explored Christian pastors’ advice for family therapists seeking to work more competently and affirmatively with LGB individuals and their families. Twenty-one pastors leading Christian congregations (e.g., Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, United Church of Christ, and Presbyterian), who identified as LGB affirmative to varying extents, were interviewed. Thematic analysis identified the following categories: (1) therapists holding a positive stance toward LGB clients, (2) therapists developing ethical boundaries around their religious beliefs, (3) therapists being open to spirituality as a resource for LGB clients, and (4) therapists gaining the necessary knowledge to work affirmatively with LGB Clients. Implications based on the findings of this study include a need for family therapists to engage in self-of-the-therapist work to address religious biases and heteronormative assumptions in order to provide competent therapy to religious LGB clients, as well as important insight for how therapists can collaborate with pastors to better serve their LGB clients.

Believing in Women? Examining Early Views of Women among America’s Most Progressive Religious Groups

This paper examines views of women among the most prominent “progressive” American religious groups (as defined by those that liberalized early on the issue of birth control, circa 1929). We focus on the years between the first and second waves of the feminist movement (1929–1965) in order to examine these views during a time of relative quiescence. We find that some groups indeed have a history of outspoken support for women’s equality. Using their modern-day names, these groups—the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and to a lesser extent, the Society of Friends, or Quakers—professed strong support for women’s issues, early and often. However, we also find that prominent progressive groups—the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the United Presbyterian Church—were virtually silent on the issue of women’s rights. Thus, we conclude that birth control activism within the American religious field was not clearly correlated with an overall feminist orientation.

Sacred Nature: The Environmental Potential of Religious Naturalism

Book Review| May 01 2018 Sacred Nature: The Environmental Potential of Religious Naturalism Sacred Nature: The Environmental Potential of Religious Naturalism. Jerome Stone. London and New York: Routledge, 2017. 146 pp. $140 cloth, $44.95 paper. David E. Conner David E. Conner Pastor, United Church of Christ, Wheat Ridge, Colorado Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google American Journal of Theology & Philosophy (2018) 39 (2): 68–70. https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjtheophil.39.2.0068 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation David E. Conner; Sacred Nature: The Environmental Potential of Religious Naturalism. American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 1 May 2018; 39 (2): 68–70. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjtheophil.39.2.0068 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressAmerican Journal of Theology & Philosophy Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2018 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2018 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

A Spatially Informed Analysis of Environmental Justice: Analyzing the Effects of Gerrymandering and the Proximity of Minority Populations to U.S. Superfund Sites

Abstract In 1987, and again 20 years later, the United Church of Christ (UCC) presented research showing that 60% of African Americans lived near an unregulated toxic waste facility. We build off t...

“Aliens Ministering to Aliens”: Reformed Church in America Missionaries among Chinese in the Philippines

This article reviews the two decades after RCA missionaries were forced out of China, revealing that the church’s “China mission” was not abandoned, but simply changed geographic focus to overseas Chinese in the Philippines. Although the RCA continued a ministry targeting Chinese from South Fujian, where they had worked since 1842, they faced many new challenges in the Philippines that were quite inconsistent with their experience in China. A major point of contention for missionaries was balancing their relationship with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and Chinese churches that refused to join this ecumenical organization.

Looking for Mature Faith in the Missions of Religiously Affiliated Institutions of Higher Education

ABSTRACTIn this study, we investigated Benson, Donahue, and Erikson's (1993) concept of faith maturity as expressed by institutions of higher education (IHE) claiming religious affiliation. We examined the institutional mission statements of 87 schools affiliated with six Protestant denominations in search of evidence of their intention to develop the Vertical (V) and Horizontal (H) dimensions of faith maturity (Benson, Donahue, & Erikson, 1993). Contrary to this conceptualization of a mature faith, expressions of V and H dimensions were negatively correlated. There was considerable variability in the expression of both V and H dimensions, with Southern Baptist institutions being highest in the V dimension, and United Church of Christ and Lutheran institutions being highest in the H dimension. Although expression of V and H characteristics did not match Benson et al.'s definition of a mature faith, there was some evidence these dimensions corresponded with institutional practices related to relevant student experiences. Overall, the H dimension was emphasized in the mission statements more than the V dimension. These findings have implications for reviewing institutional practices regarding student curricular and co-curricular experiences.

