This story, about this Alabama pastor...

[RDCanecutter 26466]

From what I remember, it was the Southern Baptist hierarchy putting out the judgmental stink, not the people who knew him.

Gotta admire Southern Baptists' desire to drive out anybody with a mental age of less than 80.

[Samson's Wig 3194]

54 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

It must explode some Christians' heads to realize that the very first account of a Gentile being baptized and receiving the Spirit occurred with a non-binary individual - the Ethiopian Eunuch.  And I wonder how they deal with the story of Joseph and his "coat of many colors", knowing from the story that Joseph was very "different" from his brothers and that the Hebrew word for the technicolor dream coat (ketonet passim) was only used one other time in scripture, and that was referring to a bridal gown.  At a minimum, Joseph was brash and flamboyant, but a rational inference can be made that he was a cross dresser. 

There are plenty of examples in Scripture of people that didn't fit the mold who were called, accepted, and blessed by God.  "What God has cleansed, no longer call unholy."  

I agree with your sentiment 100%, but that reads a lot like the fully stretched interpretations of the bible that fundamentalists come up with.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy your interpretation, but I don't think any Christians' heads are exploding over what amounts to heavy inference.  They're busy with their own.

[Samson's Wig 3194]

3 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

From what I remember, it was the Southern Baptist hierarchy putting out the judgmental stink, not the people who knew him.

Gotta admire Southern Baptists' desire to drive out anybody with a mental age of less than 80.

I remember sometime around 15 years ago some Southern Baptists knocked on my door trying to recruit fresh blood to their church.   I remember thinking then that they weren't long for existence if they were already begging door to door.  Yet somehow, they still dominate politics in places like Alabama and Texas.

That particular religion can't dry up and die fast enough.  They've driven more people away from Christianity than booze and cheap women (although those are what did it for me).

[Guadaloopy 11012]

10 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

I agree with your sentiment 100%, but that reads a lot like the fully stretched interpretations of the bible that fundamentalists come up with.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy your interpretation, but I don't think any Christians' heads are exploding over what amounts to heavy inference.  They're busy with their own.

Yep... It's impossible to read scripture without doing a lot of inference and interpretation.  I try to default to the reading that is more inclusive and accepting of those on the margins.  You know, like Jesus did.

[RDCanecutter 26466]

5 hours ago, C-Man said:

First Baptist was not the problem. It was most of the rest of that God-awful state (I say that fully knowing how fucked up my state is as well) that had a problem with Bubba. The congregation had some immediate, knee-jerk moments of potential shittiness but the article clearly says when Copeland admitted it was true during a meeting at the church, the congregation rallied around their former pastor.

BTW, here's a pic of the "publisher" of Bama's 1819 News and he looks exactly like you'd expect an ex-con-turned-alt-right-activist to look. I'd be shocked if he's not in the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers or Three Percenters. 

 

Big shock -- it appears that he has about 35 kids.

 

Ironic thing is they plopped their office down in the part of Birmingham where most people wouldn't piss in 1819's mouth if their stomach was on fire. I guess we should be honored. Jefferson County (Bham) is where the Blue Dot in a Big Red State bumper sticker was invented. On a good day, it's like Austin in the 90s. On days like this, I think we need to call more Federal artillery down on our position.

The good thing is that for young people here, they generally loathe this kind of shit. It's the older ones in outer burbs and out in the fields who are scared to go downtown who support the 1819 worldview. Well hell, y'all mostly live in America too, you know the deal.

1819 are in a sad spot. Publisher looks like a bag of death, and if some of his kids grow up to think for themselves, he'll be a lonely old man. Monger has a semi-job running down homophobe stories, PLUS he cost his employer money. What real paper would hire him? He gets to sit around and hate himself.

[Gil Bang 25999]

11 hours ago, Armybrat said:

I was born at Fort Benning, but don’t recall going across the Chattahoochee to enjoy the local $2 delights.

When my kid was there, I had to drive over to Phenix City to the Piggly Wiggly to buy beer on Sunday, because Georgia and Jesus. 

 

[Armybrat 40874]

32 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

When my kid was there, I had to drive over to Phenix City to the Piggly Wiggly to buy beer on Sunday, because Georgia and Jesus. 

 

Well, I left in January of 1945.

