Hate, Alive and Well In 2021

I … well, I was going to say ‘hate’, but my grandmother used to get on me for  saying it, and so I began using loathe with every fiber of my being—See? That sounds better; so, I loathe, with every fiber of my being, organized religion.

I have always thought its main purpose was to ‘us’ and ‘them’ the world; set ‘us’ apart, and supposedly above, ‘them’.

I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating: when we first moved to Camden and began meeting people, we got all sorts of questions: Where are you from? Where will you work? Where do you worship?

Screeching halt. Worship? I wasn’t expecting that, and because I tend to speak my mind, shoot from the hip, talk first and think later, I’d say I wasn’t much of an organized worshipper.

Well then, they’d invariably ask, how do you talk to God? And, again, not thinking, perhaps, I’d say that, if you believed in that sort of thing, isn’t God everywhere, and if He, and sometimes I’d say She just to mess with folks, is everywhere, why do I need to sit in a church and worship? I could talk to Him or Her anywhere at any time.

That was almost always met with silence, followed by, ‘Well, have a nice day.’

So why talk about his, again, today? It seems the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee voted this week to expel two churches for being LGBTQ-inclusive.

Yes, both the Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, and St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky have “been removed from the convention [because they] affirm homosexual behavior. 

Those two churches; they like The Gays; they think God likes The Gays. And so, they’re out.

In 2021.

You know, I don’t know much about organized religion, but even as a child, going to church with my parents, we learned that God loves everybody.

And then I learned that it’s just the bigots that run the churches that hate.

Church Calls Shaming and Shunning Of The Gays A Loving Christian Response

I don’t need a boatload of reasons to find religion one of life’s greatest hypocrisies, but if I did need a reason, this one will do …

The Capital View Baptist Church in Washington, DC has discrimination written into its constitution.

Cuz God Hates Fags.

It seems the church was forced to turn over a copy of its constitution as part of an investigation by city authorities into its not-for-profit status and they found this:

“Every Member, Attendee and Participant at Church Events should be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity while on church premises. Hateful, harassing, intimidating, mocking behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual or group of individuals at Church Events is to be repudiated and is not considered in accord with Scripture nor the Doctrines of the Church.”

Well, that sounds nice—you know, live and let live, judge not lest ye be judged—but it goes on:

“Yet, Shaming and Shunning are acceptable Christian responses to the outward practice of any form of ungodly behavior such as sexual immorality (adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, transgender, or any attempt to change one’s sex, or disagreement with one’s biological sex, and/or engagement in any other such) described in the Bible as sinful, and are considered offensive to God and man.”

First off, in 2018 they are still equating being gay to bestiality or incest, but this church, where they preach God’s ALLEGED love, is also demanding that its members shame and shun the LGBTQ community because …

God Hates Fags.

Oh, sure, they don’t say that exactly, and they don’t wave their signs or protest funerals like the Westboro Baptist Church, but it’s the same thing.

The church naturally does not believe in same-sex marriage, saying “marriage to be a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a human being husband or wife.”

Well, all I can say to the Capital View Baptist Church is this:

Go F**k Yourselves.

God, if you truly believe in Her, would be telling you that She is Love, but you’re too busy shunning, and judging, and shamming to notice.

Have a good time in Hell.

LGBTQ Nation

Reason #108,651: Why I Hate Organized Religion ... And Some Lawyers

Last week, after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual battery, Brian Mitchell, a 31-year-old North Olmsted, Ohio youth pastor was sentenced to ten years in jail for raping a sixteen-year–old girl from his church.

Ten years? Wow; I guess if he was a white frat boy he might have gotten six months, but I digress …

In a letter to the court, Mitchell’s victim said she looked up to Mitchell and sought him out to learn how to live a more spiritual life through religion. And so they became friendly, and Mitchell decided to guide her spiritually by raping her; he began sending her hundreds of text messages until church officials heard about that and the texting stopped … for a while.But, as pedophiles are apt, Mitchell just couldn’t help himself and he started up again; he stopped being so lighthearted and friendly and began complaining about his wife and his marriage.

I guess he was hoping this child would offer him counsel?