Respect, Challenges, and Stress among Protestant Pastors Closing a Church: Structural and Identity Theory Perspectives

The number of American churches has been declining at a rate of about 1 to 2% per year, but this statistic hides the reality that in liberal, moderate denominations the number of churches that close is nearly three or four times the number that open. Despite this trend of decline, no one has studied how closing churches affects the pastor. What challenges does the pastor face when closing a church, and how do these challenges affect the pastor’s level of stress and well-being? The study draws on structural and identity theories to further our understanding of pastoral identity threats and ways that congregational and denominational support may ease a pastor’s burden. This research used a mail survey to explore the experiences of pastors who have experienced the closing of a church in any of five Protestant denominations (Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ). The research adds to our understanding of the context of ministry by highlighting not only the effects of clergy age and experience but also the congregational context and middle administrative body (judicatory) respect and support in the challenge and in the affirmation of pastoral identity through the process of closure and church death.

Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands Monica C. Labriola (bio) For the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the period under review saw the passing of several traditional and political leaders and distinguished community members. Most notable was the death of Iroojḷapḷap (Paramount Chief), Senator, and former President Jurelang Zedkaia, who suffered a fatal heart attack in October 2015. In addition to overseeing landholding across Mājro (Majuro) Atoll as its traditional leader, Zedkaia served in the Nitijeḷā (Parliament) for twenty-four years and as the nation’s president from 2009 to 2012 after he was elected to replace Litokwa Tomeing, who had been removed from office by a vote of no confidence. Zedkaia was honored with a month of national mourning and a state funeral attended by thousands (mij, 16 Oct 2015). Several other high-ranking irooj (chiefs) and former members of the Nitijeḷā also passed during this period. Among these was Mājro Irooj and former Senator Wilfred Kendall, who died in January 2016 after a long illness. Kendall’s political career spanned several decades and included accomplishments such as being elected repeatedly to the Congress of Micronesia, serving as minister of education under the late President Amata Kabua and subsequent administrations, and acting as the longest-serving RMI ambassador to the United Nations (mij, 29 Jan 2016). Other deaths included Kuwajleen Aḷap (lineage head) and former Senator Sato Maie, former Arṇo Senator Katip Paul Mack, and Rien Morris, who represented Jālwōj in the Nitijeḷā for twenty years. The Kōle/Pikinni/Ejit (kbe) community also lost two leaders. Nishma Jamore, kbe mayor and outspoken advocate of relocating the kbe community to the US continent, died of apparent complications from kidney disease in August 2015, while Marilyn Lokebol succumbed to cancer in June 2016, just a few months after her first-time election as kbe council-woman. Two respected religious leaders also passed away: United Church of Christ (ucc) Pastor Wendell Langrine of Tucson, Arizona, died in August 2015 during a church conference in Mājro, and Jone Masivou, who came to the Marshall Islands from Fiji as an Assembly of God missionary and founded the Morning Star Church in Mājro in 1995, died in April 2016. Other beloved community members who were lost include Neimon Philippo, wife of former Lae Atoll Senator Tipne Philippo; former v7ab radio announcer Waston Attari; Majuro Middle School special education teacher Asmon Langidrik Jr; and Youth to Youth in Health Director Aluka Rakin. Robert Reimer’s only daughter Minna Pihno, who managed key aspects of Robert Reimers Enterprises, [End Page 111] Inc (rre) for decades, succumbed to cancer in February 2016. The period under review was also one of unprecedented transformation in the realm of politics and leadership at the national and local levels, with the most dramatic events unfolding around the November 2015 elections. These included the controversial Nitijeḷā campaign by former Peace Corps volunteer Jack Niedenthal; the death of Mājro Atoll Nitijeḷā incumbent Iroojḷapḷap Jurelang Zedkaia; the mobilization of the “youth” vote in favor of several younger, first-time senators; the record election of three woman senators as well as several woman mayors and members of local councils; a vote of no confidence just two weeks after the Nitijeḷā’s selection of first-time Senator Casten Nemra of Jālwōj as president; and the subsequent election of Senator Hilda Heine of Aur as the first woman head of state in the RMI or any independent Pacific Island nation (not including New Zealand and Australia). While the election results have inspired some Marshall Islanders to anticipate positive changes for their communities and for their country as a whole, many continue to experience the negative effects of extreme poverty, limited access to health care and other essential services, a floundering education system, extreme weather events, and financial mismanagement at the local and national levels. It remains to be seen whether the new administration and the Constitutional Convention scheduled to take place in late 2016 will bring about the desired changes. The 2015 election season went into full swing in October 2015 when the attorney general’s office dropped its appeal of a high...

