Sweet deal for a local church or necessary edition to the neighborhood?

Local government watchdog, Mike Peden, wrote me today with the following in the run-up to tonight's council meeting:

This is the cost for the new 12” water main for the Church of Christ on 40th Ave N – almost $800,000. This bill is on the Council agenda tonight.

The church is contributing $20,000.

There is nothing but that church and some duplexes between Charlotte and Catherine Johnson Pkwy. The church is currently building a huge addition.

Mike also tells me that he has emailed his council member Jason Holleman and the bill sponsors (Edith Taylor Langster, Sean McGuire, Walter Hunt) a number of times without getting any replies.

Evangelical media source: more accusers coming forward against Bishop Walker

The Christian Post (a self-described "pan-denominational" Christian news source) has more ill news of Mt. Zion Baptist Church's Bishop Joseph Walker III:

Connie Allison, Batson's attorney, suggested Monday to The Christian Post that "more and more [women] are emerging" with similar accusations.

While refusing to reveal any information about the identities of the women listed as "Jane Does," Allison emphasized that the women are scared of possible retaliation should their identities become known. Allison referred to Batson as "the bravest human I've ever met." Allison, who is herself Catholic, said her client has unbelievable "spiritual inner strength" that is "breathtaking." The three women who provided supporting testimonies for Bates' lawsuit are Episcopalian Christians, Allison revealed.

One of the women is a single mother in her 30s, a court employee in Davidson County told CP last week. Another one is a married woman, also in her 30s.

Officials at Jefferson Street church accused of sexual exploitation and abuse

Sex abuse scandals in religion tend to be assumed to be a Catholic and not a Protestant problem, which some diligent observers insist is an exaggeration. We should not be surprised to hear allegations of sex abuse emerge from various congregations from time-to-time, especially in personal counseling situations, where parishioners are in vulnerable situations and ministers exercise increased influence.

The latest allegations involve Mount Zion Baptist Church, a historic and prominent church on Jefferson Street (which also has congregations in Antioch and far North Nashville):

The claims were made on behalf of four former female parishioners. According to the suit, the women were sexually exploited and abused during counseling sessions sponsored by the church. The lawsuit goes on to claim that this abuse was not an isolated incident. The plaintiffs accuse the church of recruiting woman for exploration, sexual battery and psychological and spiritual manipulation for nearly ten years.

The charges were filed against the church and specifically against Bishop Joseph Walker III who one woman claims participated and aided the abuse.

One of the four women went on TV with specific allegations:

"It's not right. It's not right. That's why I'm doing it, at whatever cost," said Valencia Batson in an exclusive interview with Channel 4 News. "It's not right and it just needs to stop."

Batson said until now, fear kept her from coming forward with explosive allegations against Walker and Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

"Church is not to get sick," said Batson. "It's to get better, to be better."

Friday, the 42-year-old real estate broker filed a civil suit claiming she was sexually abused and spiritually and psychologically manipulated at the hands of the bishop and other church leaders.

"When you're in a position of power, you're not to misuse that power," said Batson. "It is not for you to take control over another person and have them do things for your benefit or your pleasure. That is abuse because you're damaging that other person."

Batson wouldn't speak in detail about the alleged abuse, but claimed it started two years after she joined the church.

Batson and three other women listed as "Jane Does" in the suit claim they would meet with Walker and other leaders for counseling and were coerced into sex at a time when they were most vulnerable.

"There is an incident where I was forced to do something while someone else watched," said Batson.

Still, Batson stayed at the church for 11 years.

"All of me was trapped there. My spirit was in that place and I didn't know how to get out," said Batson. "I didn't know how to leave."

"It's a secret society where you don't say anything, but you know what's going on because you're either arranging it or you're participating in it," she said.

Batson said she was afraid to call police, but one time told a church leader about her concerns and was threatened.

The church is denying the charges.

Defective detectives up to the devil's business

When I read that detectives from police intelligence enter a church where dissenters have sanctuary and shelter, take inventory of the protesters, and pump a women's shelter volunteer for information on her clients, I have a hard time not seeing the KGB's Homeland Security's finger prints. And when I learn that the pastor has to spirit protesters out the church's back door because an unknown person is snapping photos of people who come out the front, call me conspiratorial if you like, but I believe authorities are instigating some sort of treachery. A couple of days ago I maintained that DHS and FBI should focus on real threats to homeland security instead of targeting occupiers in Nashville. The atrocious actions of NYPD sustain the widely held perception that orchestrated suppression is spreading:

“It is disconcerting that they would actually enter the sanctuary,” said the Rev. James Karpen, known as Reverend K, senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, on West 86th Street. “Here we had offered hospitality and safety, which is our business as a church; it just felt invasive”....