No; she, instead, asked him to stop texting her, though she kept the messages a secret because he was a powerful figure in the church and her life. But then he came to see her, and told her to come out to his car where he kissed her and said he wanted to, I dunno, ‘date’ her.

He asked her to delete all their texts and never tell anyone he was texting her; he started picking her up from school on her lunch break and taking her home where he forcibly had sex with her; he sent her flowers for her birthday and then, the following Sunday, after church, asked her mother if she knew who sent them.

Soon, church officials at Columbia Baptist Church discovered the relationship and notified police of the rapes; the pastor was arrested and pleaded guilty and is set for ten years in an orange jumpsuit.

But then the church did, well, the same thing to the girl that Brian Mitchell had done; they raped her spirit by saying that the girl and her family were no longer welcome at church until … wait for it … she apologized to the pastor’s wife.

Yeah; they did, and in my world here’s how that would go down:

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Mitchell. I’m sorry your husband is a rapist and I’m sorry he raped me and I’m sorry you’re hurt because you’re married to a rapist and your children’s father is a rapist. I’m sorry you belong to a church that asks the victim to apologize to the wife of a man twice her age who raped her again and again. … Better?”

Even better is that the rapist, Brian Mitchell, and his attorneys say he started the relationship because he believed he had a future with a sixteen-year-old girl. And so they asked that Brian Mitchell, rapist, pedophile, be sentenced to house arrest so he could raise his children.

Yes, they asked the judge to let him stay at home and be with his family and raise his children in lieu of going to jail for raping a child.

Luckily, the judge wasn’t having it:

“Your delusional excuse — that there were emotions and love involved — is troubling. That’s extremely delusional.”

So, maybe over the course of the next ten years, Brian Mitchell will come to understand that … possibly while he’s getting raped in prison.

Latest

Cleveland.com

Baptist Pastor Talks Trans Rights and Bathroom Bills ... And It's Not At All What You Expect

Last weekend Carlos and I were out and about and listening to NPR— as we do— while driving through the South Carolina countryside. The announcer mentioned an upcoming story:

“Dallas Baptist preacher Talks Trans Rights and Bathroom Bills.”

I muttered some choice expletives, aimed at Texas, Baptists and preachers and — as I do — went on for several minutes about how I wasn’t about to listen to a Baptist preach hate.

Luckily, mid-rant, the story began on the radio …

Mark Wingfield is an associate pastor at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas and as these Bathroom bills, and the Target boycott by so-called Christian conservatives became a topic of conversation in his congregation, he opted to look into it. He ended up writing an op-ed for the local paper, Seven Things I’m Learning About Transgender Persons:

I don’t know much about transgender issues, but I’m trying to learn.How about you? How much do you really know about this subject beyond all the screaming headlines and concerns about who goes to the bathroom where?

The truth is that I don’t know any transgender persons — at least I don’t think I do. But with the help of a pediatrician friend and a geneticist friend, I’m listening and trying to learn. This is hard, though, because understanding the transgender experience seems so far outside what I have ever contemplated before. And the more I learn, the more theological questions I face as well. This is hard, even for a pastor.

Here’s some of what I’m learning from my friends who have experience as medical professionals dealing with real people and real families:

1. Even though LGBT gets lumped together in one tagline, the T is quite different than the LG and B. “Lesbian,” “gay” and “bisexual” describe sexual orientation. “Transgender” describes gender identity. These are not the same thing. Sexual orientation is about whom we feel an attraction to and want to mate with; gender identity is about whether we identify as male or female.

2. What you see is not always what you get. For the vast majority of humanity, the presence of male or female genitalia corresponds to whether a person is male or female. What you see is what you are. But for a small part of humanity (something less than 1 percent), the visible parts and the inner identity do not line up. For example, it is possible to be born with male genitalia but female chromosomes or vice versa. And now brain research has demonstrated that it also is possible to be born with female genitalia, female chromosomes but a male brain. Most of us hit the jackpot upon birth with all three factors lining up like cherries on a slot machine: Our anatomy, chromosomes and brain cells all correspond as either male or female. But some people are born with variations in one or two of these indicators.

