Fun with endangering your tax-exempt status
The New York Times today takes a look at that community down in North Carolina where the preacher had to step down after kicking John Kerry supporters out of his flock. I'm actually not that happy to gloat in the story (it looks mostly like a small rural town being torn asunder, and that's about it) but the story has a surprising amount of interesting subplots. Here's one:
Mr. Chandler told members: "The question then comes in the Baptist Church, 'How do I vote?'; let me just say this right now, if you vote for John Kerry this year you need to repent or resign. You have been holding back God's church way too long."Mr. Chandler, according to a tape recording of his sermon, added, "And I know I may get in trouble for saying that, but just pour it on."
Yeah, never do that. You know intellectually it's a bad idea to keep going, but you're in the moment, and you're sure you're right, and ... yeah. Just stop.
Most of those who left were Democrats, but the conflict cannot be reduced to party lines - Haywood County, like many parts of the South, has more registered Democrats than Republicans, but voted for President Bush by a significant margin.
I read somewhere that the states with the biggest Democratic registration are Massachusetts (which votes Democratic) and Mississippi (which does not). And just so everyone knows, our strategy last year in Louisville was to use our registration advantage to get everyone to vote Democrat down the line, so we'd get Tony in. In fairness, that part of the plan should have worked, since every Democratic presidential candidate going back to Dukakis has carried the district, but I just don't think you can play the different-party card with an entrenched incumbent. We needed a real argument.
For Mr. Buchanan, it came down to what he said was the Christian principle that one person cannot judge another. "People try to separate sin, and you can't separate sin," he said. "They're the same, abortion and treating your neighbor like dirt. Anything that separates you from your God is sin. I can't say who's ungodly and who ain't."
Ding ding ding! Excommunicate this heretic pronto.