Kentucky church votes to ban interracial couples from services

[cleanhippie]

A couple traveling home to Pike County, Kentucky, for the holiday weekend, got a cold reception at the family church after announcing their engagement, WKYT news reports.

When Stella Harville, who grew up going to Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church, introduced the congregation to her fiance, Ticha Chikuni, a former pastor and current member of the church proposed a rule that interracial marriages will not be permitted in church services and other functions. Church members voted in favor of the rule on Sunday.

http://www.goddiscussion.com/86033/kentucky-church-votes-to-ban-interracial-couples-from-services/

[Hepburn]

1. WTF????

:wow:

Stupidity off the scale!

[apnu]

2. Well its Kentucky... apparently being racist is Christian there. (nt)

[frebrd]

3. How christian of them. n/t

[MarkCharles]

4. Something ironic right in the name of the church: "FREEWILL" Baptist?

Isn't that a contradiction in terms, if not an oxymoron, certainly, at least, a tragic irony in name?

Sounds more like a clan of related cousins in a small town, rather than a church

[Major Nikon]

5. It's not surprising

Surveys have shown that the majority of Republicans in the south are against interracial marriages, and a very high percentage favor making the practice illegal. The Republican's Southern Strategy is still very much alive and well, despite their claims to the contrary.

[Dawgs]

10. Kentucky is in the south? n/t

[jeepnstein]

12. Pike County is not "southern"...

it's Appalachian. Most hillbillies have better sense than that. They're slow to accept "outsiders" but I've never really seen too many of them go off on someone's ethnicity like that.

[MADem]

13. Yes, per the Census Bureau.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky

he Commonwealth of Kentucky i/kɨnˈtʌki/ is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region.

[get the red out]

16. Culturally

Though, as stated below, Pike County is Appalachian, being in the eastern part of Kentucky. Lexington is culturally more southern and I would actually consider Louisville somewhat midwestern. But that's just my opinion.

I grew up in Johnson Co, right next to Pike Co and, to be honest, this overt racism surprises me. This may sound strange, but I think the pounding of the right, with it's intense hatred of President Obama, has brought out the very worst in rural Kentuckians. The racism was around before, but I think that people actually think showing it is just fine the more Republican people become.

This is sad and disgusting. The influence of the political right on religion in this country has been both destructive on religion and politics.

[Dawgs]

26. Let get me this straight. Are you saying, 'the more racist the more southern'?

Cause that's what it sounds like.

[get the red out]

32. Not my point

Lexington is the most "southern" of all of Kentucky, IMO, but I don't feel like it is a particularly racist place; in fact it has a lot of folks that are to the left of most other cities in Kentucky.

I don't think southern culture and racism are necessarily the same thing. But there is a gigantic right wing influence, politically, in a lot of Churches in the South and rural areas. I think there is more of a connection there.

[Major Nikon]

18. They are at least as far south as Pennsyltucky

[MarkCharles]

6. Other TV coverage of this travesty!

http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/Pike_County_church_bans_interracial_couples_from_membership_134713418.html

[limpyhobbler]

7. Thanks to members of Gulnare FreewillBaptist Church for being honest and open about their racism.

It really makes it alot easier. That way we don't have to guess who's racist and who isn't.

Thanks again a-holes!!!

[dmallind]

8. You have to remember

Isolated Common examples of religious extremism by individuals congregations do not accurately represent the benign love of their larger congregations buggered if I know what....

[MarkCharles]

9. Yes, we keep hearing from the paramount anti atheist campaigners here that..

these aberrant behaviors and this promulgation of hatred toward one minority or another, (blacks, women, gay folks, etc), is really the EXCEPTION and not the rule in Christian churches today in the USA.

It's really unbelievable how this hatred and ignorance grows like weeds in a garden.

I Don't think that church is going to be performing any gay marriages anytime soon, either.

[humblebum]

21. Maybe if it's a gay marriage of two of the same race. But, really

that is just crazy. There's no other word for it.

[ButterflyBlood]

24. And yet the two co-lead pastors of my church actually ARE an interracial couple

The husband is white, the wife is a Vietnamese immigrant and convert from Buddhism. And we have a hell of a lot bigger congregation than this podunk church in rural Kentucky. Here's another article on this:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57334337/small-ky-church-bans-interracial-couples

The vote by members last Sunday was 9-6, Harville said. It was taken after the service, which about 35 to 40 people attended. Harville said many people left or declined to vote.

A total of 9 people voted for this.

[dmallind]

27. A total of 6 didn't support it. Which is bigger?

[ButterflyBlood]

29. There are over 2 billion Christians in the world

Less than 0.00000045% of them voted for this.

[darkstar3]

30. And a much greater percentage feel solidarity with the voters.

After all, it was only 50 years ago that over 50% of the world's Christians believed that the Bible explicitly banned interracial marriage, and they fought a PR and legislative campaign to prevent it from becoming legal.

Sounds familiar, actually...

[jeepnstein]

11. I have a buddy down in Pike County.

He's a preacher, but definitely not at that church. I cannot wait to hear from him what Biblical basis this congregation used to justify this. That is reprehensible.

[NMMNG]

22. Racists like to cite the old

"God put people of different races in different places for a reason--and that reason is because he didn't want them marrying each other" mantra. It doesn't have any actual basis in the Bible but since when do bigots need facts?


BTW, you'd be amazed at the similarity between arguments against interracial marriage and arguments against same-sex marriage. It's like the bigots were formed from the exact same mold.

[Sal316]

23. They're holding to OT prohibitions

Re: Israelite marriage to 'foreigners'.

I guess they forgot to go a little further, but hey, it's tough to get through Numbers. :sarcasm:

[MarkCharles]

14. Would I be correct in assuming that this is an ALL WHITE church?

And it's a church where even the pastor is afraid to show his face on camera.

How bold!

[MADem]

15. They'd shit if historical Jeeesus appeared to them all of a sudden,

with his stocky build, swarthy face and wiry hair...they'd think it was Yassir Arafat come back to life, most likely!

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MarkCharles]

19. Another link in Raw Story with both videos.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/30/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-couples/

[NMMNG]

20. Sounds like they're defending "traditional values"

1950's style, anyway. It's their "religious liberty", right?

[ButterflyBlood]

25. I'd like to see someone from this "church" visit mine, which is led by an interracial couple

I suspect their heads would just explode. Even if they weren't aware of that they probably would be dumbfounded by the sermon not condemning anyone for sin or talking about anyone going to hell.

[dmallind]

28. No it's not a "church". It's a church. You don't get to disavow inconvenient co-religionists.

[darkstar3]

31. They're Christians just like you, and their church is just as real as yours.

It really is this simple: If you can legitimately call them non-Christians, then they can do the same to you, and as the trend continues we find that there's no such thing as a true Christian.

[cleanhippie]

33. Sounds like your "church" looks at things differently than they do.

You just might be going to hell for that, you know? Hard to say, really, who is right and who is wrong, when we have so many different "churches" with so many different views.