Church votes out 12 year old boy from attending services

[ck4829]

Because he's biracial.

"(There's a) Baptist church that is filled with the Christian spirit — just as long as church officials approve of your racial background.

Fellowship Baptist Church in Saltillo, Mississippi, voted out a 12-year-old boy who "asked Jesus to live in his heart" at the church two weeks ago. Why the ban? Joe is biracial, and church members didn't want the black side of his family attending with him.

They were "afraid Joe might come with his people and have blacks in the church," church pastor John Stevens told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

To his credit, Pastor Stevens resigned from the church the same day 12-year-old Joe was voted out of the church. Cliff Hardy, a local police officer, also resigned from the church. "My best friend is a black man," he said. "I wouldn't be comfortable going to a place where I couldn't ask my best friend to go to church with me."

The local paper contacted church members, but they refused comment. Go figure."

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8305.html

[MrCoffee]

1. Sunday is the most segregated day of the week.

[BrotherBuzz]

7. Yep

You stole my thunder. ;)

[KittyWampus]

10. Not in my church. We're about 1/2 black and 1/2 white.

[Nay]

63. Not mine, either. Tons of all types at a UU church.

[butterfly77]

69. We are all americans when it is time...

for war and the protection of the richest assets. In a few years he will be all american.

[tinfoil tiaras]

104. My "liberal" church is like 99.9% white

:eyes:

edit-when i say church, i don't mean i go there. my mom makes me go.

[maveric]

2. Jeezus Kee-rist! What year is this? 1953?

You've got to love that "Christian Spirit".
That'll make Jesus proud. Huh?

[loves_dulcinea]

funny.

the 3 stooges were jewish.

[TahitiNut]

70. That's how it was in Mobile (Ala) when I lived there in 1963-64.

Nauseating.

[RebelOne]

78. Same in Miami, FL in the '50s and '60s.

[Rex]

3. I guess in that church, Jesus only lives in white hearts.

Someone tell em Jesus was a black man and a Jew!

[Hippo_Tron]

11. They read the Gospel according to Pat Robertson

So there's really no chance of that...

[Rex]

15. I saw Fellowship Baptist and bit my tongue.

www.landoverbaptist.com

[ananda]

82. Jesus is how you project him to be...

There is no historical or scientific evidence that Jesus ever existed.

[Clark2008]

97. Sammy Davis Jr. was Jesus?!

:evilgrin:

[tblue37]

112. Not Black--Jewish, of Semitic stock.

If he were to ride a plane today, he would make some passenegrs nervous, becuase he would probably look like an Arab.

[knowbody0]

4. we need to abolish religion

and ban marriage between same race people

[Sapphocrat]

9. Sounds good to me, except for one thing...

Can we exclude same-sex couples from the same-race marriage ban? My gf and I have been waiting so long!

[knowbody0]

14. only if you inseminate with another race

[Sapphocrat]

31. Do we have to?

Inseminate at all, I mean? We're trying to do our part for the planet by remaining childfree!

We'd only planned to have cats.

[knowbody0]

60. Calico!

and bless you, I wish you happiness and long lives.

I am Kate

[Sapphocrat]

103. Happy to oblige!

Here's our teenage girl (15 yrs. in November; little froo-froo Scorpio):



And thank you for the kind wishes, Kate. :)

[noahmijo]

56. How about we just ban the government from having ANY say in marriage

That's what I think needs to happen personally. The government fucks marriages up far more than race or gender could ever hope to.

[Sapphocrat]

105. I'm behind that, only the other way around.

Leave non-legally-binding "marriage" to the churches, and legally-binding civil unions to the government.

Churches should have nothing to do with binding legal contracts between those of us who want to entangle our finances. (Well, that, and be able to make medical decisions for one another.)

On the other hand, I'd be perfectly content to see civil "marriage" abolished altogether. All I want is equal footing in the legal arena, and that could be done just as easily by writing up partnerships as one would a business contract.

(Yeah, we'd still go the whole nine yards with the ceremony and the cake and all that, but it would be A-OK with me if the wedding had nothing to do with the binding contract. After all, we could have a wedding tomorrow, and it wouldn't have any legal standing anyway.)

[noahmijo]

108. Heh don't get me started on religion

EVERYTHING ever touched by religion has always turned to absolute shit. Personally I think Churches should have zero say in everything except for their own crooked organizations.