About 46 protesters had spent Wednesday night in the church. Just before 6 a.m. on Thursday, as the demonstrators began to stir before a major downtown protest, the two men in plainclothes came to the church door and asked the doorkeepers if they could use the bathroom, according to Mr. Karpen.

Instead, both men entered the sanctuary, one remaining near the door while the other advanced down the aisle, apparently counting the demonstrators in the pews, according to a witness who reported the episode and who asked his name not be published because he feared harassment by the police.

One of the men then went downstairs to a homeless women’s shelter, run in cooperation with B’nai Jeshurun, a local synagogue, and asked for information about who was sleeping there, said Elissa Weiss, the volunteer on duty ....

A demonstrator then confronted the men and asked them to write down their names and badge numbers. One identified himself as Detective Kevin G. Clancy, who according to 2006 police records is assigned to the intelligence division of the New York Police Department. The men then left.

“They are welcome to come in if they just say who they are,” Mr. Karpen said. “We have never had that kind of issue with the police before.

I appreciate that the pastor is "disconcerted," but implications of this level of surveillance are frightening and enraging. The direction local police seem to be taking goes down the road to perdition. If this country so goes, there is no return.


UPDATE:  DemocracyNow hosted a discussion on "New Military Urbanism," during which a legal observer of Occupy Wall Street noted the absolute brutality that increasingly characterizes policing protesters in cities:

"I was there to take down the names of people who were arrested... As I’m standing there, some African-American woman goes up to a police officer and says, 'I need to get in. My daughter's there. I want to know if she’s OK.’ And he said, 'Move on, lady.' And they kept pushing with their sticks, pushing back. And she was crying. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he throws her to the ground and starts hitting her in the head," says Smith. "I walk over, and I say, 'Look, cuff her if she's done something, but you don’t need to do that.’ And he said, 'Lady, do you want to get arrested?' And I said, 'Do you see my hat? I'm here as a legal observer.’ He said, 'You want to get arrested?' And he pushed me up against the wall."

If police administration naively assumes that they will not reap bitter fruit one day from the seeds they are sewing today, they are sorely mistaken.

Volunteer Opportunity to Help Second Harvest Program in Salemtown

During a walk tonight, I spoke with Rev. John Swyers at St. Paul's Lutheran Church (corner of Garfield and Rosa Parks) about his congregation's work with Second Harvest providing food for needy folks around the North End. He told me that on Tuesday mornings he is in short supply of volunteers who could make a run to Publix to pick up bread for his community service. If you are available or know someone who might be available on Tuesday mornings to pick up surplus bread to help hungry people, please e-mail me and I'll pass your contact info along to Rev. Swyers. There is also contact info on the program's website.

Planning Takes Care of Churches, But What are They Prepared to Do for Neighborhoods?

There a couple of things hanging with me this morning about last night's long public hearing on LED billboards in residential areas. One is that Commissioner Stewart Clifton claimed that the LED task force, selected by Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors, had a representative contingent of neighborhood leaders of diverse opinions. By my count there were 2 or 3 neighborhood leaders on the group of 20, and I do not remember any of them being vigorous opponents of LED billboards before the task force was convened. A couple seemed to come away opposed to the task force recommendation.

The rest of the group included LED-leaners like church leaders and sign industry reps., council members and lawyers, lobbyists and chamber of commerce wonks, and Codes and Planning officials predisposed against a ban of LEDs from residential neighborhoods. Needless to say there were a lot of raised eyebrows in the room at Mr. Clifton's argument. Vice Mayor Neighbors could have chosen from several LED opponents who had done their homework and delved into sign issues in ways that the Planning staff failed to. But she chose no opponents to balance the conclusions.

Secondly, Mr. Clifton mentioned that a primary interest behind the favorable conclusions the LED task force gave to commercial-style diode signage in residential areas was that it desired to do something to help churches and agencies, since they are part of neighborhoods, too. But wait a minute. No one opposing LED signage wants to curtail privileges that private organizations get from locating in neighborhoods. Just being in a residential area gives these institutions some stability and security that they might not enjoy being in commercial zones.