Book Review: Dear White Christians: For those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation

Dear White Christians: Those Still Longing for Racial Reconcili- ation. By Jennifer Harvey. Prophetic Christianity series. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2014. 262 pp. $25.00 (paper).Jennifer Harvey approaches faith-based work against racism with passion and clarity. Attempts at reconciliation, after decades of trying, fall far short of the goal of dismantling racism. The problem lies, she repeatedly reminds us, with racial identity, which complicates our vision of beloved as diverse and reconciled community (p. 65).The book combines a valuable survey and analysis of anti-racism programs and rhetoric in mainline and evangelical churches with her passionate argument about why these efforts have proved ineffective in dismantling racism within the churches or in equipping Christians participate in anti- racist work in their communities outside of church.Harvey is kind the Episcopal, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and other mainline approaches based on what she calls a universalist ethic, which begins with the premise we are all the same. She frequently cites denominational statements and materials, often lauding them, but at the same time exposing their moral and tactical inadequacy. the UCC's Sacred Conversation on Race, which she calls a high quality attempt to enable white people in particular take up our responsibilities (p. 72), the multi-racial authors end by quoting the denomination s pastoral letter on racism: For those of us who are White, neither the sins of our ancestors nor our own past failures confront racism, need mire us in guilt. those of us who have suffered the ravages of racism, neither our rightful indignation nor our temptation despair need keep us from trusting once again (p. 72).That well-intentioned statement lies at the heart of Harveys argument, which is it is sinful allow white people get out of guilt, while at the same time implying people of color have the responsibility learn trust again. In few no situations of harm and violence, Harvey writes, do we expect a victimized party move trust until there is evidence the victimizer will unequivocally cease victimize and thoroughly repent. few no situations is repentance accepted as anything other than an unequivocally rigorous and costly process of taking responsibility for changing one's ways and finding concrete, effective methods demonstrate the sincerity of repentance, by repairing the actual harm done the greatest extent possible. Going further, Harvey argues that it is disrespectful, perhaps even dangerous, expect people of color start trust unless and until this happens (p. …

Christ and the Homosexual: An Early Manifesto for an Affirming Christian Ministry to Homosexuals

In his book Christ and the Homosexual (1960), Rev. Robert Wood presented American Christians with a view of homosexuality that was revolutionary: in short, he argued that homosexuals held a rightful place in church and society and that they should abandon neither Christianity nor the church. More specifically, the author called for the advancement of civil rights for homosexuals; the construction of pro-homosexual theologies; the education, ordination, and career placement of “out” homosexuals; and marriage equality for same-sex couples. This article situates these topics within Wood’s lifelong (and ongoing) ministry of promoting the full acceptance of homosexuals in American society and in The United Church of Christ, his own denomination. The following sources from the Robert Wood Archive at The Congregational Library in Boston, MA, USA, have been used in this article: the author’s notes and early drafts of Christ and the Homosexual; his voluminous correspondence from the 1940s through the 1990s; and an unpublished biography of Wood. In addition, this article’s author draws upon an oral history interview conducted with Robert Wood in July 2012.

Multiply-Affiliated Congregations in the United Church of Christ: Initial Findings

Multiply-Affiliated Congregations in the United Church of Christ: Initial Findings

