WAYNESVILLE, N.C. -
Some in Pastor Chan Chandler’s flock wish he had a little less zeal
for the GOP.
Members of the small
East Waynesville Baptist Church say Chandler led an effort to kick out
congregants who didn’t support President Bush. Nine members were voted
out at a Monday church meeting in this mountain town, about 120 miles
west of Charlotte.
“He’s the kind of
pastor who says do it my way or get out,” said Selma Morris, the
former church treasurer. “He’s real negative all the time.”
Chandler didn’t return
a message left by The Associated Press at his home Friday, and several
calls to the church went unanswered. He told WLOS-TV in Asheville that
the actions were not politically motivated.
The station also
reported that 40 others in the 400-member congregation resigned in
protest after Monday’s vote.
During the presidential
election last year, Chandler told the congregation that anyone who
planned to vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry should either leave the
church or repent, said former member Lorene Sutton.
Some church members
left after Chandler made his ultimatum in October, Morris said.
George Bullard,
associate executive director-treasurer for Baptist State Convention of
North Carolina, told the Asheville Citizen-Times that a pastor has
every right to disallow memberships if a church’s bylaws allow for the
pastor to establish criteria for membership.
“Membership is a local
church issue,” he said. “It is not something the state convention
would enter into.”
He added that the nine
members were not legally terminated because Monday’s meeting was
supposed to be a deacons meeting, not a business meeting. They have a
lawyer looking into the situation, he said.
The head of the North
Carolina Democratic Party sharply criticized the pastor Friday, saying
Chandler jeopardized his church’s tax-free status by openly supporting
a candidate for president.
“If these reports are
true, this minister is not only acting extremely inappropriately by
injecting partisan politics into a house of worship, but he is also
potentially breaking the law,” Chairman Jerry Meek said.
Doris Wilson, one of
Chandler’s neighbors and a member of First Baptist Church in
Waynesville, said God doesn’t play partisan politics.
“I hate to see the
church suffer like that,” she said. “God doesn’t care whether you’re a
Republican or a Democrat. It just hurts to see that going on.”
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reserved.