UCC pastors, churches featured in new movie, online video

United Church of Christ ministers and congregations play prominent roles in two current documentaries about progressive religion: a feature-length film on an “unlikely” success in Oklahoma and a shorter video news piece on immigration policy in Arizona.

“American Heretics: The Politics of the Gospel”: now showing in the U.S. and overseas, has caught the attention of The New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, the Daily Beast and other news outlets. It features the Rev. Robin Meyers and the Rev. Lori Walke of Oklahoma City’s Mayflower Congregational Church, UCC, where taking the side of immigrants is just one form of faith in action.

At First Congregational UCC, Phoenix, the Rev. James Pennington and Commissioned Minister Gordon Street are interviewed in a 9-minute story, “Progressive Churches Challenge the Hard-Line Conservative Evangelical Narrative on Immigration,” posted July 22 by The Real News Network on its YouTube channel.

‘A church that can’t possibly be making it’

“”In every viewing I’ve attended