Of course not. There’s a Separate But Equal church down the road.
I pit the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, MS for not allowing a black couple to marry there
Maybe they misunderstood and thought a “black wedding” was like a “black mass”?
If I ever go missing, you can all tell the FBI not to bother looking in MS. I am seriously afraid of that place.
Which is just where “they” will take you.
A lot of intelligent people are from Mississippi. “From” being the operative word.
There must be something more to this story, or maybe I’m just underestimating the extant of racism in the Deep South.
Baptist churches operate on a congregational polity, which means that each congregation is autonomous and decides on its own matters of belief, practice, etc. Most (but not all) have a church council that generally makes decisions on behalf of the congregation unless it’s a major change or something, which then usually requires a congregational vote.
While some Baptist congregations have a very prominent role for the pastor, others don’t give the pastor any more say than anyone else, and as far as some (but not all) Baptist churches go, often have no “official” say at all (i.e., no vote). This depends though on the congregation, and obviously, I have no idea how the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs operates.
That being said, I agree that the pastor sounded like a compromising wuss. Even if he lost his job over this (which I really doubt would’ve happened) he should’ve taken a stand.
My experience with churches in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), of which First Baptist of Crystal Springs is one, is that the “church council” is a Board of Deacons. Whether they exercise power over the preacher/pastor or are a rubber stamp for the preacher seems to depend on the personalities involved. This particular church sounds like it has a Board which tells the preacher what’s what. A fair number of SBC churches were segregationist and racist - that’s the historical root of the SBC, which broke with other North American Baptist denominations over abolition in the 1850s. The SBC has subsequently changed it’s stance on that matter, no longer being officially segregationist, but the convention doesn’t tell the individual churches what to do, so there are still some congregations out there that engage in racism, Jim Crow, etc etc.
Where is this coming from? I know there’s still a lot of prejudice in the South against interracial marriage, but this isn’t one!
How does a guy with a supposed conscience not quit in that circumstance?
I don’t get this at all. This isn’t about interracial marriage. These were two black people getting married. Do some racists believe that blacks shouldn’t be married? Or just not in “their” church?
Either way, the pastor should be fired for not standing up to the assholes in his congregation. He is no leader at all.
I think its just an attempt to make black people feel unwelcome at the Church in general. A couple that gets married in a church might want to formally join. And their guests might decide the like the place and start coming to services. And if they like the services they might join to.
And you know what happens then. They find Jebus, get saved and go to Heaven, where they promptly set out lowering the property values and shit. Can’t have colored folk in Heaven, uh-uh! Just wouldn’t be right.
And it’s the pastor’s job to instruct these people that the mission of the church is to bring people to Christ. It doesn’t matter what color they are. Jesus came to save the Gentiles as well as the Jews, etc. The pastor failed. He is unsuited for leadership.
Well, there aren’t any in the Pearly Gated Community.
Jesus: “I am so not fucking coming back.”
Looks like we got some fucking time travelers in Mississippi cause these people must have been from the 1850’s
This, I guess, is the most likely explanation assuming the facts as (now widely) reported are true. And if so, it’s all over the national news, and I think it’s be fitting and funny if someone made a well-placed tweet and a black tidal wave of new parishioners decided to show up for the next service, dressed to the nines and ready to shout “AMEN!” Sort of a Streisand effect for racists.
I hate being the one to do this…
I guess they just thought…
it would be a nice day
for a
White Wedding!
I lied. I loved doing that!
Hmm, sneaky and underhanded for a good cause! I like it! But I see a stumbling block or two…
IIRC, the article cited said that the happy couple were not members of the Baptist Church in question, but attended the church freely. So, what rules are in place about “membership”? And if there is an exploitable loophole there, wouldn’t it be the “members” in good standing who can vote to change their bi-laws?
Its likely that there are members in this church who don’t want to worship side by side with black people. May the sweet Baby Jesus shut their mouths and open their hearts, amen.