And it's about time they start paying taxes.

[Sapphocrat]

109. AMEN to that!

So to speak. ;)

I couldn't agree with you more.

[KitSileya]

110. As a practicing Catholic,

I totally agree with you. The legal part should be up to the state, and state only, while the the religious part, the spiritual part, should be up to the couple's place of worship. When people are surprised to hear me, a Catholic, say this, I always remind them that were my church's rules on marriage those that mattered, a significant portion of the adult population would be in jail - for bigamy! According to my beliefs, marriage is a sacrament and cannot be given by the state - it is, in fact, given by the bridal couple to each other as they consummate their marriage (unless it is understood by both before the giving of the vows that the marriage will remain unconsummated. People with physical disabilities in that area etc can get married too.) The state cannot legislate whether people can receive the sacrament of marriage, nor can the Church decide who gets to form a binding legal contract.

As for that baptist church, it is obvious they are neither Christian nor rational - I certainly wouldn't want them as neighbors. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[Sapphocrat]

111. As a former Catholic, I'm not at all surprised. :)

I have my issues with the church itself, but Catholics are a whole 'nother story; IMO, American Catholics are the most liberal of all Christians, save for Unitarians and Quakers. I was scarred for life by Catholic school, but I am eternally grateful I was raised by a set of ultra-liberal, Kennedy-loving, Catholic parents.

Short story you may enjoy: In the early 1950s, my widowed grandmother agreed to remarry a (Catholic) man who had been divorced, but she wouldn't marry outside the church. So, he had to go back to his original home state of Kansas (he lived in California) some 15 years or so after his divorce to get his first marriage annulled, so the church would consider him unmarried.

Never mind all the unanswered questions -- like, why would the RCC recognize a civil annulment, or let it take precedence over his marriage vows? Or, didn't anybody care that he had two grown children (so he couldn't say the marriage was never consummated!) and a passel of grandchildren? I have no idea how he worked it out (I guess fornication is more forgivable than divorce/bigamy), but he married my grandmother in a full-blown church wedding.

[KitSileya]

120. One of the things I really love about the Catholic Church,

especially in Norway, is that it is truly an international Church. Only about half of the Catholics in Norway were born in here, and even less are ethnically Norwegian. There are huge groups of Tamils, Vietnamese and Chileans in every parish - a world church in miniature. Over 140 different nationalities are represented - with 46 000 registered members. If the Catholic Church in Norway had followed the example of the fundie baptists in the OP, there wouldn't be anyone left to attend Church - not to mention no one to hold Mass, as the majority of the priests are foreign as well.

[orpupilofnature57]

12. I agree with cutting down on inner breeding, but I'm no Communist !

[readmoreoften]

33. huh? you're against interracial marriage? /nt

[orpupilofnature57]

61. NO , I thought you were saying it should be forced on people, and I agreed

Inner Breeding only offspring's of the same family ,not different Races.

[SmokingJacket]

16. I lived in a town where the bars were segregated.

If a black person came into the white bar, they'd chase him out.

I don't want to abolish bars.

[knowbody0]

17. I shoulda said:

:sarcasm:

[SmokingJacket]

20. Hm, usually I'm not so obtuse.

Guess it's time to take a DU break....

[knowbody0]

22. It's cuz Pluto's gone

:(

[jbnow]

122. When my daughter was little

she was determined she'd marry a black man when she grew up. She thought the babies of our mixed race friends were the most beautiful color and wanted her babies to look like that. She is a green eyed blond.
She didn't know that might be a big deal to anyone, didn't know about racial prejudice. It was like saying she wanted a tall man or smart man.

But they learn. When little blond girls say that some grandparent is certain to react.

As the song says:
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

Now it's a shame that these "Christians" are teaching kids that message.

The prejudiced members in my family were "Christians" too, come to think of it all of the prejudiced people I've known are. I never stayed silent though was not usually all that rude to elders.
I'd do things like say I was trying to remember where Jesus taught that. Did he say "Love one another unless they are black?" No, that wasn't it. Oh was it who is you neighbor,anyone who is the same color. No that wasn't it. What was it?

My best friend was/is a black man and he often got referred to as "that black man". I'd pretend they were asking about Michael Jordan or someone.

Then when they would express annoyance at reactions like that I would tell them it wasn't nearly as bad as hearing someone in my family sound so prejudiced and if they didn't want to hear it then quit talking that way.

