Get a life CR and be real. I am a proud Rowan County Lutheran who say you are full of mud to say "local Lutherans made a good move..." I'm proud to say my Lutheran church played no part in the shenanigans at St. Paul's. The haters Revs. Ketchie, and Haynes and their puppet Beaver are paddling a slow boat to nowhere if they think they are somehow going to get the action of the ELCA reversed. The best thing for those congregations to do is quit lamenting about their miserable failure. Look, the fact is, they don't have to call an openly gay or lesbian pastor!!! Nobody is forcing them to do so. In fact, nothing has to change. They can continue their hateful, discriminate teachings, making fools of themselves in the eyes of the community. Or...they can pack their bags and join some other obscure "synod". But then the good pastors Ketchie and Haynes would lose those big fat paychecks they are earning! They wouldn't dare leave the ELCA... they will stay in the ELCA and continue to piss and moan and spread their hateful rhetoric. God is still speaking gentlemen....but you're not listening!!!!
You go ROSEBUD!!!! the dawg is real proud of you!!
CR, most of us find your redneck rhetoric offensive as well. Unfortunately, your ignorant jibberish is protected by the First Amendment.
There you are again CR...with you head so far up your own arz, you can't see the forest for the trees!! One SPECIFIC example would be Fords promise to the citizens of Rowan County that as long as he was chair of the county commissioners, that they would continue to pray "in Jesus' name". Thumbing his nose at what constitutional law requires him to do.
Another SPECIFIC example CR, is the Rowan County school Board's ban on gay-straight alliances...again, thumbing their noses at constitutional law, saying "sue me if you can". Ford wasn't an elected official then, but he was there, once again, shouting Leviticus and condemning those kids to burn in hell!
And as geekchic points out, I said nothing about being forced to be a christian, if you could pull your head out just far enough to open your eyes, you could read that I AM a christian.
But I would submit to you that a radical christian like Ford is as dangerous as a radical jihadist.
And one day, the Rowan-Salisbury Board members and Commissioner Ford will be forced to do the right thing by following constitutional law. At that time, my best wish is that Ford will grant us his promise and step down from politics and preach his brand of "christian love" at his place of worship and not in the faces of Rowan County citizens.
I have read that many of the far reicht of Rowan don't seem to identify the seperation of church and state with the First Amendment. I guess picking parts of the Constitution to believe in and ignoring others, is much like how they hold so tightly to certain scripture, but ignore other scripture. The seperation of church and state is explicitly laid out in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The difference between having a moral person of character in office and having a theocrat like Sides or Ford, is that these two men would, and have, discriminate(d) and oppress(ed) an individual, or a group of individuals, using their power as an elected official, in order to advance their religious beliefs. The words acceptance and inclusion are not in their vocabulary. Unfortunately, politicians and governments, or government entities, can ignore and challenge constitutional law, i.e., the Establishment Clause, the Equal Access Act, etc., until they are taken to task in the form of litigation. One day, there will be plaintiffs in Rowan County willing to stand up in a court of law for their rights as American citizens.
Just something I'd expect from someone of the far reicht!! Fair and balanced???...are you absolutely out of your mind!!! Sean Hanity fair and balanced???...are you kidding me? Bill O'reilley??? Glenn Beck??? How about the filthy (thoughts, not hygeine), hateful, unrelenting Ann Coulter???? These people hate anyone left of center and are anything but fair and balanced. And quit whinning and sniveling about Palin's media woes. All you have to do is tune in to the "fair and balanced" FOX news and forever hear President Obama getting slammed and beaten up by the afore mentioned wackos!!! Dry up!!
tarheel, tarheel, tarheel...you are just not listening!!! Yes, the one thing that makes us the same is that we all fight for our belief system, but the similiarities end there. The difference between us and the Fords/Sides of the world is that REGARDLESS of my PERSONAL and/or RELIGIOUS beliefs, I would NEVER deny anyone THEIR RIGHT to...worship as they like, marry who they like or have an abortion if that's what a woman decides is best for her. That is unlike Ford and Sides, in that, BECAUSE of their PERSONAL and/or RELIGIOUS beliefs, they WOULD deny anyone their rights, destroy their lives, attempt to ridicule and/or humiliate them, in an effort that all men should live as they they think. I will add...and perhaps here is what is confusing to you...I also defend these two mens right to live as they wish. They can continue to worship in their literal and random way, that don't have to participate in an abortion if they don't like, and they can continue to condemn and treat my gay and lesbian friends and family. Just don't try to rule and oppress the rest of the world. Hope that clears it up.
Sorry tarheel (I hope that's as in a native of NC and not a fan of UNCCH Tee Hee), but I would beg to differ. I consider myself a faithful Christian. I attend church probably 3 out of 4 Sundays and serve it and God as much as my busy schedule will allow. Examples....I have a friend who identifies as an athiest. (although to me, he is as loving and thoughtful and spiritual a human being as I know). Certainly, our views on God and the universe differ greatly, but I would never vote or be a part of anything that restricted or denied this human being to live and think as he pleases. I also would never be a willing participant in an abortion either, nor would I ever vote or be a part of any mechanism to deny any woman the right to make that decision for herself. I am a flaming hetero***ual, but I would never be a part of any organization, be it church, employer, etc., that discriminated against my gay and lesbian friends and family, nor would I ever vote to deny them any of the social, civil and human rights that we all should enjoy...including marriage. These are but a few examples...but a few of the most prominant ones none the less. Maybe you can think of others???
As noted in this editorial, this bill would have passed two years ago, if not for the inclusion of "sexual orientation" as a protected class. As JD suggests, the opponents of this bill did not have any troubles whatsoever, naming other protected classes...just not our GLBT students/children.
With the passage of this important bill...and the soon to come change in our states sex education curriculum, perhaps our Board of Education will change their position on allowing Gay/ Straight Alliances in our high schools. As I see it, the school board continues to bully our gay and lesbian students (and their straight allies) by banning GSA's.
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