3. Stuff happens at birth that most of us never know. It’s not an everyday occurrence but it’s also not infrequent that babies are born with ambiguous or incomplete sexual anatomy. In the past, surgeons often made the decision about whether this child would be a boy or a girl, based on what was the easiest surgical fix. Today, much more thought is given to these life-changing decisions.

4. Transgender persons are not “transvestites.” Far too many of us make this mix-up, in part because the words sound similar and we have no real knowledge of either. Cross-dressers, identified in slang as “transvestites,” are people (typically men) who are happy with their gender but derive pleasure from occasionally dressing like the opposite gender. Cross-dressing is about something other than gender identity.

5. Transgender persons are not pedophiles. The typical profile of a pedophile is an adult male who identifies as heterosexual and most likely even is married. There is zero statistical evidence to link transgender persons to pedophilia.

6. Transgender persons hate all the attention they’re getting. The typical transgender person wants desperately not to attract attention. All this publicity and talk of bathroom habits is highly disconcerting to people who have spent their lives trying not to stand out or become the center of attention.

7. Transgender persons are the product of nature much more than nurture. Debate the origins of homosexuality if you’d like and what role nature vs. nurture plays. But for those who are transgender, nature undeniably plays a primary role. According to medical science, chromosomal variances occur within moments of conception, and anatomical development happens within the nine months in the womb. There is no nature vs. nurture argument, except in cases of brain development, which is an emerging field of study.

This last point in particular raises the largest of theological questions. If Christians really believe every person is created in the image of God, how can we damn a baby who comes from the womb with gender dysphoria? My pediatrician friend puts it this way: “We must believe that even if some people got a lower dose of a chromosome, or an enzyme, or a hormonal effect, that does not mean that they got a lower dose of God’s image.”

I don’t know much about transgender issues, but I’m trying to learn — in part because I want to understand the way God has made us. For me, this is a theological quest as much as a biological inquiry or a political cause. How about you?

I’m glad he’s speaking out; I’m glad he’s educating people; I’m glad he’s of an open mind and not just falling into the trap of different = bad.

And one thing I loved was his openness. He said he’d always felt chosen to do the Lord’s work and so he became a pastor, but then he wondered what might be his next step and that if you’d told him it would be standing up for trans rights, educating people about transgender person, he’d have been shocked.

But he’s doing it and I hope his words reach even a part of his congregation and those people go out into the world and educate their friends and family … and so on and so forth.

Knowledge is power, and the more we know, and the more we talk, about trans rights and bathrooms, the more we can put an end to this bigotry and intolerance and ignorance.

Thanks to Mark Wingfield for starting this topic of conversation.

In Texas.

And in a Baptist church.

Baptist News

Patheos

What In The World Is The First Baptist Church of Memphis Doing?

It was just last week I had posted about the rash of counties in Tennessee started passing resolutions to ban same-sex marriage — see post HERE — and now the historic First Baptist Church of Memphis has gone off the rails and done this ….

They have approved a resolution to not only allow same-sex marriage within their congregation, and celebrated at their church, they will now allow openly gay members of to be ordained as ministers.

Let the games begin, I say.

The vote, taken last week after the worship service, wasn't even that big a surprise. This is the same church, again, it’s in Tennessee remember, that baptized an openly gay man in 2001, and just two years ago, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to ordain its first gay deacons.

"This morning continues the tradition at FBC Memphis of applying our theology and faith to the issues and needs of our times as a church where all are welcome. Our church has a long history of being a progressive congregation where matters of social equality and justice are concerned." — The Reverend David Breckenridge

Of course, this is not a first for this First Baptist Church; the 175-year-old congregation was among the first Southern Baptist churches to welcome African-Americans in the 1970s, and the congregation began ordaining women as deacons and ministers in the late 1990s.

And First Baptist was one of the first, and largest, Baptist churches in the South to part ways with the Southern Baptist Convention [SBC] and affiliate with the more moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

The SBC excludes from its fellowship any and all churches that "act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior." The CBF hasn't taken an official position on same-sex marriage or ordination, but it bans the hiring of gay staff members and missionaries, though, according to Breckenridge, “the CBF has allowed individual congregations to make up their own minds about these matters, and I don't expect that to change."

