United We Fall

The United Church of God is a moderate form of COGism. The raving lunatics went elsewhere. But that doesn't mean all is rosy in the garden.

For a start, the whole thing is unstable. Congregations and ministers keep peeling off. The Councl of Elders (the dudes who run it) seem to spend a lot of their time shafting each other. Growth is static and the demographic is heading into geriatric territory.

To make matters worse, there's noone willing to challenge the big errors that UCG inherited from the mother church. Like brain-dead apocalyptic ("the sky is falling!") and the fevered fantasies of British Israelism.

And while the control base has been broadened, the lay members have no say at all. If anything, that situation is getting worse. Relative to the WCG, LCG and PCG however, United is positively enlightened.

Remarkable then that this is the largest and most visible COG sect. It publishes an attractive magazine called "The Good News", and has the busiest COG website by a country mile (according to statistics provided by alexa.com and reported on Ambassador Watch.)

It's been called the best of a bad bunch. Attending UCG has been likened to choosing the flu over HIV.

Next time we'll turn the focus in a new direction.

Till then...