← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · confederate_commando
Thread ID: 18415 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2005-05-27
2005-05-27 02:31 | User Profile
Activist pastor draws national ire By Tony W. Cartledge BR Editor FOREST CITY - A western North Carolina church drew national attention early this week after pastor Creighton Lovelace posted "The Koran needs to be flushed!" on a portable signboard outside the Danieltown Baptist Church in Forest City.
The sign's posting followed the publication and retraction in Newsweek of an article claiming that American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had sought to unsettle Islamic detainees by flushing a copy of the Koran down the toilet. In response, angry Muslims rioted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Gaza strip, and Indonesia, leaving at least 16 people dead.
Lovelace has refused to apologize or to take down the sign prior to its scheduled change next weekend. The Daily Courier, which serves Rutherford County, quoted Lovelace as saying Baptists have no creed but the Bible, but "we do have the Baptist Faith and Message that says that we should cling to the 66 books of the Holy Bible and any other book outside of that claiming to know the way of God or claiming to be God's word is automatically written off and is trying to defeat people from the way of true righteousness inside of our viewpoint in how we view the word of God."
Lovelace, who graduated from high school in 2000, claims four degrees, including a doctor of theology degree, from "Slidell Baptist Seminary" in Slidell, La. The unaccredited correspondence school offers degrees ranging from $500 for an "Associate of Theology" to $900 for a "Doctor of Divinity," with "all lectures on cassette" and the King James Bible as the only textbook. Lovelace obtained the four degrees in less than 15 months, according to school records.
An active member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Lovelace posted a petition in 2001, proposing a constitutional amendment that would allow North Carolina to secede from the United States. In the petition, Lovelace expressed concern that the U.S. might allow homosexual unions and abolish churches, necessitating secession to preserve Christian principles in the state.
In 2004, Lovelace was listed as a state sponsor of a resolution authored by T.C. Pinckney and Bruce Shortt. The resolution called for the Southern Baptists to pull their children out of public schools, which it said were "run by the enemies of God," and to give them a "thoroughly Christian education." The resolution was not adopted by the SBC. It was also proposed to the BSC resolutions committee, which did not recommend it for adoption.
Danieltown Baptist Church, founded in 1989, is technically affiliated with the Baptist State Convention (BSC), but has contributed zero dollars either to or through the BSC since 1997, according to BSC officials. In 2004, the church reported 271 total members, but only 52 resident members and an average of 15 in Sunday School. Lovelace became pastor in 2004.
Jim Royston, executive director of the BSC, took issue with the sign in a statement on the BSC website.
"Our own faith says it is important to show respect for all cultures," said Royston. "While we don't adhere to the theology of other religions, our faith compels us to love them and encourage their respect and openness to our position.
"Because of the volatile potential of conflicts involving faith, I have a serious concern for the well being of Christians working in areas not receptive to Christianity, including North Carolina Baptist volunteers who are working selflessly to help recovery efforts in disaster areas around the world."
Richard Land, head of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Life Commission, also criticized the action, according to the Associated Press. "If we want other people to respect our religious symbols and documents, we need to respect the symbols and documents that they believe are sacred," he said. "What positive purpose does this serve? None. It's not going to make it easier to evangelize Muslims or foster respect for our religious beliefs."
[url]http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/content/news/2005/5_25_2005/ne250505activist.shtml[/url]
2005-05-27 05:12 | User Profile
If you want to learn how to love you then must start with the person that you like the least.
Back in 1978 there was this guy who I really disliked and we never could get along at all, then in Sep. of the same I took a course by EST and after the final chapter I went home and looked at myself in the mirrow and smiled at what I saw.
Ever sinse then nothing bothers me unless I let it bother me and in my case is the Zionists, I don't even hate them for I simply don't like them.
Can you hate a mosquito for acting like a mosquito when it bites you?
2005-05-27 08:53 | User Profile
confederate_commando,
Marxists are petty people they get all upset by one pastor who only draws 15 peple to his church on sunday. They will not be happy till everyone who disagrees with them is killed or locked up. That is poof of their evil.
2005-05-27 11:06 | User Profile
Agreed, their pettiness will git us kilt...