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Interracial Couple Banned From Kentucky Church

♏*PHOENIX*♏ - posted on 12/01/2011 ( 25 moms have responded )

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In a move to "promote greater unity" among its body and the Pike County community it serves, a small Kentucky church voted to ban interracial couples from membership and from participating in certain worship activities, Kentucky.com reports.

Though reminiscent of some Jim Crow-era mandate, the Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church actually made the decision earlier this month, following a visit from 24-year-old Stella Harville, daughter of the church's secretary and clerk, and her 29-year-old fiance, Ticha Chikuni, a native of Zimbabwe.

According to Harville's father, Dean Harville, Stella brought Chikuni to the church in June where they performed a song for the congregation.

Following the visit, former pastor Melvin Thompson told Harville that his daughter and her fiance could not sing at the church again. Thompson later proposed that the church go on record saying that while all people were welcome to attend public worship services there, the church did not condone interracial marriage.

His proposal, which was accepted by a 9-6 vote last week, also suggested that married interracial couples be prohibited from becoming members and used in worship activities, except for funerals.

"It's not the spirit of the community in any way, shape or form," said Randy Johnson, president of the Pike County Ministerial Association, according to Kentucky.com.

While Pike County and the surrounding community come to grips with the church's decision, researchers at Ohio State University and Cornell University say black-white marriages in the United States are soaring, increasing threefold, from 3 percent in 1980 to 10.7 percent in 2008.


(It is their church..but...how is this Godly? For all the christians out there do you think this is wrong? Shouldn't churches allow anyone to become a member and worship no matter their color?
its amazing to me the different interpretations one can get out of the Bible of what is okay, what is not, what is right and what is wrong...AND their way IS the right way)

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25 Comments

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Stifler's - posted on 12/08/2011

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Theyre just asking for god to strike them down.

Tah - posted on 12/05/2011

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also, christians aren't robots, if my pastor comes to the pulpit one sunday and says, hey guys, we had a vote and decided that interracial marriages will not be accepted in this church, now take out your hymnals and turn to page 532...i would gather my children and we would leave there and go have breakfast at ihop and i would be on a church hunt next sunday...i wouldn't even wait for him to say why they chose this because no reason is good enough. you have to know where you stand whether it's something you learned in bible study or not...

Tah - posted on 12/05/2011

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my moral code doesn't just come from being christian, if i didn't beleive in Christ i'm sure i wouldn't be some raving murdering lunatic. Do i beleive in the bible yes but when people try to say that o you are following a code of conduct set by someone else it doesn't sit well with me because we all do. There are laws we don't break and im sure we all learned right and wrong from someone somewhere in life that was no doubt handed down to them. There are things i don't think are right, but it doesn't make me intolerant of them, i just disaproe of them and if asked i won't lie, but i try not judge because thats not my place...

Barb - posted on 12/04/2011

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You know what Tah, you are right. It was judgmental of me to say all christians are judgmental. However, i don't try to live by a set code of conduct set by someone else..

yeah, i get it, christians are human.. and i'm cool with that, i'm cool with their failures and successes.. i'm not cool with imposing their beliefs on others and preaching tolerance while practicing intolerance.

Tah - posted on 12/04/2011

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sometimes i think people wait for someone who claims to be christian to mess up so that they can point the finger and say "see i told you"..or "look what those hypocrites did"...would it be this much of a crapstorm if it wasn't a church i wonder....and would people jump to the conclusion of other christians agreeing just because this is a church....they have provided no scripture to support this and i guess im not surprised because i don't hold ministers, church officials and goverment leaders to be perfect, i know that many times they let their emotions and personal beleifs get in the way of what they should be teaching and putting out to the world...

Tah - posted on 12/04/2011

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none taken Barb as long as you don't take offense when i say i have met judgemental bitches whether christian or not so i highly doubt us christians corner the market on that. I try not to judge people but thats because i try to not be a bitch in general...there are judgemental agnostics, christians, atheist, pagans, elvisnites(lol) you name it and they have people who will find a reason to judge you no matter how small and it doesn't have to be because of what you beleive in. the big thing that people seem to miss is that christians are human, and therefore falliable, so when humans forget they are not perfect and have sinned and made mistakes that is when they began to hold themselves in a position to judge, but its the same with non-christians. I have been judged on here for being christian by people who are agnostic/atheist and i would have called them bitches as well...and i probably have..okay..i have...lol

Barb - posted on 12/04/2011

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I sure don't want to offend my christian friends, but the day i decided to become agnostic was the day that i quit being such a judgmental bitch.

There seems to be something about people who think they have a personal relationship with the great God of Judgement that gives them the right to be judgmental of others.

It's the basis of the Islamaphobia we seem to have here in the U.S of A. Christians are so afraid Muslims are going to impose their laws like Christians have done to the rest of Americans. Some areas of the U.S. you can't buy beer on Sunday, you can't purchase porn or no strip clubs allowed in that area, everyone has to try to maintain everyone's else moral fiber yet we elect officials that have affairs on their wives, as long as it's with another woman and not a man, because we can only dishonor the sanctity of marriage with the opposite sex.

