Holier Than Thou?
This is just to absurd to leave alone. What is wrong with this picture painted by the Wall Street Journal? That may be a “subscriber only” link, but here’s a pretty good synopsis:
…Pastor Jason Burrick grabbed his cellphone and dialed 911… Half an hour later, 71-year-old Karolyn Caskey, a church member for nearly 50 years who had taught Sunday school and regularly donated 10% of her pension, was led out by a state trooper and a county sheriff’s officer… The pastor, Mr. Burrick, told congregants the three were guilty of gossip, slander and idolatry and should be shunned, [Ed. emphasis added] according to several former church members. [...]
Shortly after the church hired Mr. Burrick in 2005 to help revive the congregation, which had dwindled to 12 members, Mrs. Caskey asked him to appoint a board of deacons to help govern the church, a tradition outlined in the church’s charter. Mr. Burrick said the congregation was too small to warrant deacons. Mrs. Caskey pressed the issue at the church’s quarterly business meetings and began complaining that Mr. Burrick was not following the church’s bylaws. [...]
In April 2006, Mrs. Caskey received a stern letter from Mr. Burrick. “This church will not tolerate this spirit of cancer and discord that you would like to spread,” it said. Mrs. Caskey… continued to insist that the pastor follow the church’s constitution. In August, she received a letter from Mr. Burrick that said her failure to repent [Ed.] had led to her removal. It also said he would not write her a transfer letter enabling her to join another church. [Oh no!]
Mr. Burrick repeatedly declined to comment on Mrs. Caskey’s case, calling it a “private ecclesiastical matter.” He did say that while the church does not “blacklist” anyone, a strict reading of the Bible requires pastors to punish disobedient members. “
OK, seriously??? A strict reading of the Bible? Who is he kidding? A strict reading of the Bible condones slavery, says the world was created in six days (and the “heavens” too!), that the best Jesus could do was to cure individual sick people (not entire diseases, or all birth defects, or mental illness, etc.), and that we all decend from Noah and company.
I really don’t have anything more to add to this. It’s exactly this type of thing that drove me nuts when I was a Christian, and now that I am not, just puzzles and amazes me how far away so many people are from reality. That’s all I have the energy for today…
Hey, I know, go watch this: The Atheist Delusion.
Sphere: Related Content