So, what does the preferential option for LEDs have to do with treating churches like an equal neighbors? As one opponent said during the public hearing, churches seem to want it both ways: the desirability of a residential locale and the marketing blitz of commercial zones. What favor has the LED task force and Metro Planning extended to neighborhood groups (which would not even be able to erect LED signage to promote themselves under the new law)? And what benefits do churches and non-profits actually bring neighborhoods? We no longer live in a parish-system era where churches have mutually beneficial hyper-local relationships. Churches are generally a reflection of automobile culture, and their clientele drives in from outside their neighborhoods. How are they anything other than fillers of space vis-à-vis neighborhoods?

Metro Council's Annual Attempt to Take the Closet Out of Prayer

It has been a while since Metro Council conservatives have tried to join the war on Christmas or to turn zoning disputes into liberal neighborhood do-gooders against innocent churches, but you had to know they were eventually going to start the next culture war diversion to get away from their actual responsibilities as laid out by the Metro Charter.

At next Tuesday night's council meeting, Jim Hodge (The Churches of Christ), Randy Foster (The Churches of Christ), Jim Gotto (The Churches of Christ), and Robert Duvall (fundamentalist Baptist) introduce a memorializing resolution designed to pander to the theocratic right-wing in Nashville that will do nothing to advance the economic and communal quality of life in the city itself. The MR says:

WHEREAS, May 7, 2009, is the 58th Annual National Day of Prayer; and

WHEREAS, the religious freedom guaranteed us by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the diversity of faiths practiced in America have made our land a beacon for people who seek freedom to worship according to their conscience; and

WHEREAS, Americans of every race, background and creed come together in their places of worship, homes and work places to pray for guidance, wisdom and courage; and

WHEREAS, just as we rely on prayer for courage, hope and renewal in our private lives, so too do we turn to prayer at times of joy, crises, economic uncertainty and tragedy in our public life as a Nation, a State and a City; and

WHEREAS, Congress, by Public Law 100-307, has called on our citizens to reaffirm the role of prayer in our society by recognizing annually a “National Day of Prayer” and many of our Nation’s Presidents have asked us to pray for our Nation; and

WHEREAS, at this time in our history, we are especially mindful of the heroic men and women serving in our Armed Forces, especially those serving abroad for their safety, for the recovery of the wounded, and for the peace we will seek and their families; and

WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that the Metropolitan Council recognizes the 58th Annual National Day of Prayer as May 7, 2009, and encourage all residents to pray and request of their Creator, “May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our HOPE in you” – Psalm 33:22.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:

Section 1. The Metropolitan Council hereby goes on record as proclaiming May 7, 2009, as National Day of Prayer.

Section 2. This Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.

In spite of the sponsors' ultra conservative church affiliations, their action actually violates the same Bible that the churches from which these men hail purport to follow.

Can I get a witness, Jesus?

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them .... and whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they can be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your closet and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees you will reward you .... When you are praying do not heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Not only does the council's latest culture war resolution heap up self-aggrandizing, wheedling phrases to suit the vanity of conservatives, but it is an exercise in hollow piety inconsistent with Jesus's dominant views of prayer itself. These council members are attempting to impose a splinter ideology in the guise of civil religion at odds with founding teachings the ideology claims to follow.

How are they not being the very hypocrites that Jesus himself excoriates? And keep in mind that Hodge's, Foster's, and Gotto's "undenominational" denomination, The Churches of Christ, claims to have no central executive because Jesus Christ himself is their executive. So, why aren't they listening to him on prayer?

In the end, Jesus never teaches proclaiming an Annual National Day of Prayer, and if these self-proclaimed Christians are to truly follow his teachings, then they should be exercising humility, contrition, and even shame at even being tempted to speak of prayer publicly as they intend to do next Tuesday. If they don't feel lead to repent, they should at least apologize to Metro taxpayers for wasting our resources to draft, to seek lawyers' opinions on, to call to committee, and to introduce to council a bill that will not help make Nashville a better place. What a waste of money; what a waste of faith.

