Sometimes you really have to shake your head and wonder what’s wrong with people. A church in North Carolina has apparently decided to start excommunicating Democrats. From the web site of the TV station that aired the story (at http://www.wlos.com/, but the link may drop off their front page soon and I can’t find a permanent link):
Way to lead them back to the flock, Pastor! Now you truly have the congregation you deserve. Specifically, a smaller one.
The pastor is an ass and getting kicked out of that church is the best thing that could have happened to those people’s souls. Now they can find a better church.
I’m an atheist, so I don’t know why this makes me so mad. Maybe it’s the insinuation that God takes sides and that the pastor knows what side He’s on. Maybe it’s the naked aggression of it. It’s the logical extension of Rove’s electoral tactics, but no one else has had the gall to actually start purging Democrats from their church. What’s next? Rule by divine right?
Look, you might be a Democrat because you’re a sinner, but you’re not a sinner just because you’re a Democrat.
Indeed, one could infer from Jesus’ teachings that a collectivist society was divinely mandated.
On a more realistic scale, the social justice and worker’s rights platforms of the Democrats should strongly resonate with Christian teachings. No US political party has a monopoly on Christian values.
Yeah, they’ve got Democrats in Waynesville–it’s just down the road from me, and like most NC communities, there’s yellow dog Democrats, libertarian Democrats, and hippie-peacenik Democrats. Hell, the place has a Quaker church in it. That’s practically like having a statue of Lenin in town square.
I feel comfortable in saying this move won’t be a net gain for the Waynesville Republican party: while I side with Democrats most of the time, I know that most folks (including most Republicans) are decent folks, and this is an indecent move. I feel sorry for the folks kicked from the church, but I hope they remember that the Lord works in mysterious ways.
And I say Rejoice! This is brimming over with crunchy goodness!
It rips aside the veil, and shows us the Whore of Crawford in all her pustulent horror. My bet: the Moron Tabernacle Choir (Hannity, Limbaugh, et. al.) will ignore this development with intensity, and you can damnsurebethca the Pubbie apparatus will avoid the subject like a leper.
They get thier mileage by insinuation and gesture, The Leader makes references that imply “I am with you!” without the unpleasant restrictions that attend any actual committment. Thus, he gains the support without cost, he gets the Godgoons in lockstep without offending those rational Republicans who ought to be puking thier collective guts out.
But clear cut gestures like this make vague platitudes impossible. What can they say? What sort of vacuous statement of support but not really support can they cook up?
I can’t wait until someone sticks a microphone in Tom DeLay (R-Undead, the Worlds Most Cuddly Arachnid) and asks him about this! He’s hanging by a thread and dare not offend anyone!
This wouldn’t be the first time a church (or cult, if detractors are correct) promoted a political party while disclaiming any political intent. First time I heard of kicking out the (political) infidels, though. You’d think the bretheren would gather round and pray for the poor deluded Democrats instead of cutting them off.
I wonder if the pastor will change his mind when the collection plate shows the effects of a smaller membership. Seems like future benefits (with no guarantees) for cash down now is going to be a harder sell than ever. Didn’t this guy ever study basic arithmetic? Or marketing? He may be losing weight soon. Only politicians can eat votes.
First of all, let’s not go overboard here. Much as I’d like this to be a smoking gun indicting Bush, Delay, etc. as the Big Meanieheads that they are, we can’t hold them more than super-vaguely-indirectly accountable for this (yeah, sure, we could argue that they’re promoting a culture of divisiveness which encourages this, yada yada yada, but that’s pretty weak).
However, I’ll keep this in mind the next time someone starts babbling incoherently about how much meaner and nastier the left is than the right.
