Members of the congregation said Chandler told them during last year's presidential campaign that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry needed to leave the church.
Longtime member Selma Morris, who was treasurer at the church, said Chandler's sermons remained political after Bush won re-election. This past week, his comments turned to politics again at a church gathering that ended with nine members voted out.
Morris said Saturday that some of the ousted members planned to meet with an attorney on Monday to discuss their options. "We're hoping he (the attorney) will make him leave so that the church members can come back," she said.
Crazy world we live in, never heard of people getting voted out of church, and when did sermons become about politics
I don't like the idea of a church authority kicking a member out because of who they did or did not support in an election, it sort of conflicts in a very big way with the organization's tax exempt status.
On the other hand, when politicians do everything to kick religeon out of the statehouse, they shouldn't be so suprised when the religions kick the politicians out of the chapel.
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Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
On the other hand, when politicians do everything to kick religeon out of the statehouse, they shouldn't be so suprised when the religions kick the politicians out of the chapel.
Very good statement.
I'm not in favor of giving church members the boot simply because they voted for someone of a different political persuasion than what the church's pastor and some of its deacons/elders believe in. However, abortion and homosexuality fly directly in the face of God's word. If someone is openly supporting those things, I'd have a hard time believing their sincerity when they come to worship. Those two issues may be political issues, but they're also moral issues and religious issues, and bringing them up in church doesn't make the sermon a political sermon.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
http://www.rightminded.net
You may hear of "the separation of church and state." Some people argue whether this is a principle of our government, but to the extent this principle exists, it is a principle of action of government . . . not of churches. As far as I know, it has never been encumbent on churches to maintain a separation of their activities from politics or political opinion. As one poster suggested, engaging directly in political discourse may lose a church its tax-free status, but, again, there is no restriction on churches refraining from political discourse (to whit, a church willing to sacrifice its tax exempt status would not find its involvement in political discourse otherwise restricted).
Some of the early local governments in the US were very explicitly theocratic in nature, that is run by religious leaders according to religious principles. And, indeed, people were expelled from the church/political unit when they did not conform sufficiently to the local doctrine. What was the name of that guy who was driven out of the plymouth colony or the massachusetts bay colony who went and founded Rhode Island, Roger Williams?
I believe the beef with John Kerry was that he was a pretty obvious supporter of abortion, and some churches think abortion is morally wrong and hence that those who support John Kerry are supporting the moral abomination of abortion. So the thinking was.
No it was not, I realize you are being sarcastic here data, this is the equivilant of throwing someone out of church for their stance on the feral cat issue![8D]
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The Tazman aka Martin Price
Proud father of a Devil Dog
Dems Voted Out of Church
