Vote Kerry? Get kicked out of church.
That’s the latest from the American Taliban movement. The pastor of a Waynesville, N.C. church led the effort to expel nine members for voting for John Kerry. Forty others in the 400-member church “resigned in protest.”
“This is very disturbing,” said Pastor Robert Prince III, who leads the congregation at the nearby First Baptist Church. “I’ve been a pastor for more than 25 years, and I have never seen church members voted out for something like this.”
…”It’s just an outrage for something like this to happen in America,” said Heidi Jenkins, 52, as she held a garage sale at her home down the street from the church.
Prince said he noticed during the presidential campaign that more pastors made endorsements _ although not from the pulpit _ than in past years.
“It used to be that pastors would speak about the issues and not specific candidates,” he said. “I think that line is being crossed.”
This doesn’t just happen in rural North Carolina towns. It’s happening, perhaps not so blatantly, in Loudoun County, Va., where, according to one parishioner, the pastor for Our Lady of Good Hope openly encourages the congregation to vote for Va. Del. Dick Black. You might think that he’s just promoting one of his own. Well, in the last election when Black ran against Patty Morrissey, the pastor actually preached against her — and she too is a member of the church.
Unfortunately, members of the church are reluctant to protest as did the members of the Waynesville, N.C. church, afraid, according to one member, of being ostracized by the pastor.
After reading about Pastor Chandler, one can appreciate their apprehension.
The remaining members [after those voted out left a meeting] decided that if another church wrote for the letters of those who left, East Waynesville would reply saying they had left in bad standing. Members also discussed changing the church bylaws to state that all members had to sign a statement saying they supported the pastor’s political views, [church member Bill] Rash said.
Sounds like a blacklist to me. No reports whether the church voted to stone to death women — but not men — who commit adultery.
The pastor is now trying to backtrack. A church meeting will be held tomorrow, perhoaps to discuss the issue.