UPDATE, Aug. 1: After the issue was debated at a church business meeting covered by Oglesby, Thomas formally resigned, effective Aug. 8.
A humor column in a Kentucky newspaper that made fun of the Southern Baptist Convention's opposition to the Boy Scouts of America
decision to admit gay members, even referring to the convention as “Shiite Baptists,” could cost the writer's husband his job as an associate pastor and minister of music at First Baptist Church of Madisonville, an SBC congregation, Savannah Oglesby reports for The Messenger of Madisonville (Wikipedia map).
Angela Thomas, a regular columnist for the daily paper, wrote: “Some might assume that because the Boy Scouts have addressed the issue, it must mean that Scout packs are filled with 10-year-old boys insisting on wearing their Scout caps at a rakish tilt and over-accessorizing their uniforms. … 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. The Boy Scouts of America has been forced to confront this issue and cannot hide behind the freedom granted to religious organizations like the Southern Baptist Convention to condemn certain behaviors they deem unacceptable and excluded people based on their interpretation of the Bible.”
In addition to the Scouts, Thomas wrote, the convention also rejects "the Democratic Party, Disney, the TeleTubbies, and any Baptists that aren’t Southern," Thomas wrote. "Southern Baptists have little by little abandoned public schools and civic organizations. They are too sanctimonious to participate in Easter egg hunts and trick-or-treating. Santa and the Easter bunny are simply the devil in disguise and cable television and the Internet are his playground. The Boy Scouts are his evil minions."
Thomas told Oglesby that the church asked the writer's husband, Bill Thomas, to resign, and he declined, sending "a letter requesting more dialogue with the personnel committee. We haven’t heard an official response back from that, and that was on Monday." The newspaper couldn't reach the pastor for comment. Thomas said he husband was asked about the column and replied, "I did read it, I agreed with what she said and I don’t censor what my wife does." Oglesby's story concluded, "She said a celebration of her husband’s 10 years of service at the church was scheduled for July 7, but for now, the event has been canceled."
The Messenger, which has a pay-per-view site that can be accessed here, has received two letters to the editor, one criticizing the column and one supporting it.
Angela Thomas, a regular columnist for the daily paper, wrote: “Some might assume that because the Boy Scouts have addressed the issue, it must mean that Scout packs are filled with 10-year-old boys insisting on wearing their Scout caps at a rakish tilt and over-accessorizing their uniforms. … 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. The Boy Scouts of America has been forced to confront this issue and cannot hide behind the freedom granted to religious organizations like the Southern Baptist Convention to condemn certain behaviors they deem unacceptable and excluded people based on their interpretation of the Bible.”
In addition to the Scouts, Thomas wrote, the convention also rejects "the Democratic Party, Disney, the TeleTubbies, and any Baptists that aren’t Southern," Thomas wrote. "Southern Baptists have little by little abandoned public schools and civic organizations. They are too sanctimonious to participate in Easter egg hunts and trick-or-treating. Santa and the Easter bunny are simply the devil in disguise and cable television and the Internet are his playground. The Boy Scouts are his evil minions."
Thomas told Oglesby that the church asked the writer's husband, Bill Thomas, to resign, and he declined, sending "a letter requesting more dialogue with the personnel committee. We haven’t heard an official response back from that, and that was on Monday." The newspaper couldn't reach the pastor for comment. Thomas said he husband was asked about the column and replied, "I did read it, I agreed with what she said and I don’t censor what my wife does." Oglesby's story concluded, "She said a celebration of her husband’s 10 years of service at the church was scheduled for July 7, but for now, the event has been canceled."
The Messenger, which has a pay-per-view site that can be accessed here, has received two letters to the editor, one criticizing the column and one supporting it.
I want to know what happened to Christianity? The bible that I have read speaks about loving thy brother, it speaks of not judging and being fishers of men. Christianity used to be champions for the oppressed and the poor and the weak. When the disciples asked how will we know your followers, Jesus responded "if you love one another".
ReplyDeleteBill Thomas is an honorable man. I have sat in those pews and listened to his choirs sing, I know his family and he knows mine. The last time I sat in that church, they put on the big screen, "Some peoria aren't worth shooting" referring to gays and Obama and I got up and walked out and I haven't been back since. Hate in the house of the Lord was a bridge too far. Their hatred is driving Christians away from church and those who stay, away from God. I do not consider myself pro-gay but I am anti-hate.
I've known Angela Thomas for almost 30 years and by default know her husband is a great man as "Angie" would never marry a man who turns a blind eye to the real lessons of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteFurther, the real issue here, as Bill Thomas can attest, is that most/many churches no longer teach the lessons of Christ. Instead most of today's so called "churches" are espousing whatever messages their so called leaders (aka false prophets) have concocted based upon interpretations of the shapes of clouds or patterns of tea leaves left on a countertop. These false prophet egomaniacs brainwash or intimidate "followers" to comply with their unchristian messages and consequently have polarized the country and the world. Shiite Baptists is what you've become SBC!