Racists churches are still alive today

Once I was told I was not welcomed in a church because I had Jewish blood. They were Ukrainians, and didn't like my "sort of people". Still, I attended until they accepted me.

But this is a bit out of line, but if you grew up in the USA like me, or know anything about the USA, you can expect anything from people from the Appalachians. I know, it's a stereo type, but hey, not all Jews are rich and stingy. I have never been rich, and stingy....well, I will let others decide.

Let us see a bit of this news:

A small Appalachian church in Kentucky is being called racist for passing a vote that banned interracial couples from the church. 

The Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church voted 9 to 6 on Sunday to ban interracial couples from church services or functions, with the exception of funerals. 

Stella Harville, 24, and her fiance Ticha Chikuni, 28, are the couple that prompted the church's actions. Harville is white and Chikuni is black. The couple met at Georgetown College in Kentucky where both went to school and are scheduled to marry in July 2012.

What a relief, isn't it? You have to be death in order to be accepted in this church!!!!

Look to what the pastor says about this issue, or we should say, former pastor:

The next week, Cathy and Dean Harville met with the Thompson and were shocked to hear their pastor say that members of the congregation had said they would walk out if Chikuni sang again. The parents wanted to know exactly who had a problem with their future son-in-law. 

"'Me, for one,'" Cathy Harville said that Thompson replied. She said he added, "'The best thing [Stella] can do is take him back where she found him.'" She said the pastor would not tell her any names of people who took issue with Chikuni.

What a disgrace! Discriminating people because of the color of their skin!! I pastored an Aussie church once, and was told by the time I finished there, that I could never visit some members, because they didn't agree that I was not white, and had a different accent. At least they didn't ban me. How could they, I was their pastor!! It was a good thing that they didn't have a meeting, and ban me from serving there, like this church did:

Harville said that of 42 members, very few stayed for the meeting after church and even fewer voted. She said most congregants wanted no part in the vote. 

The motion read, in part: "The Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church does not condone interracial marriage. Parties of such marriages will not be received as members, nor will they be used in worship services and other church functions, with the exception being funerals." 

And: "The recommendation is not intended to judge the salvation of anyone, but indicated to promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve."

Interracial marriages? Then, if they are two blacks people married, will they accept them? So you are not doubted of your salvation, but you are not good enough to be a member of the church if your spouse is of a different race? Madness, these people who voted in favour are full of evil.

And the Appalachians know that everybody else see them as weird and out of step with the rest of humanity:

Randy Johnson is the Pike County/Pikeville Area Ministerial Association president. The association is made up of about 60 churches. Johnson said that many people already have "stigmas" and "stereotypes" that they associate with Appalachia and that this decision does not accurately represent the vast majority of the community. 

"This really is an anomaly. This is not in any way, shape or form the sentiment of any other local churches or church leaders," Johnson said. "It really has saddened many people. It goes against almost everyone else's philosophy and theology of what it means to be a church."

Of course, God did not come to only save white Free Will Baptists Appalachians, but the whole world, John 3:16.

Hopefully this Sunday, more people attend the church so they can repel the wrong decision taken by 9 of their members:

This weekend, the matter will be up for discussion again at the Sandy Valley Conference for Freewill Baptist Churches. After it is discussed, it may go before the congregation again on Sunday for a vote to repeal the decision.

Let's hope that by making this public, other churches will finally come to their senses, and see that in Christ, we are all the same:

Galatians 3:27-28
New International Version (NIV)
²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.