An Interview with Renate Rose

An Interview with Renate Rose Kelsi Morrison-Atkins (bio) Describing Renate Rose in one sentence, or even a series of sentences, is no small undertaking. She is a United Church of Christ (UCC) minister and a Harvard alumna. She has lived in six countries and speaks many languages. She is a feminist interfaith peace activist and an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons. Born in Berlin, she witnessed firsthand the horrors of Nazi Germany and has devoted her life to the project of peace and reconciliation. Yet, all of these identifiers do not begin to describe the dynamic woman who welcomed me into her home and taught me much about the important role of feminist scholars and practitioners of all religions in envisioning and enacting a world free of the “genocidal mentality” that sustains the production of nuclear weapons and other death-dealing machinery. In preparation for our interview, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza sent me Dr. Rose’s biographical essay entitled “A Faith Journey in the Shadow of Auschwitz,” which she prepared for her eightieth birthday celebration.1 In this essay, Dr. Rose gives an account of the destruction of her home in an Allied bombing, her pathbreaking journey to a doctorate in economics and political science, her work in the European Communities and at the Council of Europe, and her pastoral work in Hawaii and the Philippines. This narrative forms the basis of many of my questions and demonstrates the haunting influence of Renate’s war experiences as a child. As such, I will summarize it briefly here. Growing up next to the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen, north of Berlin, the atrocities of Auschwitz have framed Dr. Rose’s faith journey from the beginning of her life to this day. Influenced by her father, an outspoken critic of Hitler, Renate was shocked by the overwhelming silence of the church in response to the inconceivable inhumanity of genocide. She repeatedly proclaims “the personal is political!” and brings this motto to bear on her studies of [End Page 143] political science and economics as well as her work in international peace organizations. After graduating from Harvard Divinity School, her focus on peace and justice work were carried into her ordination and service for the United Church of Christ in Hawaii, her teaching of New Testament and Worship at Silliman University Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines, and her interfaith work in “retirement.” After her first career in postwar Europe (Brussels and Strasbourg), Re-nate moved in 1973 to the United States after her marriage to David Rose, a professor of physics and nuclear engineering at MIT and a strong voice against nuclear weapons. In 1981, the Roses moved to Hawaii because of David’s illness, where he unfortunately died shortly thereafter. In 1983, Renate was ordained and began to pastor Central Union Church in Honolulu. Time as a pastor and association minister of the UCC in the diversity of the Hawaiian culture, experiences in the Philippines teaching New Testament and feminist theology, and many interfaith retreats at Auschwitz (while translating a book from German into English about the commander of the camp) have all fostered her passion for peace and her vision of reconciliation. Auschwitz and its aftermath has remained the central impetus for her work on nuclear disarmament and peacemaking. It is this peace activism that forms the basis of Dr. Rose’s vision of a nonkyriarchal, demilitarized, and peace-filled world. Influenced by the work of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Mary Daly, Renate asks us to consider the ways in which our images of and language about God contribute to kyriarchal oppression and the murderous technologies of militarism. Thus, on many occasions, including the 1999 Parliament of World’s Religions meeting, Renate has argued for an “economics of care,” highlighting the resources that would be available for the poor if nuclearism (the production of nuclear weapons, their maintenance, and the willingness to use them in war) were no longer supported, and has argued fervently that feminists must join in this cause and provide a model for a radically egalitarian society. Until these and other feminist insights are made known and acted upon, she concludes, “I will...

In the Smaller Scope of Conscience: The Native American Graves Protection & Repatriation Act Twelve Years After

I. THE TRUE COMPROMISE Standing before the United States Senate on October 26, 1990, Senator John McCain asked the approval of his colleagues to consider H.R. 5237, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1) (NAGPRA). passage of legislation marks the end of a long process for many Indian tribes and museums. The subject of repatriation, stressed McCain, is charged with high emotions in both the Native American community and the museum community. I believe this bill represents a true (2) H.R. 5237 had originally been introduced by McCain's fellow Arizonan, Representative Morris Udall. With McCain's urging, the Senate passed the bill by a voice vote. The House of Representatives passed the amended version by unanimous consent the next day. Congress was not acting unilaterally in supporting NAGPRA. A May 11, 1990 letter to House and Senate members urging passage of repatriation legislation was signed by representatives of the American Baptist Churches, American Ethical Union, Church of the Bretheren, Church Women United, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Episcopal Church, Jesuit Social Ministries, Mennonite Central Committee, Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church. (3) An October 12, 1990 letter from the American Association of Museums also indicated its support of H.R. 5237. (4) An October 17, 1990 letter to members of Congress further broadened support for H.R. 5237 to include representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Central Conference of American Rabbis, National Council of Jewish Women, and Union of American Hebrew Congregations. (5) A November 2, 1990 letter urging President George Bush to sign the bill into law further added and diversified parties to this compromise. (6) The letter was signed by the heads of the Society for American Archaeology, American Anthropological Association, American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Archaeological Institute of America, Association on American Indian Affairs, Native American Rights Fund, National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, National Congress of American Indians, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Action, Society for Historical Archaeology, and Society of Professional Archaeologists. The long process of which McCain spoke began in 1986, as Congress sought to reconcile four major areas of federal law. As civil rights legislation, Congress wished to acknowledge that throughout U.S. history, Native American human remains and funerary objects suffered from disparate treatment as compared with the human remains and funerary objects of other groups. (7) Congress also wanted to recognize that the loss of sacred objects by Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to unscrupulous collectors negatively impacted Native American religious practices. (8) In making this Indian law, Congress founded its efforts on an explicit Constitutional recognition of tribal sovereignty and the government-to-government relationship between the United States and Indian tribes. (9) Regarding property law, Congress wanted to clarify the unique status of the dead as well as highlight the failure of American law to adequately recognize traditional concepts of communal property in use by some Indian tribes. (10) Lastly, in trams of administrative law, Congress would direct the Department of the Interior to implement Congress' mandate, including the promulgation of regulations to ensure due process, awarding of grants, and assessment of civil penalties. (11) In all, 26 separate bills were proposed or introduced, and two public laws were enacted over a four-year period as a compromise on these multiple issues was negotiated. (12) NAGPRA reconciled these various concerns by establishing three sets of provisions. …