Just to remind you that not everyone here is a rightwing Christian whacko, allow me to point y’all toward the website of the local preacher I know best:
The Reverend Nancy Clark’s homepage.
[sub](yeah, that’s me and burundi)[/sub]
While she might have just the eensiest bit of newagery running around the site, that’s kinda the point: WNC has got plenty of crazed assholes, but we’ve also got plenty of patchouli-wearing crystalrubbing nature granola types too. It’s the joy of the region.
Daniel
Do Baptists go to seminary?
Must…restrain…pun…must…restrain…
I do so wish we could have one of these discussions sometime and not have someone pop up with a strawman argument reminding us that people have the legal right to do whatever the behavior in question is. It’s not helpful, folks, to point out that something is legal when no one has questioned its legality. (Thanks, Zebra!)
Agreed. Legality isn’t the question, morality is the question. You cannot be a Christian, much less a good one, and do what this man did. He’s doing just what every other neo-con bible banger is doing, pandering to his lowest common denominator, and playing with ignorance ON the ignorance and fear of his congregates. I personally abhor proselytizing, but if there one lesson this pagan has learned, it’s that you get more flies with honey, than with piss-and-vinegar. Unless, it seems, you’re in the South.
He CAN do what he wants, no question about it, but wait til his God gets ahold of him. He’ll be singing a different tune then, i betcha.
I hope all the assholes who blamed Newsweek for the deaths a bunch of religious fanatics caused turn around and talk about how supposedly treasonous this idiotic person is being with his sign, which could inspire more killings. But knowing how ignorant those types are they’ll just blame the news media for reporting it, after all, our own intolerant religious whackos are fine and it’s just those damn reporters who are evil.
Speak for yourself. Not all Christians were outraged. Not all of us saw it as an insult to the faith. It wasn’t intended as one.
BJ, if you think that this kind of fundamentalist stupidity is limited to the South, then you are an ignorant bigot. And if you think that all Christians in the South are of the proselytizing variety, then you don’t know about the Episcopal duct tape brigade that stifl…
Daniel, my friend, I hate to trump you, but I’ve got the cards. Our very own Polycarp is also from North Carolina.
Idiots like the guy in the OP make the news all the time. What you don’t hear is the sermons preached in churches like mine talking about how people like the preacher who kicked people out of his church drive people away from the church and damage our faith. His sermons are on-line; I can send anyone who’s interested a link. Meanwhile, I’ll continue my own opposition.
CJ
I’d like to see 'em Siege (email in me profile works). Thanks!
Sorry, was making a general point, didn’t mean to infer that all Christians were offended (I wasn’t either for the record). If there’s one point I make over and over with my high school Sunday school kids, it’s that there is no one “Christian” stance or reaction to anything.
Crazy snakehandling fundamentalist creep!
(Wait, are snakehandlers fundamentalist? I’m not always clear on these things.)
True, and I ain’t dissin Poly–but he’s from the Piedmont, IIRC :). If WNC is gonna get picked on specifically, I wanna defend us with a local crystalgazer.
Daniel
I mean, he isn’t calling on his flock to kill anyone. All he is doing is repeating a(admittedly) fundamentalist point of view. It amazes me that people jump all over an example of this as “American bigotry”, and fail to see what actually is being preched in the mosques.
For example, a sunni cleric recenty referred to jews as 'dogs and pigs", and called for the murder of nonbelivers (i.e. non-muslims). Yes, this guy is a bigot (and has a few missing screws). But to equate this with the truly evil hatred that is common in the muslim world is silly.
ralph124c: Why Is This man being Criticized?
Because, as you yourself pointed out, he’s a bigot and has a few missing screws. For one thing, as I mentioned above, he doesn’t seem to understand the difference between standing up for your own beliefs and grossly insulting other people’s.
(In particular, to diss the Qur’an specifically by the “flush” reference—gratuitously bringing up the notorious allegations of a particularly nasty form of Qur’an desecration deliberately used for the psychological abuse of prisoners—that’s pretty damn nasty.)
ralph124c: I mean, he isn’t calling on his flock to kill anyone.
Why no, he isn’t. Of course, nobody in this thread is even remotely suggesting that he did call on his flock to kill anyone, but it’s nice to get the point settled explicitly, isn’t it? Thanks, ralph124c!
ralph124c: All he is doing is repeating a(admittedly) fundamentalist point of view.
Actually, no he isn’t. He is repeating a fundamentalist point of view by means of gratuitously offensive insults to another religion, which are not necessary in order to make his doctrinal point of view clear. That’s what we’re criticizing.
ralph124c: It amazes me that people jump all over an example of this as “American bigotry”, and fail to see what actually is being preched in the mosques.
And who is suggesting anywhere in this thread that Pastor Lovelace’s views are worse than what’s being preached in some mosques?
ralph124c: For example, a sunni cleric recenty referred to jews as 'dogs and pigs", and called for the murder of nonbelivers (i.e. non-muslims).
Disgusting, indeed. Feel absolutely free to start a pit thread ranting about how disgusting this is; I for one certainly won’t disagree with you in any way.
Bringing it up here, though, just makes you look like someone trying to offer excuses for fundamentalist Christian bigotry by saying “oh well, the other guys’ bigotry is much worse, so this doesn’t count”.
ralph124c: * Yes, this guy is a bigot (and has a few missing screws). But to equate this with the truly evil hatred that is common in the muslim world is silly.*
Very true. Of course, nobody here was actually trying to “equate” this offensive bigotry with actual violence or demands for murder of unbelievers, but it’s still nice to have that helpfully pointed out, isn’t it? Thanks, ralph124c!
Sorry, South.
I just reread my post and saw that I swiped a entire region with the last few remarks. Didn’t mean to.
I would Pit any member of any religion who preaches disprespect and intolerance.
Let’t just say that this esteemed member of the cloth isn’t helping things any.
Help me out here. Where did this come from?
If everyone applied that logic we could close down the pit. The first response to every post could be, “That sounds bad, but hey - at least you’re not naked in a 2x2 prison cell in Iran with rabid dogs snapping at your genitals.”
Contrapuntal: Help me out here. Where did this come from?
I think Skip was talking to Pastor Lovelace. Pastor Lovelace asks why his flock are sometimes irregular in their church attendance (see linked article), and Skip suggests that maybe they’re trying to tell their minister something.
Sorry for the double post, but to answer this…
SkipMagic is speaking directly to the pastor in the linked story in the OP. The comment he’s responding to is in the last paragraph.
I get it now. it was the “Originally posted by” that threw me.
I’m guessing people are jumping all over it because it IS an example of American bigotry. And as Americans, it is the first bigotry we should be jumping all over.
And hopefully if we keep doing our job as Americans and critisizing bigotry, we can avoid falling prey to the level of truely evil hate the muslim world is dealing with.