# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/101 "2011-12-03T06:58:39Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > But he came from Zimbabwe. Ass. Are you really such a simpleton as to be utterly unaware of the very high probability that that this guy is just trying to establish a legal right to stay in the United States and doesn’t give a rat’s patoot about this dumb white chick he’s using? It wouldn’t be the first time that someone used marriage as a means of gaining access to residence in the United States. > [@Naxos](#): > > I believe there was a “vote” to ban the interracial couple. > > What’s the probability that whoever voted is also voting Republican? These are both gross stereotypical generalizations based more on the writer’s own prejudices than any facts we know about this case. ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/102 "2011-12-03T07:35:15Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > These are both gross stereotypical generalizations based more on the writer’s own prejudices than any facts we know about this case. Here’s the rule: Most racists vote Republican. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/103 "2011-12-03T13:47:43Z")
> [@MentalGuy](#): > > It is also one of the most heavily democratic areas I know. Obama even won the county (though not by as much as Kerry did). McCain trounced Obama in the county in 2008. [2004:](http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/KY/P/00/county.003.html) Kerry 52% Bush 47% [2008](http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html) McCain 56% Obama 42% ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/104 "2011-12-03T14:34:21Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Well, that’s certainly very sad, and I’m terribly impressed with how sensitive, caring and insightful you must be. A cynic might suggest that, far from gaining knowledge and a more sophisticated view of the world, she’s just being used by a scam artist who’s only trying to stay in the United States–but of course, none of us here are such despicable cynics. Say, how much money have you lost to Nigerian lawyers who contacted you by e-mail offering to deposit millions of dollars in your bank account? Would you like to trade your car for some magic beans? What are you going on about? What does this have to do with the topic? And why do you assume the young woman is stupid? Do you really mean to imply that the church voted so because they believe she is being victimized by this man? Or do you just assume darkies can’t be trusted? **Dr J** , you win - I’ve been living in a cave. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/105 "2011-12-03T17:43:45Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Would you like to trade your car for some magic beans? I’d like some magic beans, please. Let me know where and when to pick them up, and I’ll find a way to buy a POS beater to trade for them. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/106 "2011-12-04T02:04:38Z")
Do the first ammenment protections of religion require the religion in question make sense? Full disclosure, two of my brothers are/were free will baptist ministers. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/107 "2011-12-04T03:11:56Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > Do the first ammenment protections of religion require the religion in question make sense? > > Full disclosure, two of my brothers are/were free will baptist ministers. If it did, no religions would be protected. ---
**Author:** ![MentalGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MentalGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MentalGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/108 "2011-12-04T03:47:22Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > McCain trounced Obama in the county in 2008. > > [2004:](http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/KY/P/00/county.003.html) > Kerry 52% > Bush 47% > > [2008](http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html) > McCain 56% > Obama 42% I’m sorry. What I said was rather confusing. I meant that where I grew up, the county voted for Obama. Like I said, I didn’t know the politics of Pike county. I am not really surprised McCain won, I just wasn’t taking it as a given without the actual numbers. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/109 "2011-12-04T04:19:31Z")
No, you were clear. My reading comprehension was lacking. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/110 "2011-12-04T07:02:55Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > In other news, the church tossed six additional members out of the church. The votes were 9 to 6, 9 to 5, 9 to 4, 9 to 3, 9 to 2, and 9 to 1. Now, that was funny. Well done. It’s hard to believe that this is still going on, but I drove through the backwoods of Appalachia once and —wow—it’s like the land progress forgot. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/111 "2011-12-04T07:04:53Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > …I drove through the backwoods of Appalachia once… Are there bits of Appalachia that aren’t backwoods? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/112 "2011-12-05T14:56:19Z")
> [@MentalGuy](#): > > I don’t know. I didn’t grow up in Pike county, but I did grow up in Eastern Kentucky and it would not surprise me to hear about something like this from a church in the county that I am from. > > It is also one of the most heavily democratic areas I know. Obama even won the county (though not by as much as Kerry did). > > That said, I don’t really know the political makeup in Pike county. I just wouldn’t take the church members being republican as a given. That part of the country - I’m from Southern WV just across the border, originally - is heavily Democratic, when it comes to state and local politics. It’s a little murkier with Federal politics - Kentucky and WV are both ‘red states’ for Presidential elections at this point, because their democrats are basically Southern-Fried Dixiecrats. But down there in the coalfields, where everyone and their brother is a union coal-miner, there’s a little heart of blue bucking the state trend. ---