So, again, this is a huge move for the First Baptist Church of Memphis, whose new motion, approved by 70% of the voters, reads:

"As Christ's church, First Baptist Memphis is called to minister equally to all persons, extending to them the privileges afforded to any follower of Christ, including, but not limited to, baptism, membership, leadership, ordination, and marriage and will not discriminate based on race, gender, age, marital status, or sexual orientation."

Now, isn’t that Christ-like … for a change?

The Commercial Appeal

First Baptist Church of Greenville, South Carolina Okays Same-Sex Marriages And Gay Ministers

A year ago when Carlos and I helped create the Will of the People Fund — a group that raised money for the non-attorney costs of the case of Katie Bradacs and Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs, who were suing South Carolina to have their same-sex marriage recognized in the state — we thought we’d have a long battle on our hands.

South Carolina, after all. And because of that we chose to fly to the far far northwest corner of the country when we decided to get married; well, truth be told, we also went to Washington because it’s where my Dad lives and he wanted to be there when his son said ‘I do.’

But we were stunned when, just a couple of weeks after we were married, suddenly marriage equality was legal in South Carolina. It happened that fast for us; we thought we’d have to watch the state come kicking and screaming into equality only when, and if, the Supremes made their ruling.

So, every so often South Carolina, a Bible Thumping Red State, can do the right thing, no matter how shocking. And now, it’s happened again.

 While most Christian churches in this country are still vehemently opposed to The Gays and same-sex marriage, this week the First Baptist Church of Greenville … Baptist Church … South Carolina … has decided to allow not just gay unions, but also the ordination of gay and transgender ministers.

Again … Baptists … South Carolina.

The 184-year-old church, home of the very first Southern Baptist Convention, reached this decision after speaking to, and listening to, its congregation, and asking them one central question:

"Can you worship and live with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender [LGBT] community in the church?"

And the answer was ‘Yes,’ with each member present giving a public affirmation. 

"What I heard was, 'We need to do the right thing, regardless of what anybody thinks or says about us. There were a few people who said, 'Are they going to start calling us the gay church in town?" — Senior Minister Jim Dant

Dant added that members of his church acknowledged that "being open and welcoming to all people is part of the essential nature of our community of faith." And the minister also revealed that members of the congregation who did not agree with the decision have decided to stay with the church, even in light of the church allowing openly gay ministers to serve.

God is love, and all that, you know.

Christian Today

The Daily Hypocrite: Pastor Wells Is Suing Kentucky So He Can Bully LGBTQ Youth

Once again, I wonder about this war on Christianity when all around the web I see stories about those of so-called faith waging a war against The Gays.

In this case it’s Baptist pastor David Wells, from the Pleasant View Baptist Church in McQuady, Kentucky, who is challenging a policy of the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice [DJJ] that states LGBTQ juveniles are to be treated with respect for their identities. 

This is Rule 912, the one that Pastor Wells finds so hard to obey:

DJJ staff, volunteers, interns, and contractors, when working with juveniles under the care of DJJ, shall use respectful language and terminology that does not further stereotype the LGBTQI community. 

DJJ staff, volunteers, interns, and contractors, in the course of their work, shall not refer to juveniles by using derogatory language in a manner that conveys bias towards or hatred of the LGBTQI community. DJJ staff, volunteers, interns, and contractors shall not imply or tell LGBTQI juveniles that they are abnormal, deviant, sinful, or that they can or should change their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Wells volunteered at the Warren County Regional Juvenile Detention Center until his privileges were revoked because he refused to sign the agreement to abide by Policy 912; he doesn’t think, as a God-fearing man, that he needs to treat LGBTQ youth with respect and is suing to connote that habit.

Wells has retained the right-wing, anti-LGBT hate group, the Liberty Counsel and is threatening to sue if the Warren County Juvenile Justice Department does not change its policy regarding LGBTQI youth and reinstate Mr. Wells. 

"Pastor Wells must be able to discuss what the Bible says about matters of sexuality with the juveniles he is trying to help. To remove the Bible from a pastor’s hands is like removing a scalpel from a surgeon’s hands. Without it, they cannot provide healing," — Mat Staver, Chairman of the Liberty Counsel

Healing; it's healing to berate young LGBTQ youth by making them feel less than, worthless; in this day and age, with suicides in the rise among our LGBTQ youth, for a man who professes to love God, and all that God has created, to use the Bible to bully gay kids is simply disgusting; and to sue for the right to bully is the height of arrogance.

