Kentucky church wants pastor gone after wife's column -- "Shiite Baptists"

[Jessy169]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A newspaper column lampooning Southern Baptists, calling the group "the crazy old paranoid uncle of evangelical Christians," is causing quite a stir in a Kentucky city and put a pastor's job in jeopardy.

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The column was written by Angela Thomas, the wife of Bill Thomas, an assistant pastor at the First Baptist Church in Madisonville. Her column was done in response to the Southern Baptist Convention's opposition to a new Boy Scouts of America policy that welcomes gay members.

"Sexuality doesn't come up and isn't relative to typical scouting activities but now, thanks to Southern Baptists, the parents of little innocent scouts everywhere are having to have The Talk," she wrote June 19 in The Madisonville Messenger. She writes a weekly humor column for the community paper, which publishes daily.

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http://news.yahoo.com/ky-church-wants-pastor-gone-wifes-column-083204548.html

Crazy old paranoid uncle of evangelical Christians is correct!

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1. Good for her!

My mom, whom we lost in February, went to that church! It is a huge, money-grubbing place, it takes up a whole block! Mom, who was very social and loved having friends never did feel comfortable there. That being said, the pastor, Dr. Leonard, was a "very good preacher" according to her. Oh, BTW, we are Louisville transplants and you make very few friends on this end of the state unless they have known you since you were knee-high to some woodland creature.

I always read Mrs. Thomas' column because she is hilarious, but never knew she had ties to 1st Baptist. I live in another insular little fucked up town in Western KY. Good for her! It takes guts to speak truth to power and we need a lot more of that down here. I have been a Baptist my entire life (well, sort of an agnostic one!) as had my mother and she, in her nineties, talked about how awful the Southern Baptist Convention had become.

All I can say is, if you want to move to a small town, check on the general attitudes first. I have lived in several small towns in KY, but the ones here are not a paradise. I will never forget talking to a Hispanic guy that had moved here from Chicago (because of the kids). I didn't have the heart to tell him that when his 6 and 4-year-olds grew up and started going out that the police would shadow their every move and find ANY reason to arrest them. Been there, done that.

Anyway, sometimes I am pleasantly surprised when I find people that don't toe the line, like the Vietnam vet who was helping me defend President Obama. Go, Mrs. Thomas! I hope you get the appreciation you deserve.