God people seem to want someone they can feel superior to. Color is so easy. You can't tell by looking if someone is Baptist or straight or whatever. What a stupid basis to judge on.

Good for the minister and whoever else resigned. Just disgusting.

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Thats the difference between a church and a cult. They exclude

themselves, they should Know that.

[xchrom]

6. nationalism, nativism, racism

god, guns and gays --

what ever -- the bush years have really brought them out of the woodwork.

[madmusic]

81. And eugenics. The good ol' days! nt

[Sparkly]

8. Damn! I can't believe shit like this is still happening!!!

:wtf:

[IChing]

13. Let alone in Mississippi!!!! I'm shocked just shocked.

What will Trent Lott say?

[dsc]

18. My guess

He would say well done my good and faithful servent.

[ComerPerro]

113. oh, I can

[bluestateguy]

19. Al From, Marshall Whitman and Bruce Reed of the DLC say:

we should be nice to these people and try to connect with them, and show sympathy for their values.

It's just a fundamental difference between the Joe Lieberman wing of the party and the real Democrats.

[AutumnMist]

21. This Is Prejudice

Pure and simple. Jesus walked with the outcasts of society in his time. Women, people who went against roman rule, and the outcasts. Apparently Mr. High and Mighty missed that message when he was choosing to judge by the color of someones skin rather then their heart and will. Shame on him. This boy should walk away and find his own path of enlightenment. No one needs this kind of back wards B.S.

[Kickoutthejams23]

23. Nobody has sympathy for these bastards.

Hope for they're sake they are Satan worshipers cause I'm a thinking heaven is a little out of the question right about now.

Anyone can call themselves a Christan.

Doesn't mean these Satan serving incest loving blood worshiping pagans are. (sorry got a little carried away there)

[Bill McBlueState]

88. about pagans, etc.

On DU, I've met a lot of pagans and at least one Satan worshipper who appear to be far more moral than the Christians we're talking about. Don't try to lump them together!

[earth mom]

24. More crap from the Christian nut cases! WWJD?! Hmm?!

I feel sorry for that poor kid, but he really is better off without them!

:puke:

[malaise]

25. Lucky kid n/t

[Nay]

64. I agree that the child is lucky. He has had his eyes opened, and

may he learn much from this. God knows the idiots in that POS church haven't learned much. A**holes.

[Deja Q]

26. Goddamn sick.

x(

Black, white, both. We're all human. And both is better in many ways. But we're all human, and what the frig is wrong with that "church"?

Nice to see the pastor resign as form of protest, though he should have stayed and convince the stuck-up congregation of their errs.

[alfredo]

27. Here's the link to the story

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=226460&pub=1&div=Lifestyles

[Oeditpus Rex]

28. You can't rush these things, y'know

Integration takes time.

:sarcasm:

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. WWJS? Who would Jesus segregate?

[baldguy]

37. He's be out on the street too.

Too dark for these good, white Christian folk.

[GreenPartyVoter]

41. Yep and too Jewish too.

[OneBlueSky]

30. gee . . . outright racism from a "Christian" congregation . . .

does not compute . . . does not compute . . . does not compute . . .

[kurth]

32. Face it, most churches are just social clubs

Where people put on their best clothes to be seen. And where the pastor looks at the little wives and the little children and tries to decide who he's gonna fuck next.

[Ilsa]

90. Yeah, there are plenty of those ministers, but I suspect most of them

are okay and not looking to do someone.

ITA with the rest of what you said about many churches. But you forgot the part about it being a place where some of them can go to instantly feel better about all the crap they've inflicted on someone else without remorse. Why do I say that? Because the ones doing it keep on doing it, sometimes as soon as they get home.

[TreasonousBastard]

34. That's a Klan meeting, not a church...

and more people should leave.

Most churches I know of have problems trying to attract a racially diverse congregation. Churches normally are built within a community, and that means you got your Polish, Greek, Irish, Black, Hispanic... churches. Outreach gets complicated when you try to attract others, but the one black or hispanic family that shows up feel like outsiders.

I can't imagine having anything to do with a church that is that bigoted. It is something completely foreign to me, and every so often I have to look at a calendar to see that we're really in the 21st century.