Staver and his Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice, asserting that Policy 912 is a violation of Minister Wells' First Amendment rights, and says that discussing the ALLEGED sin of homosexuality is crucial to the "mission" of Pastor Wells. Staver says that Policy 912 equates the teaching of biblical morality with "derogatory, biased and hateful" speech.

In response to the Liberty Counsel's letter, Kentucky Juvenile Justice Department released this statement: 

"The Department of Juvenile Justice seeks to protect the rights of all youth in its care and custody regardless of sexual orientation or committing offense. To this end, the department prohibits its staff and volunteers from discriminating against youth based on sexual orientation or gender identity."

Funny that, a man of God, or, in my opinion, a so-called man of God, is suing Kentucky so that he can berate, belittle, torment and torture LGBTQ youth with his own perverse version of what the Bible teaches. He is not a man who is helping any of these young people; he is a man hell-bent on harassing and bullying young people in the name of God.

And he’s suing the state of Kentucky for the right to bully.

NCRM

The Good Pastor Is Not Charged With Rape Because His Victim Is "Intellectually Challenged"

Well, in keeping with the Good Christians Who Are Sexual Predators theme that began yesterday with Josh Duggar, pedophile and child abuser, let’s talk Pastor David ‘Scott’ Lemley — that's him up there.

Lemley, a Louisiana pastor at New Harmony Baptist Church, will not face charges of rape even though he had sex on multiple occasions with an “intellectually limited woman” at the request of her father. Yup, Daddy asked the Pastor to schtup his daughter, a twenty-year-old woman with the mental capacity of a seven-year-old.

The story broke when the girl’s father was arrested back in November 2013 on multiple sex charges, including aggravated rape and, while in custody, confessed that he’d had sex with his own child.

He was not convicted of sexual molestation of his child, or even rape of his child, but instead he plead guilty to a lesser charge of “cruelty to a juvenile.” He’s out on probation now, but after his arrest the news of yet another rapist who took advantage of this girl came to light.

Pastor Lemley was arrested in March of this year, after an investigation into allegations that the girl’s father — the rapist and the pedophile — also coerced his daughter into having sex with the Good pastor because his wife was “ill” and “bedridden.”

The Pastor raped the girl, and yet Louisiana prosecutors have announced that aggravated rape charges against Pastor Lemley were dropped, due to the determination that the crime did not meet the standard laid out in the Louisiana criminal statute.

You see, in the bassackwards state of Louisiana, that disabled victim must have a disability that prevented her from being able to resist her Pastor rapist in order for prosecutors to bring charges of sexual assault.

And even though this girl has the mental age of a seven-year-old, state law says that since she did not resist her Pastor rapist — and was not so severely impaired that she could not resist her Pastor rapist — no crime was committed.

A representative of the District Attorney’s office put it like this:

“The provision of Louisiana’s aggravated rape statute under which Lemley was arrested states that the crime occurs when the victim is prevented from resisting the act “because the victim suffers from a physical or mental infirmity preventing such resistance.”

So, all you rapists and pedophiles and perverts in Louisiana, it’s open season on the ‘intellectually disabled’ because it’s legal to use a disabled person with the mental capacity of a small child to get your rocks off, just as long as the victim doesn’t try and resist you.

Sick yet? It gets worse.

Since his arrest, the Good Pastor Lemley has taken to slandering the victim … the victim … in the media, and telling his congregation — and let’s not even go into why anyone still sits in his church — that this mentally challenged girl is a liar who “makes up stories.”

To be clear, the prosecutors say they didn't drop the case because the victim fabrictaed the tale, but because of that ridiculous statute on the books. And since Lemley escaped prosecution due to a loophole in Louisiana law, he is also saying — like Josh Duggar — that God has forgiven him.

Actually, Pastor, She hasn’t; everyone knows you’re a rapist who gets your rocks off by forcing yourself on “intellectually challenged” girls because your wife is not feeling well.