Council Member Says Church Held Hostage by Historic Overlay Bill

In his oppositional comments against council member Jason Holleman's overlay request to protect a historic church building from being replaced with a Rite-Aid tonight, Jim Gotto said that an overlay would stop church members from selling to a big box, which would make them "hostages." Mike Jameson retorted that as a boy scout he was taught to always leave a campsite better than he found it; and he encouraged the exiting church members, who were said to be in the gallery, to leave their campsite better than they found it by working with the Mr. Holleman to protect the community they are leaving. Gotto stated later that this bill needed to be pulled on first reading because church members are being "disenfranchised."

Holleman's bill was passed on first reading with 22 votes in favor.

This bill has been a subject of vigorous debate at the Nashville Charrette.

Report Says that Baptist Minister in Memphis Sexually Abused Son; Church Leaders Less Than Accountable in Response

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

Last Sunday Bellevue Baptist Church--a Fundamentalist Memphis institution--issued a report specifying allegations of that one of the ministers, Paul Williams, had molested his son over the period of a year or a year-and-a-half 17 years ago.  Several years after the abuse stopped, Williams told an unidentified retired Bellevue staff member, who kept the information a secret. The report says that Williams told no one else for fear of losing his Bellevue job.  However, throughout 2006, several ministers and others at Bellevue became aware of the abuse after Williams's son and family sought counseling from a "non-Bellevue psychologist."
The report concludes that no one with knowledge of the molestation ever appeared to give any consideration to the "the effect of having a child molester on the ministerial staff" would have on the church.  In early 2006 "a trained psychologist" and a former church staffer learned of the abuse and could have contacted the Department of Child Services.  The psychologist chose to insist that Williams "follow through with the Biblical principle of being under authority and go to his pastor and confess."  Senior Pastor Steve Gaines found out about the abuse early in the fall of 2006, but did not focus on Williams's church responsibilities until December, when the abused son asked Gaines why Williams should be allowed to continue "in light of the scriptural qualifications for ministers."  Rev. Gaines has been roundly criticized for his actions.

Despite the fact that the reports claim that there are no excuses for the mistakes in these events, the language used by the church still indicates a lack of accountability on the part of church leaders.  The Memphis Commercial Appeal quotes report writers as referring to Williams's own abuse as a child in connection with the cycle of abuse he perpetrated on his son.  While it is widely acknowledged that abuse tends to get passed on in families, there is no necessary causal link between the abuse Williams suffered and the abuse he made his son suffer.  By linking these events, leaders minimize Williams's free choice in the matter.
Also, at no place in the report do investigators challenge the hierarchic "authority" structure--favored by Fundamentalist churches--that would perpetuate abuse and that probably led--especially in the case of the "trained psychologist"--to delay reform and to belay the prevention of future abuse.  The Fundamentalist authority structure was found lacking in these events precisely because the senior pastor denied his own responsibility by saying that he had never dealt with such an incident.  However, the highest authority ought to claim the most responsibility.  Further, he called the events "uncharted waters," a comment which critics rightly point out to be false, given that abuse has happened in churches for a long time.
In fact, it is precisely in those narrowly-defined, rigid structures (pastor/laity; husband/wife; master/slave) unapologetically unbeholden to the outside world where abuse is more likely to be hidden, unacknowledged, and denied.  The report does recommend that church staff, including the senior pastor receive DCS training on responding to molestation, but that further brings into question the idea that a pastor or any minister should claim hierarchic authority over laity.

Cornerstone Pastor Draws Islamic Comparison to Klan Again in a NewsChannel5 Interview

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

Cornerstone Church Pastor Maury Davis once again compared Muslims to Klansmen in criticizing Governor Phil Bredesen's personal choice of Christmas cards in an audience with NewsChannel5 yesterday.

If on Martin Luther King day you sent a picture of a Klansman and said, "Martin Luther had a dream that this guy would one day get along with the people he is trying to kill," I'm not sure that the African American community would handle that very well .... I think that we have to understand that we have a problem right now between our culture, their culture, the religions, possibly, and I think Christmas ought to be kept pure at this moment.

While NewsChannel5 included comments from Gov. Bredesen as the alternative point of view, they failed--like News 2 earlier this week--to broadcast contrasting points of view from local Christian communities of faith.  At one point Rev. Davis claimed that the picture of the Afghani girl on Bredesen's personal card is a picture of the Muslim faith.  If Rev. Davis's face--broadcast on two news stations this week--is supposed to be a picture of Christian faith, then it is a distorted and narrow picture of diverse Christianity.

