# Kentucky church bans interracial couple **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671 "2011-12-01T04:39:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/41 "2011-12-01T17:56:32Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > How will they decide what race someone is? If a couple comes in and says “we’re both Caucasian,” are they going to order blood tests? Same way they determined if interracial marriages were okay. “Sorry, but we took a vote and we decided 9-6 that you’re a negro.” ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/42 "2011-12-01T18:00:07Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > How will they decide what race someone is? If a couple comes in and says “we’re both Caucasian,” are they going to order blood tests? They can use the famous highly technical Supreme Court “I know it when I see it” test. It does surprise me though that they won’t just go all the way and ban non white membership right out. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/43 "2011-12-01T18:03:40Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > No. Just that cutting all churches out of nonprofit status for this incident wouldn’t be smart. Why not? Astrologers pay taxes, don’t they? And palm readers, and businesses selling quack medicine, and motivational speakers, and New Age shops… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/44 "2011-12-01T18:06:38Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > No. Just that cutting all churches out of nonprofit status for this incident wouldn’t be smart. > > Now, this would seem obvious - but that was the direction **CitizenPained** was heading. So, they wouldn’t have been able to afford a minister if they paid taxes? There are good reasons for the tax exempt status of churches, but this isn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/45 "2011-12-01T18:14:02Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > It does surprise me though that they won’t just go all the way and ban non white membership right out. But that would be racist! 😉 I’m only half-joking about that. Racism comes in a lot of forms. So, it wouldn’t shock me at all if these people thought it was perfectly acceptable to have non-whites in the congregation, even if they thought marriage was right out. It’s not just race. I’m sure several of them would be ‘accepting’ of homosexuals, even if they didn’t think the right to marry should be extended to them. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/46 "2011-12-01T18:23:51Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > They can use the famous highly technical Supreme Court “I know it when I see it” test. The Supreme Court decided against the usage of that test, instead replacing it with paint swatch test. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/47 "2011-12-01T18:40:05Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > How will they decide what race someone is? If a couple comes in and says “we’re both Caucasian,” are they going to order blood tests? Yes. They take one drop of blood, and if it turns black, the test is positive. That’s the rule. \*\* –VT\*\*, _Confused about History_ ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/48 "2011-12-01T18:40:27Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Very unlikely. Baptist churches (and especially a Freewill Baptist) are democratic in organization – most all major decisions are made by vote of the whole church (more accurately, by the voting members that show up for the meeting). Exactly. At the Baptist church I grew up in they held regular business meetings, generally after (or in lieu of) an evening service. We had trustees who oversaw the finances and committees that handled specific things, but any meaningful decision was made by a vote of whoever came to the meeting. It was always a small fraction of the congregation. In fact, the business meetings were usually all men, though I don’t think they were explicitly so. > [@simplico](#): > > This article says attendence for a Sunday mass is something like 40 people, so the full congregation is certainly larger then 9 people. There are pics of the church on some of the articles, its certainly a long way from a mega-church, but its not a one room deal either. Its not like the Westboro Baptists or something where the “congregation” is just one guys extended family. Building size generally doesn’t reflect congregation size. Churches in eastern KY are notorious for splitting, usually nominally over theologic differences but really over personality clashes. Someone might leave and take a quarter of the congregation, meeting in an abandoned storefront until they get their own building. The original congregation might eventually get so small that it can’t sustain its current building and another growing congregation may move into it. And no one builds a new church for the congregation they have; they assume that they’ll be growing in leaps and bounds and they’ll need twice as much space a year from now. Again, I don’t know this church, but that’s the natural history of the typical church here. Given the peach of a guy that was running this congregation it wouldn’t surprise me to find that they’ve already been through a few splits. > [@Enlightening\_Meditation](#): > > I doubt it. Many rural Applachian areas do not have internet access, cable TV, or cellular phone service. I’d guess that Gulnare has all three–maybe not cable, but everybody has a dish now anyway. Again, it’s only about ten miles from one of the region’s hub cities, with a university and everything. A tiny backwoods church like this one probably just doesn’t see the need for a web site. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/49 "2011-12-01T19:31:56Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > According to Wikipedia, the African-American population of Pike County is less than 0.5% … Is that before or after sundown? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/50 "2011-12-01T22:22:25Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Is that before or after sundown? After, but they have to turn white between Memorial Day and Labor Day. