POLITICAL PASTOR RESIGNS

Baptist minister Chan Chandler of Waynesville, NC has resigned after he told "anyone who planned to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry to 'repent or resign.'"

Of course there's probably more here than we've been told, but if he did indeed say that he needed to go. As theosebes has documented before, overt partisanship has no place in the pulpit. I have no problem highlighting moral issues that certainly play themselves out politically, such as abortion or homosexuality. Sometimes you will have people who misunderstand even that.

Once when I mentioned abortion in a sermon (it was not even a sermon on abortion), I was later told by a member (who tended to have a lot of unique problems with things I preached on) that she didn't think the pulpit was any place for politics. I agreed that was true, but what I spoke on was morality. I didn't tell anyone who to vote for. Our Baptist friend needs to learn where that line is.