The pastor was not even actually in the church. He was being broadcasted on television and everyone in the church was watching. This was odd to me. Why couldn't someone else actually stand up in font of the church and actually engage them as an audience? The things that he said were even more confusing to me. He started saying things like "The government is an evil being only out there to steal from us." As I looked around the church after this was said, I realized that I was the only one who was shocked by this notion. Everyone else seemed to believe it. The pastor then went on to talk about gays. "Nuts and nuts just don't mix! It's supposed to be a man with a woman. Any man with a man shall burn in hell!" I looked around once more, if someone was gay in the church he would surely be ashamed of himself. It made me think about being raised and brought into this culture, this different type of thinking. If you were gay, you would probably live in fear of anyone finding out. I felt like the pastor was basing everything off of fear.
One of the things that struck me was this line "I am going to tell you who to vote for." Everyone seemed to listen intently to his following words. He went on to describe a certain political candidate(John McCain). It seemed like he was endorsing him for all of the wrong reasons. The fact that he wanted McCain to win actually made me think that it would be better if Obama won, just because I didn't want to believe in anything that this crazed man was saying.
Eventually, after about an hour of his speech, I decided that I could bear it no longer so I walked out. I realized how captivating of a speaker this man was, and how he could easily get some people to believe his messages but did everyone actually buy into this? Are other religions like this?
To me religion is all about acceptance, and this church went against almost every one of my views. The pastor reminded me of a modern day Hitler, because of how captivating his speech was and how crazy it was. Are all Southern Baptist churches like this?
4 comments:
I've never been to a Southern Baptist Church, so others will have to weigh in on your question, but this post reminded me of my own childhood church, a Lutheran church in a suburb of Cleveland. The Lutherans have probably changed by now and I hope most of them were not this intolerant, but I distinctly remember our pastor telling the congregation that Jews would all burn in hell. (Speaking of Hitler.)
You make a good point about fear. It's an effective form of persuasion, rhetorically. Pathos rules over logos, logic. And you see it everwhere, not just in some religions, but in advertising and politics.
Finally, this post makes me think about religion as both a positive and a negative force. It can do so much good and so much harm, depending on its goals.
Having spent the last 4 years of my life attending a small, Southern Baptist high school near Dallas I can completely relate to your experience. It is shocking and frankly, disturbing how closed-minded and judgmental some people can be. While I enjoyed my experience in high school, I was always bothered and disturbed by some of the ideas we were preached about. One of my friends in school was gay, but he had to hide his sexuality for his time at our school in fear that if he publicly "came out" he would be expelled. I am a Christian and attend church often and I just hope that the extreme views of few don't turn the masses away from church.
Ok so I might be a humanist but I'm still a Christian humanist, and I just don't think Jesus would be this intolerant. I mean, forget that he's the "son of God" and just take his words at face value: he was all about accepting others. He preached to thieves and prostitutes and even lepers. He rejected the old testament laws and the old testament god of wrath and arbitrariness. He was the original consciencious objector. I just cannot believe the Jesus would discriminate.
I would have to agree with thinkagain. First of all Jesus would not discriminate, and secondly if God created all people, and he loves all of his children, then why would he cast all non-Christians into hell. This goes with all monotheistic religions in my opinion though. I could be wrong but I think that all monotheistic religions say that if you aren't one of us then you will go to hell. Also if you want to see how bad the baptist church can be you should look in to the Westboro Baptist Church. To show how intolerant and ignorant they are I will tell you that their homepage is godhatesfags.com
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