Banned from church
Benjamin, co-host of our Justice and Compassion blog, sent us this Wall Street Journal article.
Banned from church
On a quiet Sunday morning in June, as worshippers settled into the pews at Allen Baptist Church in southwestern Michigan, Pastor Jason Burrick grabbed his cellphone and dialed 911. When a dispatcher answered, the preacher said a former congregant was in the sanctuary. “And we need to, um, have her out A.S.A.P.”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. One held her purse and Bible. The other put her in handcuffs. [you can listen to the 911 call from a link in the original article]
The charge was trespassing, but Mrs. Caskey’s real offense, in her pastor’s view, was spiritual. Several months earlier, when she had questioned his authority, he’d charged her with spreading “a spirit of cancer and discord” and expelled her from the congregation. “I’ve been shunned,” she says.
Comment by: Lisa
1 01/30/08 2:08 PM | Comment Link |I’m just curious what inspires people to join groups that have such stringent rules.
Comment by: Richard McChurch
2 01/30/08 7:45 PM | Comment Link |http://richardmcchurch.wordpress.com/2006/02/27/jesus-goes-to-first-church/
Comment by: Peter Walker
3 01/31/08 5:39 PM | Comment Link |“Richard McChurch.” I love it! It’s like “McLovin!”
I don’t think people join groups that have those rules as much as people join groups with power agendas to ESTABLISH rules. The rules come later… McLaren’s 2nd NKOC book offers a great not-so-fictional example.
This post makes me mad enough to spit. And I just did.
Comment by: pamhogeweide
4 02/1/08 1:18 PM | Comment Link |wow, she is a glutton for punishment.
amazing how people’s beliefism will create such mean-spiritedness and dysfunctional relationships.
Comment by: Venus
5 02/6/08 2:47 PM | Comment Link |It’s like these pastors are acting like no one sins. I am pretty sure that only Jesus was perfect. I thought Christians were supposed to practice what Jesus practiced which would be humility, grace, compassion, and most of all…forgiveness. Apparently some of these pastors have been ignoring certain passages.