Contact: Jeff Walton, IRD, 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- At their recent denominational gathering, delegates to the United Church of Christ (UCC) General Synod took aim at fossil fuels, pledging to divest from such energy companies by 2018.

"The realities of climate change require prophetic and strategic action by people of faith seeking to be faithful to the everlasting covenant God has made with us, with every living creature and with all future generations," read a summary of the resolution. "If fossil fuel companies simply fulfill their purpose the earth will become inhospitable to life as we know it."

The assembly resolved to divest church pension funds from oil, gas, and coal, becoming the first major U.S. denomination to reject at least in theory profits from ravaging the earth.

"This resolution becomes a model for all faith communities who care about God's creation and recognize the urgent scientific mandate to keep at least 80 percent of the known oil, gas and coal reserves in the ground," explained the measure's proponent. "This vote expresses our commitment to the future. By this vote, we are amplifying our conviction with our money."

The UCC is the successor body of the Congregationalist churches and several smaller reformed churches. It claims just under 1.1 million members in the United States.

IRD President Mark Tooley commented:

"Arguably America's most liberal Protestant denomination, the fast-declining United Church of Christ is not very concerned about evangelism. Instead, the UCC, or at least its elites, is always searching for a new leftist cause to animate the true believers in progressive religion.

"Decrying fossil fuels is typically the hobby of the wealthy and comfortable. Pillorying the oil companies is easy fare for this crowd, which is mostly insulated from the gritty realities of economic survival.

"The world, thanks to improving retrieval technology, now faces an unprecedented future of fossil fuel plenty. Oil's discovery and development in the 19th century increased the material living standards of humanity as nothing had in all the previous millennia combined.

"New discoveries and improved harvesting of fossil fuels ultimately will enable hundreds of millions more who now hover at subsistence levels to have electricity, refrigeration, reliable heat and cooling, and safer transportation, along with healthier, longer lives for themselves and their children.

"Hopefully the UCC will be the first, and the last, major denomination, to endorse shutting down the global economy and perpetuating poverty."