[RDCanecutter 26466]

46 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

When my kid was there, I had to drive over to Phenix City to the Piggly Wiggly to buy beer on Sunday, because Georgia and Jesus. 

 

That's the opposite of what I'd expect. I have stocked up on liquor on the Georgia side, but I guess it wasn't Sunday.

Phenix City now is not nearly as exciting as Phenix City of mob days/gambling/prostitutes-with-tattoos-inside-their-lips-so-their-pimps-can-hunt-them-down. IIRC the mob killed an investigating attorney, and his son wreaked Holy Vengeance on the place. The present day town is just aging sprawl, not like you're riding into Nuevo Laredo on payday.

First time I heard of its rep I was riding with my prior-service uncle to Columbus. I was a perma-hungry teen, we were in Phenix City, he didn't want to stop there. I feigned death by starvation and so we stopped anyway, at a Dairy Queen. There were a couple of middle-school kids in there, doing their homework.

Thus had the Ozymandius of Sin been brought low, transformed into kids doing worksheets.

[Gil Bang 25999]

Ace Atkins has written some shit about Phenix City. 

[956 Worldwide 34746]

12 hours ago, Willfully Horn said:

Thanks tor the quoted part. I assumed the cemeteries weren’t associated with his church. If one is, then I drew the wrong impression, and am even more dispirited by these events. 
 

 

I doubt they were, churchyards in the United States are usually attached to only seriously old plots of land. I read it as cemeteries somehow connected with SBC. 

[956 Worldwide 34746]

7 hours ago, Samson's Wig said:

I took away that the cemeteries were not connected to his church as well.   Nothing else in that story indicates his church wouldn't have been happy to bury him if they had a cemetery.   For Southern Baptists, his church was definitely an outlier.

Well, that church is not SBC which means they have a lot of freedom to do what you want.

One thing about the real South— there is far more latitude for “eccentricity” and personal foibles than you see elsewhere and it cuts both ways. This is neither a praise or damnation. Kind of comes with Flannery O’Connor’s “Christ haunted” theory. 
 

A lot of backwoods yelling and brimstone but a deep suspicion that you’re a sinner, too so better not get too high on the horse. And layer that on top of a temperament of “protect our own” clannishness. You can get away with most anything in the South expect for public rejection of the South and your people. 

Edited April 6 by 956 Worldwide

[Samson's Wig 3194]

12 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Well, that church is not SBC which means they have a lot of freedom to do what you want.

One thing about the real South— there is far more latitude for “eccentricity” and personal foibles than you see elsewhere and it cuts both ways. This is neither a praise or damnation. Kind of comes with Flannery O’Connor’s “Christ haunted” theory. 
 

A lot of backwoods yelling and brimstone but a deep suspicion that you’re a sinner, too so better not get too high on the horse. And layer that on top of a temperament of “protect our own” clannishness. You can get away with most anything in the South expect for public rejection of the South and your people. 

I know what you're saying, and it's an interesting dynamic that is really difficult to explain to folks from other regions.   "The River" could almost be a direct allegory for Bubba's story, or vice versa.  He found grace and acceptance through religion, and it also killed him.

[troph 24905]

Can someone provide cliff notes? For real that’s super long for a Saturday morning coffee read.

[Mole 4333]

1. Small town folk hero mayor/pastor leads a relatively inclusive Baptist church and is loved by all. 

 2. Mayor/pastor secretly cross dresses and also has an out gay son. The family knows about the cross dressing, but the general public doesn’t.

3. Mayor/pastor posts cross-dressing pictures online semi-anonymously. He also posts violent/erotic stories. Some of these posts bring real people — innocent bystanders — into the story.

4. A culture warrior pseudo-journalist who preaches violent non-inclusion acquires the mayor/pastor’s pictures and posts them online. The pastor and family beg the culture warrior to remove the story.

5. I’m pretty sure that this story ended up in another thread on this site where the “southern Baptist cross-dressing hypocrite” narrative was accepted uncritically. I could be wrong, but this story seems familiar.

6. The pseudo-journalist culture warrior then posts the erotic fiction as well.

7. Mayor/pastor kills himself; a family and community are broken.

8. Pseudo-journalist rationalizes his terrible behavior.

9. We all start our Saturday morning with a nice, terrible emptiness.

[C-Man 27254]

1 hour ago, troph said:

Can someone provide cliff notes? For real that’s super long for a Saturday morning coffee read.

