Democrats Voted Out of Baptist Church - Guardian UK

[rndmprsn]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4989937,00.html

well...this dirty little NC story (where BTW i have been visiting for the past week) has hit the international press...

---

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Some in Pastor Chan Chandler's flock wish he had a little less zeal for the GOP. Members of the small East Waynesville Baptist Church say Chandler led an effort to kick out congregants who didn't support President Bush. Nine members were voted out at a Monday church meeting in this mountain town, about 120 miles west of Charlotte.

``He's the kind of pastor who says do it my way or get out,'' said Selma Morris, the former church treasurer. ``He's real negative all the time.''

Chandler didn't return a message left by The Associated Press at his home Friday, and several calls to the church went unanswered. He told WLOS-TV in Asheville that the actions were not politically motivated.

The station also reported that 40 others in the 400-member congregation resigned in protest after Monday's vote.

During the presidential election last year, Chandler told the congregation that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry should either leave the church or repent, said former member Lorene Sutton.

[theliberalavenger]

1. A S S H O L E

[blondeatlast]

4. Who?

:shrug:

[Hugin]

2. Jesus weeps.

;)

[blondeatlast]

3. As if the world didn't have enough reason to depise us.

My heart bleeds for those people who were expelled and for those who left in solidarity.

They were stripped of something that, whether we like it or not, meant very much to them.

God (I truly mean to beseech Him, btw), let someone follow this story as far as possible. I KNOW the Heritage Foundation has its grimy little hands in the bidness of this.

[leesa]

7. You know what? I'll think they will be MUCH better off not belonging to

that congregation, don't you?

[blondeatlast]

11. Well--no. Or yes. Complicated.

I grew up in the midwest, small towns, the same kind of people (I've got an entire thread about that elsewhere).

These people, I can tell you, are hurting badly. This is a small community (not a small town) where everyone knows one another. Those that had to leave, and those that stood in solidarity, are going to be chastised for it, I'm afraid.

I put the REGULARLY attending church membership at around 150 or so. That means 1/3 of the congregation is no longer there. Cmbined with the media attention, this is going to be very weird for the locals.

I have sympathy for everyone involved--even the ones who cheered as they left. I think most will live to truly regret their doing so.

These are strange times for E. Waynesville. My heart goes out to them.

[patricia92243]

5. Have any of the articles said how long he has been the pastor of this

particular church.

I believe the church has been there a long time, and I imagine the old time members will see that Mr. Chandler goes elsewhere.

[Horse with no Name]

8. I don't know which one

but I believe that he has been there 2 1/2 years.

[donco6]

6. As I came out of my fundie fog many years ago . . .

I wrote a letter to our main HQ about the number of articles that supported Republicans and their causes. I tried to make the point that God wasn't Repug or Dem - the usual logical points.

I never received a reply. My pastor did, however. He put me on church discipline.

I left that church the day that happened. So maybe it was a good thing.

[rndmprsn]

9. yeah it def was a good thing NT

[Wright Patman]

10. Last summer there was

a well-orchestrated effort to glean names from all church directories of GOP-minded flocks. Even some of the SBC higher-ups blanched at that, but I am sure 90+ percent of the pastors had no problem with their members being encouraged to campaign for *.

Our Baptist pastor more or less said the same thing as this guy, but he implied it rather than state it openly. Plus, being in Texas, he was bound to know that we were safely in the * column to begin with.

One can understand, if not sympathize with, the desperation the 31-year-old East Waynesville Baptist cleric must have felt when he was reading at this time last year that NC might be "in play" and his fervent pleas to the Almighty became even more labored and lachrymose, I am sure, after Edwards was chosen as running mate a few months later.