Even that “intellectually challenged” girl knows you’re a rapist.

Addicting Info

The Advocate

If The Gays Are Waging A War On Religion, Why Are We The Ones Being Compared To Murderers?

Once again I’m reminded of the so-called War On Religion being waged by The Gays and The Gay friendlies because we, you know, wanted a cake for our wedding, or some flowers, or a little bit of equality.

That’s war, y’all.

And yet, what apparently isn’t war is when a pastor, in this case “Pastor” Clint Echols of First Baptist Church in Zeeland, Michigan, compares The Gays to axe murderers. He first drew his ignorant, hateful, and so-not-Christ-like comparison two weeks ago during a sermon about the need for the congregation to clarify its beliefs about marriage and sexuality by banning anything and everything gay.

Sorry kids, no more Sound of Music for you.

In the address to church members, Echols spoke of the ALLEGED attack on traditional marriage by calling homosexuality as a lifestyle choice:

"It's an internal compass and a person can discover their sexuality at any moment...oh wait a second, I'm gay, I'm bisexual, I want to change my gender, these things, and that's being true to themselves and being true to their internal compass. For instance on another, a completely other playing field, if tomorrow I woke up because I have this internal compass that's telling me what truth is. Tomorrow, if I wake up and say, well, I think I'm an axe murderer, now I'm an axe murderer, would you be happy with that? Would you agree? Would you want me to follow that internal compass?"

Let’s see, people choose to be gay and people choose to be axe murderers so gay people are like axe murderers.

This is a time when I wish I attended church, especially this asshat's church, because I’d like to ask him when he chose to be straight, and how much of the gay sex did he have before coming to the realization that he was a heterosexual. I mean, how come I get to choose, but his choice was made for him? Does his 'God' think he's too stupid to choose?

Luckily, not everyone in Zeeland agrees with this idiot; Daniel Vanderley has organized protests outside the church for the last two weeks to draw attention to a man that thinks the word of God is hate:

“They are breaking ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ and in the process they’re putting in the minds of the kids who go to that church that being gay is not acceptable. Living in a time where it’s hard enough to come out as a gay, in a community where it’s difficult enough to be gay, that to compare that to being an axe murderer does rise to the level of hate speech.”—Daniel Vanderley

Still, that so-called man of God, so filled with hate, Echols isn’t backing down, and says his sermon wasn’t hate speech, but rather God's word.

I think She’d beg to differ …

Story/Photo Source

Today In Christian Love: Women Who Have Sex Before Marriage Are 'Filthy Dishrags'

At Lancaster Baptist Church in California, one of those mega-churches — because a sign that you truly love God is to attend services with 5,000 devotees — Pastor Paul Chappell decided to tackle the issue of premarital sex, asking:

"One wonders, whatever happened to purity?"

Interesting topic, I thought, though clearly a topic more suited to America circa 1957 than America in 2014, but, you know, whatever. But then the not-so-good pastor went a step further, and wondered about the women who engage in premarital sex, calling the “filthy dishrags.”

"Whatever happened to that? Whatever happened to the days when girls said, 'I'm not going to be touched by every guy? I'm not going to walk down the aisle like a filthy dishrag on my wedding day.' Whatever happened to that day?"

I kina wondered what he thought about men who engaged in premarital sex. I imagine, Chappell thinks they’re real men, high fiving one another because they just boned their girlfriend or something. But Chappell doesn’t seem to realize that the women he calls filthy dishrags are having sex with men, so why no name-calling for the masculine gender?

He says his rant, and name-calling, was spurred on by criticism of his church's purity pledge:

“There is a standard in this church that the dresses are going to come down to the knee when a lady stands up here. They call me old-fashioned ... I’ve counseled too many men to know that if we don’t have everything covered just right they’re not going to be thinking about wonderful grace and Jesus.”

And some men in the crowd actually shouted "amen" to that, though I wonder how many filthy dishrags those men had gotten into during their lives. Before their wedding day; heck, maybe some of these men even married the filthy dishrag though why one would ever buy the cow … yada yada yada.

