Kentucky church votes to ban interracial couples

[Magzilla]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...racial-couples

A tiny church in rural Kentucky has voted to ban interracial couples from joining its congregation, pitting members against each other in an argument over race.

Members at the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Kentucky voted on Sunday on the resolution, which says the church "does not condone interracial marriage".

The church member who crafted the resolution, Melvin Thompson, said he is not racist and called the matter an "internal affair".

"I am not racist. I will tell you that. I am not prejudiced against any race of people, have never in my lifetime spoke evil about a race," said Thompson, the church's former pastor who stepped down earlier this year.

"That's what this is being portrayed as, but it is not."

Dean Harville, the church's secretary, disagreed - he said the resolution came after his daughter visited the church this summer with her boyfriend from Africa.

Stella Harville and Ticha Chikuni, now her fiancé, visited the church in June and Chikuni sang a song for the congregation. The two had visited the church before.

Harville said he was counting the church offering after a service in August when he was approached by Thompson, who told him Harville's daughter and her boyfriend were no longer allowed to sing at the church.

"If he's not racist, what is this?" Harville said.

The vote by members last Sunday was nine to six, Harville said. It was taken after the service, which about 35 to 40 people attended. Harville said many people left or declined to vote.

The resolution says anyone is welcome to attend services, but interracial couples could not become members or be "used in worship services or other church functions".

Stella Harville, a 24-year-old graduate student at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, called the vote "hurtful".

"I think part of me is still in shock and trying to process what's been going on the past few days," she said. "I really hope they overturn this."

The church's pastor, Stacy Stepp, said on Wednesday he was against the resolution. Stepp said the denomination's regional conference will begin working on resolving the issue this weekend.

The National Association of Free Will Baptists in Tennessee has no official position on interracial marriage for its 2,400 churches worldwide, executive secretary Keith Burden said. The denomination believes the Bible is inerrant and local churches have autonomy over decision making.

"It's been a non-issue with us," Burden said, adding that many interracial couples attend Free Will Baptist churches. He said the Pike County church acted on its own. Burden said the association can move to strip the local church of its affiliation with the national denomination if it's not resolved.

"Hopefully it is corrected quickly," Burden said.

Oh yeah, keep raising the bar on crazy, you <mod snip>!

[Taros]

Lol. What!

[Powerogue]

and the whole time they preach that this isn't racist at all. Self deception at its finest.

"hopefully it is corrected quickly" indeed, the last thing we need is more church splits over this sort of disagreement.

[herpderpslurp]

thats stupid, but anybody who isnt racist can just change churches.

[Chickat]

I was raised in a Christian family, and i was taught that everybody is equal, but that God doesn't want us to mix races. I think its bull, but i guess the bible says its wrong so i dont necessarily think the church is being racist. I think they just believe that a black and a white, or any other combination is wrong. Idk...

[Skizzit]

Love thy fellow man, unless he is a different color then you.

Way to be forward thinking.

[Chickat]

Love thy fellow man, unless he is a different color then you.

Way to be forward thinking.

I hope no one is being racist. I dont personally know any of these people so I wont say either way. If they are just being racist the shame on them. I think the not mixing races has something to do with the tower of babel and all that. Idk i never got into the bible much, just what i was told.

[obdigore]

I was raised in a Christian family, and i was taught that everybody is equal, but that God doesn't want us to mix races. I think its bull, but i guess the bible says its wrong so i dont necessarily think the church is being racist. I think they just believe that a black and a white, or any other combination is wrong. Idk...

Could you point out where it says that there should be no interracial relationships in the bible?

[Meleti]

Slow news day for the Guardian?

[Chickat]

Could you point out where it says that there should be no interracial relationships in the bible?

If you want to believe this site then i guess theres technically nothing wrong with it as long as both people ar of the same faith. http://www.gotquestions.org/interracial-marriage.html I was always told that it was wrong, and if it really isn't wrong then i wonder what other kind of things have been spoon fed to me 0_o

[Glittercide]

I was raised in a Christian family, and i was taught that everybody is equal, but that God doesn't want us to mix races. I think its bull, but i guess the bible says its wrong so i dont necessarily think the church is being racist. I think they just believe that a black and a white, or any other combination is wrong. Idk...

Because the MEN who wrote the bible had no agenda when saying that interracial/same sex marriage is wrong? Or the reason why eating pork (considered unclean because pigs would dig up the dead and eat the rotting meat) and shellfish was banned was because of sicknesses they could get from eating the meat and not to be taking seriously now? Taking the bible as proven fact and not as a guide is what is keeping churches and its people in regression.

[Caiada]

If you want to believe this site then i guess theres technically nothing wrong with it as long as both people ar of the same faith. http://www.gotquestions.org/interracial-marriage.html I was always told that it was wrong, and if it really isn't wrong then i wonder what other kind of things have been spoon fed to me 0_o

It's more a deep-seated social more that your parents actually believed too, and their parents, and their parent's parents, etc.

The Bible's old enough and vague enough to be interpreted many ways, and racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic minds back in it's inception and throughout history have used it to imply... a lot of very wrong things, this among them.

---------- Post added 2011-12-02 at 12:25 AM ----------

Because the MEN who wrote the bible had no agenda when saying that interracial/same sex marriage is wrong? Or the reason why eating pork (considered unclean because pigs would dig up the dead and eat the rotting meat) and shellfish was banned was because of sicknesses they could get from eating the meat and not to be taking seriously now? Taking the bible as proven fact and not as a guide is what is keeping churches and its people in regression.