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/51 "2011-12-01T22:31:45Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You have to admire their fair mindedness for making and exception for funerals. That must have been the thing that got the centrists to vote for the measure. Probably only applies if the non-white one in the relationship is the one that’s dead ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/52 "2011-12-01T22:33:28Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > So, they wouldn’t have been able to afford a minister if they paid taxes? > There are good reasons for the tax exempt status of churches, but this isn’t one of them. And conversely, there are many good reasons for stripping churches of tax exempt status, but the members being assholes isn’t one of them. While I wouldn’t want to associate with any of the people who voted no, any of the people who didn’t want to take a position and so didn’t vote, or any of the people who remained in the church after losing the vote, it is a private group and they get to set their own rules. I thank them for the public service of self identifying as dicks. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/53 "2011-12-01T23:09:28Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > But that would be racist! 😉 > > I’m only half-joking about that. Racism comes in a lot of forms. So, it wouldn’t shock me at all if these people thought it was perfectly acceptable to have non-whites in the congregation, even if they thought marriage was right out. > > It’s not just race. I’m sure several of them would be ‘accepting’ of homosexuals, even if they didn’t think the right to marry should be extended to them. Not only would that not shock me, I’m sure it’s close to a majority position in most southern fundamentalist churches. I would pick any Southern Baptist congregation in the old Confederacy and guarantee you that a strong majority are opposed to homosexual marriage, a lesser majority would support not allowing a practicing homosexual to be a member, and a slight majority would support not allowing a practicing homosexual to attend church services. I would also guarantee that 98% of these churches are smart enough to realize that taking a stand against miscegenation is the wrong this to do these days, however, a slight majority would disapprove of an interracial couple attending the church, and a strong majority would disapprove of a family member dating a member of a different race. But again, these majorities are street smart enough to not speak out loud about it. But as you said, it is a different type of racism. Of these people, most don’t hate other races, or hate homosexuals. They just want to be apart from them. And the more rural you get, the stronger the above applies. That’s the Straight Dope… ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/54 "2011-12-02T01:12:11Z")
Using interracial couples in worship services sounds kinda kinky. Are you sure this is a Baptist church and not porn site? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/55 "2011-12-02T03:42:23Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > This is how I look at it–this was unusual and outrageous enough that it made the news. I’m not sure that would have been true even 20 years ago. I find this surprisingly annoying. Twenty years ago was 1991 - not exactly the height of Jim Crow. Yes, there were racists 20 years ago and there are racists today. But we didn’t all just shake our heads sadly and look the other way while we whittled away and shelled peas in our rockers. We said, "_ **Are you fucking nuts?!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/56 "2011-12-02T04:31:53Z")
> [@furt](#): > > They tend to have “Deacons” in an somewhat analogous role to what mainline churches give “Elders.” I think you left out a “protestant” in front of “mainline”. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/57 "2011-12-02T04:55:19Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I think you left out a “protestant” in front of “mainline”. No. If anything, the “Protestant” comes afterwards, but it’s often omitted. It’s a specific term of identification, not a general adjective. > **[Mainline Protestant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainline_Protestant)** > > The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States and Canada largely of the theologically liberal or theologically progressive persuasion that contrast in history and practice with the largely theologically conservative evangelical, fundamentalist, charismatic, confessional, Confessing Movement, historically Black church, and Global South Protestant denominations and congregations. Some make Mainline Protestant chu... ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/58 "2011-12-02T06:50:12Z")
a none-issue. the couple feels bad because they can’t get married in the church of their choosing? ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/59 "2011-12-02T08:05:24Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > a none-issue. the couple feels bad because they can’t get married in the church of their choosing? It’s not like they picked the church at random out of phone book. :rolleyes: The bride is from Pike County, she and her parents are (at least at the time of the vote) members of the church, and she grew up attending services there. They didn’t go looking for places that were likely to kick them out so they could play the victim for attention. The couple feels bad because people she has literally known all her life have just told them they don’t like her or her choice of husband and want them both gone. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/60 "2011-12-02T08:17:36Z")
well, you described a church that constitutes a great first choice. but, one discovers new things in strange ways. she chose to be with the guy, not the church or those she grew up with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671.md?page=4)