Chappell also ranted about the way women dress, especially at wedding and funerals:

“I get so sick and tired of going to weddings and, it’s the bride’s day, and here’s some Jezebel with hardly any clothes on strutting around the wedding, Look – you come to a wedding around here, show some respect to the bride. You go to a funeral ... women do the exact same thing. You come to the house of God, it ought not to be a flesh show!”

But Pastor, how are the men in your congregation ever gonna find that good woman if they don’t go through a Baker’s Dozen or so of those half-dressed filthy dishrags shaking their groove thangs on the dance floor at a wedding; or, I would imagine, bending over provocatively at the buffet after the funeral.

Pastor Chappell needs to wake up and quit shaming women for premarital sex because, as I said, unless these women are having battery-operated sex, or having girl-on-girl sex, then there are an awful  lot of men out there dirtying up the dishrags without fear of reprisal from Chappell's pulpit.

via NCRM

Today In Christian Love: God Says Gays Must Be 'Put To Death'

Recently Carols and I sat down to watch The Butler. We hadn’t seen it in theaters last year because, well, Oprah; I can’t with Oprah. I’m sorry, I know that sounds shallow, but I just can’t with Oprah. And it didn’t help that when we saw it on cable, how director Lee Daniels really played up Oprah’s, what should have been, what really was, minor roll. The camera lingered on her in scenes that really had nothing to do with her; at times, when Forrest Whitaker, The Butler, was talking, we saw shots of Oprah.

I.Can’t.With.Oprah. But that’s neither here nor there. I was thinking about a scene in a church where, right about the altar was a blazing sign made of those big globe-type light bulbs that spelled out the words: God Is Love.

Y’all know I am not a religious man, at least of the organized religious persuasion, but my thoughts on God, or that being or power, are as follows: she is love. Simple; direct. And everything that follows, everything that is done in the name of ‘God,’ should be done in the name of love.

Sadly, however, that is not the case, and it seems that more and more these days, God’s name is used in conjunction with hate and intolerance, division and bigotry, and She would not be happy about that, y’all. And She would especially not be happy with this so-called ‘man of God.’

Robby Gallaty, the pastor at Brainerd Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was preaching his gospel earlier this week and told the gathering of Christians that they should never repent for discriminating against The Gays, like they had done for discriminating against the blacks because blacks can’t change their skin color.

“God said that the sins of the people had infected the very land in which they live. So what happens to people who engage in this activity, this sexual immoral activity? Go to Leviticus 20, God gives us the punishment for engaging in these sins… ‘If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed a detestable thing. They must be put to death. And their blood is on their own hands.’”

Without dwelling too much on it, though, “Pastor” Robby omitted the parts of Leviticus about shellfish and pigskin and long hair and tattoos because, well, let some things slide through if it works to your advantage to persecute The Gays. But, Robby does want you to discriminate against the Gays because, in the long run, the God of people like Robby Gallaty will kill The Gays.

God is Love, in Robby’s world, unless you’re gay, then God will kill you. So, is it any wonder at all that membership in these types of religions is falling? People are tired of using religion as a weapon of hate. People are tired of hearing that God, God, wants anyone dead; that God smites Haiti because of AIDS; that God sends hurricanes to destroy New Orleans because of a party; that God would hurt anyone at all.

Of course, Robby Gallaty wasn’t done; after telling his people that God will kill The Gays, he also said that God would change us; you know, She would de-gay us, I guess.

“[The Bible says] some of you used to act like this, but now you’ve changed by the grace of God. You were washed! You have been sanctified! You have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of God.”

Honey, which one is your God? The one who kills us. Or the one who washes The Gay outta our hair? Seriously, if God could change us, and if God called us all kinds of sin, and if God Hates Fags, then she would ‘a been changing us from birth so that none of us would exist, m’kay? So, save that hate speech wrapped up as gospel with the nice Christian bow, because it’s not a gift anyone really wants or needs.

But Robby isn’t done spreading the hate about The Gays and continued to warn Christians not to accept us, not to believe, as that sign said, that God is Love.

