[TruthTalk] Fw: Vote for Bush or Repent

The pastor of a Waynesville Baptist church who tried to force his political views on his members resigned Tuesday night, taking a few dozen members with him.

The Rev. Chan Chandler, pastor of East Waynesville Baptist Church in the Blue Ridge Mountains, did not apologize for the division he caused and said only that his underlying concern was to save unborn babies from abortion.

"I am resigning with gratitude in my heart for all of you, particularly those of you who love me and my family," Chandler said during a meeting at the church, The Associated Press reported.

Remaining church members said they sat in silence for a long time after Chandler and 35 of his loyal followers left the sanctuary -- a silence broken when one of the members stepped forward and began to play hymns on the piano.

Chandler made national headlines after nine of his congregants were expelled from membership after a contentious meeting May 2. Those expelled said they were forced out because they did not follow their pastor's bidding to vote for President Bush in November's elections.

'Repent or resign'

The church had been embroiled in partisan politics since October, when Chandler told his 100-member congregation that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry needed to "repent or resign."

Many older members, lifelong Democrats, resented the way Chandler, a Haywood County native, imposed his political views on the church, and tried to steer him away from politics. It didn't work.

Still, no one voiced pleasure at Chandler's departure. Many said it was a sad day in the history of the 52-year-old church.

"Maybe the church can heal now and we can go on," said Margaret Biddix, one of the nine members expelled by Chandler's supporters.

The storm that hit the church -- about 300 miles west of Raleigh divided it along generational lines.

Many of the older members are traditionally Democrats, though some have voted Republican in recent elections. Many of the newest and youngest members have always been Republicans. In this, the church reflected Southern voting habits that have dramatically embraced the Republican Party in recent decades.

Now the challenge for the church is to find younger members, said Maxine Osborne, 70, a member. "We hope the church will grow now, and I think it will," she said.

Following convictions

Chandler, 33, said he intended to continue his studies toward a master's degree in divinity at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, where he has been a student.

He did not speak to the news media throughout the past week's ordeal, releasing only one statement through his lawyer saying no one was expelled from the church because of political affiliation.

"He's a young man doing the best he can to stand up to his convictions," said Waylan Owens, Southeastern vice president for planning and communications, who taught Chandler in one of his classes.

Owens said Chandler wanted his members to apply the morals they say they uphold, such as their opposition to abortion, at the voting booth. Roman Catholic bishops did something similar last year when they said they would bar Kerry, a Catholic, from receiving Communion.

But others said the church battle was another example of the Southern Baptist Convention's conservative shift in recent years and its emphasis on a literal interpretation of Scripture.

"When you believe in an inerrant Bible, then the next step is to have an inerrant interpreter and then an inerrant morality," said Bill Leonard, the dean of the divinity school at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.

Chandler's actions brought rebuke from national groups committed to the separation of church and state. They called on the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the church's tax-exempt status. Federal law prohibits tax-exempt groups from engaging in politics, such as endorsing candidates.

Several church members described Chandler as someone who was uninterested in hearing other people's points of view. Most church members said they agreed with him that abortion was wrong, and many said they opposed extending gay couples the same rights heterosexual couples enjoy. Still, they said, he wouldn't listen.

"We couldn't serve God under those conditions," said Selma Morris, 78. "Hopefully, this will be a healing period, and we'll go on and do the work God wants us to do."

[TruthTalk] Fw: Vote for Bush or Repent

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