[Lenore]

43. You're very right.

I am building a website for my awesome church, located in a small town in WA. One of our concerns is to show that we are a diverse people, even if just at/in heart. LOL

What I mean is that the area is not very diverse to begin with, our membership reflect this. It's a simple fact.

There are three minority people, out of a total of seventy. This is actually a higher percentage minority than our community by about 1.2. It is worthy to note that the three minority are children, my two mulatto kids and an adorable little (adopted) girl from India.

I've made a joke or two about needing to get the boys out in the sun (they tan easily to a wonderful dark color, and to think of all us white people who pay money to get such a tan!)...fluff up their curly hair till it screams "ETHNIC" (and how much do us straight haired folks spend on perms to have wavy curly hair?) and *then* get them in church pictures we could use on our website.

All so that when people visit our site, it isn't all white (and blue haired, can't forget the old lady blue and scarlet hairdo's lol).

Can you tell we have given this alot of thought? We have, because it is very important to us that *everyone* know they are accepted and will be loved.

I spent a good hour trying to find contact information for this racist church who kicked out sweet Joe, if there was ever a situation where THEY deserved to hear from US, this is it!

[shadowknows69]

35. "Aint gunna be no N*******s in my heaven"

at least we don't have to wonder who the true pieces of shit in this country are anymore. They wear their racism proudly on their sleeves now.

[Critters2]

36. Makes me proud of my church

A single mother of a biracial 9 year old boy asked for volunteers to act as "grandparents" to her son, so he could have a sense of extended family. So many of our seniors (all of whom are white) volunteered, that we made it a program and teamed them up with a bunch of kids--of all racial backgrounds--in the church.

[Selatius]

38. It's fucking racism. I'm sad to live in Mississippi with these racists

I live here in Mississippi, and I applaud the pastor for resigning when his congregants decided to segregate themselves from this individual, but this is just appalling racism of the old-school kind.

Is this what Martin Luther King, Jr., died for? Is this what all his followers got ass whuppings for? It's been 38 years now since he was murdered, and we still have this problem.

[Erika]

39. I bet we can correctly guess their political party

The GOP would defend this action by explaining this is just showing freedom of expression and your right to choose whom you wish to be in your church.

Sick people.

[ComerPerro]

114. no need to guess political affiliation

according to the GOP, Democrats hate god and hate religion.

Therefore, the group must have been Republican.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

40. Good for Pastor Stevens

and the other folks who resigned. I hope their courage shames the rest of the congregation. But it is a good thing, really, that this happened and these folks were exposed.

I hurt for the child and his family. But it is best to know your enemies. Sounds like they really lifted up a rock here and look what crawled out!

That said, I will say this about quite a few fundy churches hereabouts. While the Baptist folks are 100% white, and the Primative Baptists are 100% black, there are quite a few very evangelical fundie churches in town (new ones) that are quite integrated. It appears that the older churches are the most segregated. Our Catholic churches are very integrated as well. There are a lot of Catholic black folks down here, probably influence from LA. My church has a few black families..not many. (Episcopal)

[yewberry]

42. That poor kid.

He overheard the conversation in which pastor explained that the church voted not to allow him to join them and that he (the pastor) was leaving over it.

That's an awful lot for a 12-year-old to carry around.

What a horrifying group of "people" these are.

[ariesgem]

44. Church votes biracial boy out. Didn't want black side of family attending

>>snip

Fellowship Baptist Church in Saltillo, Mississippi, voted out a 12-year-old boy who "asked Jesus to live in his heart" at the church two weeks ago. Why the ban? Joe is biracial, and church members didn't want the black side of his family attending with him.

They were "afraid Joe might come with his people and have blacks in the church," church pastor John Stevens told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8305.html

:grr:

[Critters2]

45. This is a dupe. Just saw it in GD (I think) nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. Good! These kinds of stories need to be spread far and wide

This is just so repulsive. Public outrage is the cure. :)

[MADem]

46. At least the Pastor bolted, too

To his credit, Pastor Stevens resigned from the church the same day 12-year-old Joe was voted out of the church. Cliff Hardy, a local police officer, also resigned from the church. "My best friend is a black man," he said. "I wouldn't be comfortable going to a place where I couldn't ask my best friend to go to church with me."

WTF is WRONG with some folks?

[Maestro]

47. Utter racism is what is wrong

I detest people like this!