Cornerstone Church Pastor Compares Islam to the Ku Klux Klan in News 2 Interview

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

In a News 2 report on the non-issue of Governor Phil Bredesen's choice of personal (not official state) Christmas cards, Madison Pastor Maury Davis judged Mr. Bredesen's choice as "wrong," and compared it to sending out a card with a Klansman on it:

Can you imagine if the Governor had sent out a card on Martin Luther King day with a picture of a Klansman on the front of it?  It would be blood on the streets.  It would be bad.  If you put it in that perspective it's an insult to the church of Jesus Christ.

News 2 provided no alternative theological perspective from a clergy who disagreed with Rev. Davis on whether the Governor's personal choice of greeting cards represented a threat to Christian churches.

Sexual Abuse More Prevalent Among Clergy Than Other Counseling Professionals

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

The Associated Baptist Press reports that, despite the emphasis on faith-based institutions over the last few years, rate of sexual abuse among clergy far exceeds the client-professional abuse rate among physicians and psychologists.  Exacerbating the problem among Southern Baptists is their claimed emphasis on local-church autonomy, which often shields predators from outside attention.

However, the emphasis on local-church autonomy may be only conveniently and selectively applied.  In 2005, SBC attorneys told a woman reporting sexual abuse by her youth minister 40 years ago that the convention has no control over whom a church appoints as minister. However, in 2003, on the occasion of the SBC dissolving ties with a Nashville church that appointed a lesbian minister, SBC Officer Richard Land told the Associated Press, "In having a homosexual or lesbian minister, they are clearly endorsing homosexual behavior, and thus have defined themselves outside of the Southern Baptist Convention."  While the SBC applied local-church autonomy to allow the hiring of law-violating child predators, it did not apply it to allow the hiring of law-abiding gays and lesbians.

There is a website especially devoted to stopping Southern Baptist ministers who sexually prey on their congregants, even as the SBC is doing very little to stop sexual abuse in Baptist churches.

Christian Attitudes about the November Election Results

Says Pew:

Most Americans (60%) -- including majorities of white mainline Protestants (56%), black Protestants (84%), white Catholics (60%) and seculars (72%) -- say they are happy that the Democrats won the election. Only among white evangelicals did as many express unhappiness as happiness with the Democrats' victory (41% each).

WKRN Reports Unfounded Allegations of AU Partiality

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

While introducing his coverage of a story that has been in the news for over two weeks now, News 2 Religion and Ethics reporter Jamey Tucker said of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State:

Now a group often accused of being critical only of churches supporting Republican candidates is turning in a church for supporting Harold Ford, Jr.

Those accusations were not the subject matter of the report, so there was no journalistic justification for inserting that pejorative comment.

However, let us assume that the accusations might be germane.  If so, then Mr. Tucker failed to substantiate those accusations with proof that AU is only critical of "churches supporting Republican candidates."  There is no evidence of fact-checking AU's record or the conclusions of any independent study of AU's actions.

More fact-checking would have lead Mr. Tucker to discover that those accusations are unfounded.  According to a November 6, 2006 AU press release four other congregations were reported to the IRS by AU. Two churches were involved in Democratic candidate endorsements; two churches were involved in Republican candidate endorsements.  According to AU's reports, more churches (three) leaning toward Democratic endorsements have been reported to the IRS than have those (two) leaning toward Republican endorsements.


UPDATE: Jamey Tucker has clarified the statement in question at WKRN's website.  He says that he was intending "to inform the viewer that even though the group is often criticized for only going after evangelical churches that support Republican candidates, that criticism is false."

Just Across the Border: "Faith-Based" Republican Congresswoman Loses on November 7

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

A report posted by Americans United for Separation of Church and State concluded that despite attempts by Religious Right organizations "to forge church-based political machines in several states," a number of candidates whom those organizations sponsored lost yesterday's elections.  The report concluded that the election losses constituted a failure on the part of the Religious Right to translate their organizing efforts to popular votes.

The list includes Kentucky's Anne Northup, "a Republican who successfully used the promise of public grants through the 'faith-based' initiative to woo religious voters in 2002 and 2004."  Northup lost to Democrat John Yarmuth, 51 percent to 48 percent.

Roy Moore Tells Grainger County Congregation That God and Government Belong Together

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore--who in 2003 was removed from the bench for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the State House--materialized in an East Tennessee church to sell his book over the weekend.  He called his sympathetic audience "soldiers" and compared them to U.S. troops in Iraq, which means he is comparing those who object to his views with terrorist insurgents.