**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 5, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/113 "2011-12-05T15:29:56Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > That part of the country - I’m from Southern WV just across the border, originally - is heavily Democratic, when it comes to state and local politics. It’s a little murkier with Federal politics - Kentucky and WV are both ‘red states’ for Presidential elections at this point, because their democrats are basically Southern-Fried Dixiecrats. > > But down there in the coalfields, where everyone and their brother is a union coal-miner, there’s a little heart of blue bucking the state trend. My county is 80% registered Democrats but McCain beat Obama here 65%-33%. It’s usually not quite that lopsided, but it’s not far off. (And yes, a lot of that was just straight-up racism. I’m surprised at how many people just come out and admit it.) I don’t know how it is elsewhere, but here it’s more like everybody’s daddy and uncle used to be a union coal miner. The coal unions are all but gone from here. There is still plenty of pro-union sentiment; our hospital is completely unionized, with one union for nurses and one for everybody else, and they’ve both had strikes in the past five years with big community support. Unfortunately a lot of the miners’ energy that used to go toward the union is now channeled into industry-backed grassroots groups like Friends of Coal. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/114 "2011-12-05T17:52:40Z")
Church reverses ban: [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_CHURCH\_INTERRACIAL\_COUPLES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHURCH_INTERRACIAL_COUPLES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) > [@](#): > > Stacy Stepp, pastor of the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, told The Associated Press that the vote by nine people last week was declared null and void after it was determined that new bylaws can’t run contrary to local, state or national laws. He said the proposal was discriminatory, therefore it couldn’t be adopted. > > Stepp said about 30 people who attended church services voted on a new resolution that welcomes “believers into our fellowship regardless of race, creed or color.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/115 "2011-12-05T17:57:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Are there bits of Appalachia that aren’t backwoods? 😃 Well, there’s Charleston, and … okay, Charleston. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/116 "2011-12-05T18:19:39Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Church reverses ban: > > [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_CHURCH\_INTERRACIAL\_COUPLES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHURCH_INTERRACIAL_COUPLES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) Translation: We didn’t realize that our actions would make everybody realize what racist shitstains we are, but once the media firestorm started, we had to find a way out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/117 "2011-12-05T18:26:13Z")
Hmmm. I wonder what laws? No laws I know of prevent churches from discriminating in their membership process. Now if they were a restaurant… OMG!! Their bible is _To Serve Man_! (It’s harder to tell when the dark ones are fully cooked.) ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/118 "2011-12-05T18:34:46Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Translation: We didn’t realize that our actions would make everybody realize what racist shitstains we are, but once the media firestorm started, we had to find a way out of it. I don’t think it matters. They win either way. What interracial couple (other than perhaps the one that started all of this) is now going to say, “Oh, they changed their minds. Well, that’s OK then – let’s head over there”? They can now say officially that they have no racist policies while having completely succeeded in keeping interracial couples (and, likely, minorities in general) away. ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/119 "2011-12-05T18:38:35Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I don’t think it matters. They win either way. What interracial couple (other than perhaps the one that started all of this) is now going to say, “Oh, they changed their minds. Well, that’s OK then – let’s head over there”? > > They can now say officially that they have no racist policies while having completely succeeded in keeping interracial couples (and, likely, minorities in general) away. You underestimate the pathological desire to be accepted by cretinous assholes that growing up in a religious culture creates. All sorts of people whom Christians wish to exclude, murder, or something in between want desperately to join up with those very same Christians because they can’t let go of religion–just look at all the gay churches that exist in every city. There will be lots and lots of interracial couples and other black people in this congregation, just like there are, astoundingly, lots of black Mormons today even though the Mormon church didn’t admit blacks were full human beings until _1978._ ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671/120 "2011-12-06T02:25:19Z")
So nobody complains here that what the OP is pitting is obvious while if I do it it gets attacked for picking “easy targets” or whatnot. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couple/604671.md?page=7)