It is a long read but it's worth your time.

[Gil Bang 25999]

@troph you really should invest the time

[Beau Vine 54381]

On 4/6/2024 at 9:40 AM, troph said:

Can someone provide cliff notes? For real that’s super long for a Saturday morning coffee read.

You're not going to develop sufficient hate and disdain for these 1819 assholes unless you read it.  Come on.

[Covri 6252]

The son pleading with his dad not to kill himself hit me hard as I was wrapping up work and getting ready to take my oldest son to his baseball double header tonight. Just imagining taking that call at any time and hearing my son say that is a lot to process, but it happens to real people. 

[Hook1997 5397]

I went to church with a girl I’ve been dating on Easter.  After I’m like that preacher is hiding something, he’s either hiding he’s gay or diddles kids, something is off because he’s way too fake (he fake cried like three times)...  Went this week again and dude went on a you’re mental ill if you’re gay rant, definitely closeted.    lol   

[RDCanecutter 26466]

9 hours ago, Hook1997 said:

I went to church with a girl I’ve been dating on Easter.  After I’m like that preacher is hiding something, he’s either hiding he’s gay or diddles kids, something is off because he’s way too fake (he fake cried like three times)...  Went this week again and dude went on a you’re mental ill if you’re gay rant, definitely closeted.    lol   

Don't tell 1819 news about him, we don't need that.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Slight derail from the tragic thread topic, but I'm curious about fake crying from the pulpit. I this something one practices prior to the sermon to improve? Is it a method form of preaching? Do seminaries of certain branches cover this in a class? How does the congregation 'rate' and respond to the crying exactly? Join in? Three times does seem a little excessive even for an event of such import as Easter, so were the tears of joy? Anger? Sorrow? Each one for a different paragraph?

I'm being a bit cheeky, but the homily/sermon (IMO) is the message that is often relatable to the particular event/theme as well as meet the needs of the listeners to inspire them.  I don't think this preacher would find me a good listener to his sermon.

[Hook1997 5397]

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Slight derail from the tragic thread topic, but I'm curious about fake crying from the pulpit. I this something one practices prior to the sermon to improve? Is it a method form of preaching? Do seminaries of certain branches cover this in a class? How does the congregation 'rate' and respond to the crying exactly? Join in? Three times does seem a little excessive even for an event of such import as Easter, so were the tears of joy? Anger? Sorrow? Each one for a different paragraph?

I'm being a bit cheeky, but the homily/sermon (IMO) is the message that is often relatable to the particular event/theme as well as meet the needs of the listeners to inspire them.  I don't think this preacher would find me a good listener to his sermon.

He was describing the lashings once, I don’t remember the other two exactly.  He does this four times that day for the other services I’m guessing.  It was just so fake. 

[jdhorn92 1554]

9 minutes ago, Hook1997 said:

He was describing the lashings once, I don’t remember the other two exactly.  He does this four times that day for the other services I’m guessing.  It was just so fake. 

Your girlfriend needs a new Church.  Fake crying in the middle of the sermon is sketchy as fuck.  Id come up with something else to do on Sundays  if i were you, but i know, undefeated.

[Goredho 17413]

On 4/5/2024 at 7:24 AM, South Austin said:

That's the title of my new sex tape.

I wouldn't read your yelp reviews if I were you.

[baboso 6057]

Georgia has Sunday alcohol sales now, including hard liquor.

[Sbbruin 21866]

On 4/4/2024 at 9:04 PM, Sawbonz said:

It's worth 5 minutes of your time. Although y’all may be the type that has to sound out some of the words

[Schulz2.0 29007]

19 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

Fake crying in the middle of the sermon is sketchy as fuck. 

Don't slander Raptor Jesus.

[Foosters 17882]

15 hours ago, Hook1997 said:

I went to church with a girl I’ve been dating on Easter.  After I’m like that preacher is hiding something, he’s either hiding he’s gay or diddles kids, something is off because he’s way too fake (he fake cried like three times)...  Went this week again and dude went on a you’re mental ill if you’re gay rant, definitely closeted.    lol   

undefeated

[SydneyCarton 48150]

23 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Don't tell 1819 news about him, we don't need that.

I mean, in this isntance, I'd be perfectly fine with someone informing 1819.