[Karenina]

52. It's the Amurikkan way!!!

The *genie has been let out of the bottle. 2 black teenage girls assaulted by a white upper crust male; he gets to go to a few museums and community service. Bus driver sends black kids to the back of the bus; no follow-up. Drunken white man insulting a doctor of colour; the doctor gets removed from the plane and on and on and on...

"I'm PROUD to be an *Amurikkkan, cuz at least I know I'M **Free..."

*brown bag test at the entrance
** to crush others beneath my heel at whim

[FSogol]

49. Sounds like there were at least 3 real Christians there.

Wonder if that is a high percentage for some of these extremist churches?

[Bill McBlueState]

89. What religion are the rest of them? n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

51. They are ignorant and bigoted

I really want to feel sorry for them but it is pretty hard.

[flordehinojos]

48. not very churchie like.

what a nest of bastard rats who claim to be christians. the darn pack doens't even know Christ.

[C_U_L8R]

53. Awfully Christian of 'em

emphasis on the AWFUL

[zanne]

54. Am I living in the friggin' Twilight Zone?

Have we just been blind to things like this all these years, or are people just going collectively insane?

[Karenina]

57. Both.

[mike_c]

55. this needs to be reported widely....

It seems public shame is the only incentive the christian taliban understands. And since their shame threshold is pretty high, it takes a lot to get through to them.

[KingFlorez]

58. Just the typical hypocritical attitude of fundamentalists

This must be part of the right-wing values we hear so much about. New name for these kind of people, FAUX Christians.

[newburgh]

59. Check out the "Body of Armor PJ's" site that's mentioned on this blog

http://www.armorofgodpjs.com/anna_and_samuel_dolls.htm

Notice on the dolls they differentiate them as "American" and "African-American" choices. :shrug:

And then check out those scary kkk PJ's...

[Kickoutthejams23]

77. Now be fair if they didn't offer an Afreican American Doll

You would slam them for that.

Whole site is kinda silly though :hi:

[DarkTirade]

102. That's funny... I could SWEAR that 'American' one looks to be

of EUROPEAN descent.

[Nay]

62. good for that pastor. I hope a decent church hires him at twice

the salary he's getting at that POS church.

[Initech]

65. 1953 redux...

:argh:

[McCamy Taylor]

66. "Fellowship" huh? English teachers save this. Perfect example of irony.

[nosmokes]

67. do these *Xtian assholes know that Jesus wasn't a white man?

of course,it's fairly obvious that the real christian spirit hasn't darkened the doorstep of that church in quite a while.

[Karenina]

68. NO! HE was blonde and WHITE!

And if Englisch was good enuf für Jeebus it should be good enuf for YOU TOO, You, YOU HERETIC!!! INFIDEL!!! Why do you HATE AMURIKKKA???

[kurth]

72. Don't forget perfect haircut and halo

The Bible is silent on chest hair.

[Generic Other]

71. Shocking but not surprising

After all, they are good xtians.

[TheFriedPiper]

73. Religious people being irrational? Shocker.

[SeaBob]

74. Church

Thats tolerance for you, :sarcasm:

REMEMBER KIDDIES RELIGON IS THE OPIATE OF THE MASSES.

[paparush]

75. How? How? How? Can this group claim to be Christian and follow

the teachings of Jesus? Huh? Can' sthombody sthplain to me?

[lolly]

76. Ah, so these are Coulter's "Godful(?)" people?

You know, not like those immoral, hate-filled, "Godless" liberals!

(Is Godful anything close to a word? What would be the opposite of "Godless?"

[TheFriedPiper]

99. Opposite of 'godless' is 'gullible'

[loudsue]

79. I wish about 20 or 30 black people would start going to that church

every Sunday for a few months. I wish black communities would organize and start doing this to all the churches that are so lilly white.

And if the church has the after service social w/ coffee, tea & cookies, they should just hang around and try to meet everyone.

That would clear the KKKlan members out in a hurry. Then, if the klaners started going to another church nearby, and find integration there, too, their heads would start exploding -- maybe it would expand their minds a little bit.

It's time to integrate, and put an end to these powerful church politics. I'd just hate to be one of the black people who had to sit and listen to some stiff-assed fundie lily white preacher.

[Jamastiene]

117. I was thinking about something along those lines.

Also, people should find something to send that church in mass numbers, like cakes or something they would have spend lots of time dealing with but nothing harmful, as an act of love in the face of hate. That way they would be forced to think hard about their act of racism.

