Kentucky church bans interracial couples

[kpete]

A woman says she cannot attend the Pike County church she grew up in because her fiance is from Africa.

The Gulnare Freewill Baptist church members voted not to allow interracial couples to place membership or be used in worship services or church functions.

..................

Harville met Ticha Chikuni at Georgetown College. They fell in love and are recently engaged. However, she says the news was not well received when she came home to Pike County and attended the Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church.

On Sunday, church members voted 9-6 to not condone interracial marriage.

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

[polichick]

1. How very Christ-like of the church.

:sarcasm:

[roguevalley]

19. 9-6. there are only 15 members. Interesting.

[Posteritatis]

21. I wonder if that's the whole membership or just church elders or the like?

Of course, "interesting" isn't the word I'd use to describe a fifteen-member church; were I attending them I'd like one big enough to have some character to it at least.

[Armin-A]

2. what if

Clearly the brainwashing of the church did not teach her well...

imagine what that church would say if it was a black man and a white man

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Welcome to DU, Armin-A!

:hi:

[Armin-A]

26. thank you :D

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. is this an article from 1950?

[tblue]

5. Well, they don't need that stupid church anyway.

They will be welcome at most other churches. How STUPID! Take away that church's tax exemption. STUPID BIGOTED HATEFUL NEANDERTHALS!!!

Oh wait. It's Kentucky. That explains it. (My apologies to all the good & decent people of Kentucky. At least you're not South Carolina. Uh oh. Ditto....people of South Carolina.)

[okieinpain]

23. red state, the movie please see it. lol. n/t.

[get the red out]

6. She went to a Baptist College

She went off to a Baptist College, met a nice young man there, and they still found fault!

Assholes. I'd say they were giving my state a bad name, but my state already has a bad name.

[BanzaiBonnie]

7. And that's because the Bible says?

[exboyfil]

13. Unequally yoked

I wonder where they store their white sheets with eye holes. I did remember a Bible study lesson when I was around college age in which that argument was given (unequally yoked). Needless to say I never went to that Bible study again.

[Posteritatis]

20. There's three trains of thought(sic) about that that I know of...

Well, four, but I'm considering generic old-style Southron Bigotry to be secular.

The first is the "unequally yoked" thing the other response mentioned, which has a whole lot of sketchy connotations starting with the idea that whites and nonwhites are intrinsically unequal (even if the verse is talking about belief, not race) and going downhill from there. The verse is usually used to justify not speaking to non-Christians, but it gets spindled like most other verses do.

The second goes back to the Babel story and is based on the idea that the races separated when the languages did when Upper Management took exception to the express elevator people were building. People bringing that one up these days are using a slightly different tack on 2 Cor 6:14, and think that since the races and languages were scattered in the first place, that's Clearly What God Wants and they shouldn't be getting back together except for the occasional war or slaving expedition.

The third takes the second and adds contemporary End Times silliness to it - in that one, people believe that interracial relationships are the first step on a slippery slope to world government(!) and, as a result, are merely setting the stage for the Antichrist to take over. The type of fundamentalists who see the Book of Revelations in every oil stain and bar code they come across tend to like that one, and it's the reason Bob Jones University would expel students who dated outside their race an embarrassingly recent eleven years ago.

[RandySF]

8. What do you expect from Pike County?

And yes, I mean it the way it sounds. This is Eastern KY we're talking about. It truly is the Land That Time Forgot.

[Dont call me Shirley]

9. Kentucky church lost the teachings of their leader, Jesus Christ.

[Initech]

10. WTF!!! Is this 2011 or 1946?

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. illegal..if anyone was into actually enforcing laws anymore in this country.

Violates Civil rights Act.
If any laws were enforced anymore.

[Fawke Em]

12. No, it's not illegal.

A church - just like you in your own home - can keep out any "patron" they want.

I don't think standard business-related laws apply here.

That said, I'm not defending this practice and decision by the church and find it wholly odious and backwards.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. Hmm..turns out, a church with less than 15 employees is not covered by the Act.

Altho so far the cites I found address primarily hiring/firing issues under the Act.

[MADem]

18. They can't discriminate in HIRING with more than fifteen people--but they aren't HIRING their

congregants. They can say "We don't like interracial marriage" if they have a thousand employees, and get away with it.

[MADem]

17. Nope. It's not a public accomodation. It's a church. You join. They have rules.

Churches are free to discriminate in any way they want, on the basis of their beliefs.

Religions get a huge pass in the USA.

[Xithras]

14. Better the bigot you know....

...than the bigot you don't. Hopefully the 6 who voted against this nonsense will leave along with this beautiful couple. Starve it of funding and membership, and the church will fold. This vote just illustrated, clearly, who the bigots are. Isolate and shame them.

[MADem]

16. You can't fix stupid.

Churches can do what they want, they can ban anyone for any reason--black, gay, drinkers, liberals....or Nazis, child molesters, animal abusers, you name it.

Why would anyone want to attend such a citadel of hate, anyway?

She's better off. So's he.

[fascisthunter]

22. A bigoted church?! No way!!!!

[We_Must_Organize]

24. Religion...

It ruins everything.  Nothing good has ever came from it and
it will always be twisted, so some group or individual can
commit crazy acts.  This applies to ALL religions.

[spanone]

25. neanderthals discovered in kentucky