Southern Baptist Church, and Democrats Options

[Jaq]

A Southern Baptist church in East Waynesville, North Carolina has expelled all of its Democrats

Well, actually 9 of them have been expelled and another additional 40 left as protest.

From another message board:

She (posters mother) said WLOS tv just broke in to report that the East Waynesville Baptist church has officially excommunicated all its democratic members.

She said that before the election, the preacher told the congregation from the pulpit that if they didn't vote for * they had to come to the altar to confess their sins and repent. they could'nt be members. (My Mom doesn't attend that church--she's United Methodist, but I know of lots who do attend).

From Mom's email: "One of the local women who got excommunicated said on TV that it was like a cult. Another man who got excommunicated said that the rest of the congregation stood up and applauded as the Democrats were told to leave."

This seems to signal to me another step towards not just the gradual blurring of the boundary between church and state, but a full blown theocracy.

Ten Commandments in public places, debating homosexual marriage in the context of religion (when it's a secular government policy and wouldn't have any impact on churches as they wouldn't be required to perform homosexual marriage ceremonies), prayer in schools... the list goes on..


What think you? The States heading towards a theocracy, or am I just blowing things out of proportion? Would a theocracy be such a bad thing? Why? Why not? Please submit your essays by 5:00 p.m. 500 words or less.

[ravein]

WOW.

Well I can't say I am surprised. That portion of the state (I'm from North Carolina) is very rural. A lot of people from that area are poor mountain people. Most of their views have not changed much in the last 50 years. Southern Baptists are a fiery bunch that like to preach at people. Their views are very strict and if those are rebuked in anyway the first thing they do is move to eliminate that voice of dissent. I was raised in a traditionally Southern Baptist household. To this day I can't tell my father that I am gay. Not only would it break his heart, but also he would disown me. These are just the way that these people deal with issues. They have no concept of equality, no matter if it is racial or sexual. It was not uncommon to have churches in our community to divide. Either they would have a difference in opinion or their allegiance to one preacher over another would divide the church. But once they didn't agree with each other they were done being a part of each other’s lives. Kind of sad really.

As a country you are correct. GWB has brought faith as a centerpiece of his presidency. It is harder to keep a separation of church and state when the leader of the country can't keep from blurring the lines. Most Christian religions have always given me the impression they're are just more detailed forms of parenting. Take out the garbage or you'll get a spanking- honor your mother and father or burn in hell. It just seems like a way to scare people into following your lead. The president has done the same thing with the US people. He has used war and religion to do it. However I don’t think this case can apply to the US as a whole. I think that the traditions of the Southern Baptist Church and the region may be more at play here than the policies of the US government.