♏*PHOENIX*♏ - posted on 12/03/2011

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I was reading the quote of someone who is trying to get the ban lifted, but as of now the bann still stands

Tah - posted on 12/03/2011

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i didn't read anything, i just know you dont change your mind about something like that all willy nilly so someone was lying....what does it say??

♏*PHOENIX*♏ - posted on 12/03/2011

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Wow I was waaaaay off, don't know what the heck I was reading

♏*PHOENIX*♏ - posted on 12/03/2011

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Oh you read the article? When I skimmed the little paragraph on yahoo...it seemed they did, but I was wrong.

Tah - posted on 12/03/2011

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no, they haven't changed their minds, they saw the backlash and want to do damage control....

♏*PHOENIX*♏ - posted on 12/03/2011

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They have since changed their minds about mixed couples...didn't read the article yet...only skimmed it.

Tah - posted on 12/03/2011

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yeah re-read it and it doesnt say anywhere that they have the backing of the bible on this

Tah - posted on 12/03/2011

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thank you Brittany and i dont see where they attributed this to the bible. they said to promote unity. My teacher and i both read up from slavery and uncle toms cabin and we got different meanings from them. you dont have to look too deeply into love thy neighbor. as i stated this is not something that comes from the bible it comes from their own prejudice and their is no bible verse to support it. i am also sure that with me being black you know i wouldn't support it. i know there may be people of all faiths or non-faiths that would agree, but thats because they are prejudice, not because they are christian. i just get annoyed when people see that some over the top person that says they are christian or some crazy chuch spouts off something ridiculous and the whole room turns to the christians and says "do you beleive this?"...my question back is do you?

Brittany - posted on 12/02/2011

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You make make any text say want you want it to, if you take it out of context. A lot of times that's what happens with things like this. They find some obscure quote and remove the parts they don't like, so that it fits the situation. It's one of the reasons I don't like it when people spout versus from the Bible, it often loses it's meaning. Especially when most aren't even a complete sentence, let alone thought.

♏*PHOENIX*♏ - posted on 12/02/2011

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but why would you ask the christians if they think this is wrong?, this is not a reflection on what we beleive as christians





^^i asked Christians because it's a christian church, and this is a reflection of what they believe...no?

You Tah read the same bible as they do, and yet you don't think interracial couples are wrong...and somehow they do. Yes it's racist, but I'm sure they would quote a scripture or something to back up how they feel.

Brittany - posted on 12/02/2011

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When did we start going backwards?

Honestly it has left me a bit speechless. It just seems so stupid; almost a "let's poke at this wound a bit and see if it bleeds". I can't even comprehend their logic... not even a little.

Tah - posted on 12/02/2011

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Amy, you are assuming it was the song, it was seeing a black man up there with their precious white daughter of the church, it doesn't matter what they sang, that they sang it together is the issue. This just proves to all those who truly beleive that blacks go looking for racism or see it in everything or are just imagining it because everything is all equal, rainbows and butterflies that it is alive and well and people are still aiming ot make laws to support it.

Tah - posted on 12/02/2011

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i was going to post this, glad you did, but why would you ask the christians if they think this is wrong?, this is not a reflection on what we beleive as christians. The churches i have ever attended or been a member of do allow all people to come and worship with us. My father would often preach at church out in the suburbs with a white population and very few blacks and there was never a problem. this is not biblical, its their own hatred and prejudice. if they were really racist they would allow all us colored to join and git us sum of dat dere Jesus so we be ez to handle and won't be gitn any iders to run off.....like in the days of slavery

Teresa - posted on 12/02/2011

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Of course it's wrong. Both our pastors are in interracial marriages. :)

Beautiful - posted on 12/01/2011

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You would think in this day and age the matter of ones race wouldn't matter at all. It is unbelievable to me how far society has come, yet how set back we are at the same time. This is why I don't agree with organized religion. I thought christians were supposed to teach tolerance, love, forgiveness etc. Seems to me this church is only teaching hate, ignorance and intolerance. Very sad.

Teresa - posted on 12/01/2011

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So non-christian. Christ didn't segregate, in fact, was it Peter or Paul that had the dream confirming that Christ was for all, jews and gentiles. The fact that the church agreed to do this means they are being exclusionary when Jesus was so NOT.

Amy - posted on 12/01/2011

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how does separating people create unity again? why not just tell the people....look, the song in inappropriate and that's not ok here. What does skin color have to do with the song again? And if they made this JUST to keep this particular couple out, why not just say "you, yeah you who did the insanely inappropriate song - don't come back please". end of story. WHAT WAS THE SONG?? No clue.



Well, I can't even say what is "godly". I have my ideas, but i'm sure not god nor has he/she ever flat out said "bing.....this is my will." again - what song? if lyrics went against god - could see the church's being offended, but to cut ALL interracial couples because of this 1. stupid stupid.

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