[The Backlash Cometh]

80. Asking for an opinion from everyone,

Is it just me, or did that sheriff actually use the, "my best friend is a black man," in an appropriate way? I'm comfortable with the way it fits into the context.

Just checking because I've missed the trajectory before on this kind of issue.

[druidity33]

84. yes...

it appears the sherriff is one of the good guys... though it does seem odd. Perhaps because it's so rare?

[The Backlash Cometh]

86. It just works well with his explanation.

Why be a member of an organization that won't accept your best friend, who happens to be black?

[Recursion]

83. Churches in Mississippi in the '80s were like that, but...

...there was one thing that really intrigued me. This was a university town and so we had a few visiting professors from all over the world, including Africa. But the African professors (usually from Kenya) went to the "white" churches and nobody every seemed to mind. As one local put it, "he's not a n****r, he's an African". Maybe the British accent intimidated them; I don't know.

[The Backlash Cometh]

87. I once thought I had my racist father in law cornered when I pointed out

that Indians in India were often darker than American blacks. He commented, they're not black, they're BLUE-black!

I backed out of the room slowly.

[Raydawg1234]

85. And these are the kind of people who support Bush

[fishwax]

107. they're the base

well, one of the bases, anyway, and a base that is often ackowledged with a wink and a nod by bush and other repubs :puke:

[Catherine Vincent]

91. So even if a few black relatives did attend service at this church,

Are these people that voted the kid out that hateful toward black folks? This is so sad. :(

[Dorian Gray]

92. Wow...

Kudos to the pastor and the police officer for resigning their membership at the church.

What a vile and disgusting place. For those who voted Joe out, they don't know the meaning of fellowship and religious belief. Disgusting.

[Beelzebud]

93. Ah Religion. A bastion of peace and love..

Oh wait. No... Organized reliegion is actually the root cause of every war in the world right now...

Christian, Muslim, Jewish - ALL war mongers at their cores.

[citizen snips]

94. I agree

religion has become very reactionary.

[Moochy]

95. Fucking racist bastards n/t

[MiniMandaRuth]

96. Fuckers.

The REAL Jesus would of welcomed him with open arms.

[jberryhill]

98. The Actual Local Report Is Less Clear

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=226460&pub=1&div=Lifestyles

SALTILLO - A pastor who says his congregation voted not to accept black membership has resigned. The church says it never made such a decision.
<...>
After the Daily Journal contacted Fellowship Baptist members, they gathered Aug. 17 to form a response. Mike Dillard, who acted as spokesperson for the church, said the congregation "categorically denies" accusations that the church took such a vote and feels the charge is an attempt by a party to do them harm.

[struggle4progress]

106. Fair enough. But the kid's aunt and uncle believe the Pastor, as does

at least one other church attendee quoted in the story. They know the people involved ...

[ComerPerro]

115. of course they would deny it

[ms liberty]

100. Has anyone sent this to KO? I see a Worst Person(s) in the World here!

We need to inundate KO with this one! Shame the asswipes in front of the entire nation.

[ms liberty]

101. edited: dupe - twitchy fingers! n/t

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

116. There's a book that congregation should sit down and read

It's called The Holy Bible.

They may be surprised at what the man in it says about their attitude.

[fortyfeetunder]

118. a blithering shame.

Religion bringing out the absolute worst in people.

I can tell the vestiges of the pre-civil rights period attitudes among some MS white folk have not gone extinct yet.

edited for clarification!

[FormerDem06]

119. You guys did catch that this was a hole in the wall with 30ish members....

So after reading all of the way through this thread, I saw the link that contained the following information

-----------------------------------------------------------
Stevens stepped down from the Baptist Missionary Alliance congregation that has an average Sunday morning attendance of 30 people.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Keep in mind this is 30 people, probably all over the age of 60 (the minister was 72 for crying out loud) who meet in a freakin store front. My church had a children's choir performance this morning 70 kids on-stage...30ish white kids, 20ish black kids and 20ish hispanic kids. Our hispanic outreach ministry is almost as large as our regular church, and we are.....get ready for this....Southern Baptist affiliated (and located in the South in Raleigh, NC).

Granted the average age of our church membership is 33, so I don't think we have a lot of the old-school bigots in our church.

[eridani]

121. Good for the pastor

At least the church has one actual Christian.