“Here’s the problem with the argument that you closed-minded Christians, one day you’re going to come full circle, and you’re going to realize that you’re being judgmental just like racism was 50 years ago …. [Now] you guys have repented and come full circle, and you’re going to realize that you’re as foolish as we were with the movement of racism. It’s not the same… A black man can’t change his race, a white man can’t change his race, a homosexual can stop engaging in homosexual acts. See, sexuality is a choice. Gender and race are not.”

And therein comes the lie as gospel, and people will believe because this so-called man of God said it. Like a black man, I was born gay; born that way. I have been gay since my earliest memory, and if I were to try and live my life any other way, it would not be a life at all; it would be a death.

And, if God Is Love, Robby, would she really want that for me? Or is that just you?

via The Raw Story

Today In Christian Love: Pastor Cancels Funeral Of A Gay Man Because, Well, Gay

Julie Atwood was standing beside her son's casket when the call from New Hope Missionary Baptist Church came in. The pastor, T.W. Jenkins, was calling to say the service for Julie’s son, Julion Evans, scheduled for the very next day, was cancelled because Jenkins had learned, through other parishioners, that not only was Julion Evans a gay man but that his obituary had listed another man, Kendall Capers, as his husband; Jenkins told Atwood that it would be "blasphemous" to hold services for a gay man at his church.

Julion Evans was survived by his husband, his husband, Kendall Capers, his partner of seventeen years, and his legal spouse since the t married in Maryland last year.

“Pastor” Jenkins, left, claims he doesn’t condemn anyone’s, ahem, lifestyle, but since his church is anti-gay—he preaches against marriage equality—he could not, in good faith … sarcasm … perform the burial. At the same time, he didn’t mention if his church had buried any others who had lived a life in contradiction to his interpretation of the Bible.

The Evans family, because of Jenkins’ bigotry and homophobia and lack of Christian love, had just a day to make new funeral arrangements, and, with such short notice, some mourners showed up at New Hope and missed Julion’s funeral altogether.

For Kendall Capers said that was the worst part. He said he would have understood Jenkins and his position, but once they agreed to the funeral, to cancel at the last moment is, as he says, “disrespectful” and “wrong.”

And very un-Christ-like. As the story went viral — appearing on sites like  The New Civil Rights Movement, Bilerico, the Huffington Post, Gawker, and other LGBT and progressive news sites — people took to social media to express their dismay and disgust for the way “Pastor” Jenkins and New Hope treated Julion Evans, his husband, and his family.

"Right-wing Christians like these kinds of 'Christians' claim there's a war on Christians in this country. There isn't a so-called war, but if there were it would be because of actions exhibited by these kinds of churches."

"Well, you are a shining example of why I no longer believe in God...if a loving God existed, He would not allow people like you to use His name to harm others."

"The pastor of this church isn't standing on principles he is standing on judgment and bigotry. I ask him to contemplate and meditate on this question... Would Jesus approve of this? Would this be the actions of the Savior? I think you need to bow in front of the Lord and pray... pray for true guidance from Jesus. This family chose this church for a reason so where is the compassion of community? If I were a member of this congregation I would find a new church."

"And this is the cancer within your religion. You teach only hate. And praise yourself for doing so."

"I think you may have forgotten Matthew 24:40. When did Jesus EVER turn his back on someone in need? The way you treated that bereaved family, you treated Jesus himself."

"Shame on you for cancelling that young gay man's funeral. I'm sure God would be so proud of you for being so judgmental. And organized religion wonders why so many people are slipping away?"

For its part, the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church took down most of their website, including their contact information because, you know, bigots hide.

I wonder how many funerals of people who ate shellfish were cancelled by Jenkins and New Hope? Or what about people with unkempt hair, or people who touched an unclean animal? People who ate fat? And what of women who went to church within 33 days after giving birth to a boy … or 66 days after giving birth to a girl?

People who steal? Lie? Mix fabrics in their clothing? Trimmed their beard? Had a tattoo?

Funny, I bet the good “pastor” performed the services at funerals for many people who’ve sinned, but he just picks and chooses which ones he thinks are okay and which ones he thinks are so wrong that he can turn his back on a family the day before they bury their child, brother, cousin … husband.

sources:

WFLA

NCRM: Pastor Calls Mother To Cancel Her Son's Funeral

NCRM: Church That Canceled Funeral  Flooded With Negative Reviews