Only fundamentalists and extremists, but I agree with you regardless.

[Rhaide]

Oh yeah, keep raising the bar on crazy, you <mod snip>!

Since I don't see any other threads about this particular church, I assume you're calling Christians m******** f***s. If you want I can go find an article about some tiny group of any major collective that sounds crazy and make a hugely generalizing statement about it.

Comments like yours and (although he didn't mean to be insulting), Chickat's are the reason people have all kinds of sick misconceptions about Christianity, and is the reason why it's so hip to hate Christians nowadays.

Chickat said:

I was raised in a Christian family, and i was taught that everybody is equal, but that God doesn't want us to mix races. I think its bull, but i guess the bible says its wrong so i dont necessarily think the church is being racist. I think they just believe that a black and a white, or any other combination is wrong. Idk...

The way you were raised isn't Christian. If the Bible said don't mix races, I must have missed that since you know... the bible takes place mostly in a place where there are 20 races per square mile. The world was so fragmented and mixed at that point that there is no way you could avoid mixing races. Since you haven't read the bible (your own words), I'm guessing you were just TOLD that it says not to mix races, or quoted a passage radically out of context. I can tell by your tone that you aren't being malicious with your comment, but regardless, it makes Christians look bad for something they don't even believe.

Mob mentality unfortunately rules here though. People don't like Christians because it's cool, someone brings up a thing making a Christian (a nutjob one) look bad and subtly hints that all Christians are like that, everyone jumps on board.

I guarantee you that if I made a thread about how an atheist or person of another religion did something stupid and by extension all people of that religion were [insert OP's insult here], I wouldn't get a 'mod snip' I would get an infraction and the thread would be closed. I know, I've posted LESS hostile stuff about religion in the past and got a 5 day ban for it just because it was ABOUT religion, he makes a hate post and gets a 'snip'.

Good to know everyone is free, except people who disagree.

[obdigore]

Rhaide, now that the thread is going to be closed, I just want you to read

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov...olics-20111118

before it is.

[Grinderofl]

It's church. They're given free hands by the US government. They're exempt from taxes and think they can do whatever they like to.

They say they stand for equality - well that is simply a big bag of bull. Churches seem to be one of the most racist places nowadays. Don't quote me on that though, it may very well be _the_ most racist place, I don't know what's going inside one as I'm not stepping my foot there voluntarily.

[Chickat]

Since I don't see any other threads about this particular church, I assume you're calling Christians m******** f***s. If you want I can go find an article about some tiny group of any major collective that sounds crazy and make a hugely generalizing statement about it.

Comments like yours and (although he didn't mean to be insulting), Chickat's are the reason people have all kinds of sick misconceptions about Christianity, and is the reason why it's so hip to hate Christians nowadays.

Chickat said:



The way you were raised isn't Christian. If the Bible said don't mix races, I must have missed that since you know... the bible takes place mostly in a place where there are 20 races per square mile. The world was so fragmented and mixed at that point that there is no way you could avoid mixing races. Since you haven't read the bible (your own words), I'm guessing you were just TOLD that it says not to mix races, or quoted a passage radically out of context. I can tell by your tone that you aren't being malicious with your comment, but regardless, it makes Christians look bad for something they don't even believe.

Mob mentality unfortunately rules here though. People don't like Christians because it's cool, someone brings up a thing making a Christian (a nutjob one) look bad and subtly hints that all Christians are like that, everyone jumps on board.

I guarantee you that if I made a thread about how an atheist or person of another religion did something stupid and by extension all people of that religion were [insert OP's insult here], I wouldn't get a 'mod snip' I would get an infraction and the thread would be closed. I know, I've posted LESS hostile stuff about religion in the past and got a 5 day ban for it just because it was ABOUT religion, he makes a hate post and gets a 'snip'.

Good to know everyone is free, except people who disagree.

I said that i never read the Bible, and that I was just told these things. It is news to me that the majority of Christians dont feel this way, because every christian i have ever met felt this way. I realize that there is nothing wrong with it, but its just the way i was raised and i was trying to make a point that just because a church bans interracial marriage doesn't mean they are racist.

[Gudder]

TLDR

Is Colonel Sanders there and if so does he have any fried chicken? It's finger licking good. I'd like some but only if it's served by a white guy - those other colors just don't appease my appetite. I feel ill seeing yellow skin near my delicious chicken.

<Infracted> Please post constructively.

[obdigore]

I said that i never read the Bible, and that I was just told these things. It is news to me that the majority of Christians dont feel this way, because every christian i have ever met felt this way. I realize that there is nothing wrong with it, but its just the way i was raised and i was trying to make a point that just because a church bans interracial marriage doesn't mean they are racist.

How can you make that point? It is nothing if not racist. Nowhere in the bible does it say, even according to the site you linked yourself, that interracial marriages are wrong. Therefore, they have no faith-based reason to make that rule. If you can provide another option that isn't related to racism, I would love to hear it.

[IRunSoFarAway]

lol church always make laugh but do gudder one time, it was the LORD who ate fifty sheep in one sitting, who is wrong now?

[Chickat]

How can you make that point? It is nothing if not racist. Nowhere in the bible does it say, even according to the site you linked yourself, that interracial marriages are wrong. Therefore, they have no faith-based reason to make that rule. If you can provide another option that isn't related to racism, I would love to hear it.

It doesn't matter what the Bible says if people believe that the bible said its wrong. Like i said any christian i have ever talked to said that the bible said it was wrong. Im not saying the church inst being racist, but if the people in it truly believe that they are doing right by god then they aren't being racist at all imo.