The Religion-Saturated Senate Race

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

Both Bob Corker and Harold Ford, Jr. seem to be pulling out the stops this pre-election Sunday to woo church-goers to vote for them.  When I watch the two of them swing the swords of devotion in this fight I am reminded of the old fashion test:  when a man puts on a suit does he look like he is wearing it or instead is the suit wearing the man?

Corker's zealous religious base would seem to respond to him readily the more holier he seems to be.  Even when disingenuous and wearing thin, zeal appeals to the religious right, because of their strong Constantinian streak: the emperor need not be authentically theocratic as long as the empire becomes so.  On the contrary, I question whether the kind of faith-based voter who would consider voting for Ford would respond well to Ford's locked embrace with strong evangelicalism.  I also think that Ford is reaping the whirlwind; I wonder if he is lately losing progressive voters for whom religion may not be a ballot-factor and liberal voters who are much less likely than conservative voters to be loyal to party.  And the Christian zealots would never have even considered voting for Ford with the Republican being tractable as usual.

I think Ford's overreach on religion makes Corker look like the suit fits him better, despite Corker's dubious devotionals to deity.  Ford didn't have to charge at religion with such zeal.  Democrats should engage religion, but they do so more effectively as leaders who are Christian (or Jewish, Muslim, etc.) rather than as Christian (or Jewish, Muslim, etc.) leaders.  Purity only appeals to the extremes.  Playing up Christian purity is the point where the suit starts looking like it is wearing the man rather than the other way around.  Harold Ford looks quite natural engaging Christian values or appearing behind a pulpit, but he also should have kept his base (and his ethics) in mind as he was doing so.  Instead, he seemed to throw moderation and a sensitivity toward church-state relations out the window.  And that does not suit a Democrat.

Americans United Calls for IRS Scrutiny of Church Hosting Today's Ford/Clinton Rally

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

The director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State calls for an Internal Revenue Service investigation of today's rally at Memphis' Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ, which features senatorial candidate Harold Ford, Jr. and former president Bill Clinton. Barry Lynn alleges that the church may be violating the tax codes against political advocacy in at least two ways:

• Inviting Ford to speak, but not inviting his rival Bob Corker
• Spending church money (for the cost of rent, extra security, and utilities) on the rally

Will They Be Giving Away Biblical Bobbleheads, Too?

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

According to volunteervoters.com, Governor Phil Bredesen is sponsoring an event called "Faith Night" at the Howard School Building polls tomorrow night.  Reportedly, "members of local congregations have been invited to join their pastors in casting their votes."

Columbia Pastor Selectively Uses Scripture in TV Interview

Originally published at Free Tennessee:

Maury County Pastor Carol Jacobs told News 2 while speaking of her church's planned boycott of Wal-Mart in an interview this week:

We believe that there's a biblical standard that is set in the Word [a.k.a., Bible], that the gay and lesbian lifestyle is not condoned or encouraged in the Word of God.

The problem with this point of view is that Ms. Jacobs, who seems to embrace the Bible as authoritative, is in fact only pulling out certain scriptures to use on her behalf, while ignoring others that do not serve her.

How would we know this? Because first of all she is a woman in the role of a pastor at Trinity Family Church. The Bible she claims to embrace includes the following:

I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression. [St. Paul]

So, her very position in her church shows that she ignores some scripture in favor of others.

We also know of her selective use of scripture when she tells News 2 about her church's vision:

Our vision of our church is how to successfully train and teach people to live successfully in their generation.

The overwhelming bulk of scripture says nothing about success and more times than not addresses the way that the poor and other social outcasts are treated. In fact, the New Testament tends to characterize success as the path to hell (for example: "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to get into heaven"; and from St. James: "Come now,you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you"). Again, by emphasizing success, this pastor is ignoring large portions of the Bible that consider such accentuation to be perverted.

Here are some other Bible teachings that conservatives tend to ignore:

If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. [Exodus]

Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. [Jesus]

Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none. [John the Baptist]

Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.[Leviticus, which is the same book that religious conservatives like the Columbia pastor quote to condemn interaction with gays and lesbians]

I find it difficult to take conservatives at their word when they tell me that their opposition to gays and lesbians is based on a strong reading of the same scripture that they--and most other Christians--selectively quote from.