East Waynesville Baptist Church is a

Baptist church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul comp ...

in Waynesville, a small town in the

Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...

of Western

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. It is an independent and autonomous member of the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC). As of May 2005 it had 100 members. The church was involved in a 2005 controversy after the pastor allegedly expelled members because of their political views.

History

The church was built in 1965.

Purge of members

The church received

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informati ...

attention in May 2005. During a May 2

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

s' meeting, its

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

Chan Chandler allegedly told any members who had supported

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

in the 2004 United States presidential election to leave. This statement was reportedly captured on audio tape. Nine members of the church, including at least one deacon, left the meeting at that point. Chandler then allegedly declared an impromptu business meeting, and a majority of the 20 church members present voted to expel those who left. Chandler had been vocal in earlier months that he considered voting for the Democratic Party tantamount to supporting

homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...

and

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

. Forty church members threatened to terminate their membership in protest against the actions taken at the meeting. The BSCNC called the actions attributed to the church leadership "highly irregular" and warned that they could threaten the church's

tax-exempt status Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

. Groups campaigning for

church-state separation The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...

called for the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory t ...

to consider removing the church's tax-exempt status on the grounds that it engaged in political advocacy. A writer in ''Christianity Today'' said the negative comments about John Kerry cross a line and could have fomented negative tax action. He noted, however, that the parish suffered from a demographic split. Dubbing it "Chandlergate" he noted that according to the ''Raleigh News and Observer'', 35 Chandler followers left the sanctuary when Chandler resigned. In speaking to the ''

Baptist Press Baptist Press (BP) is the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Baptist Press is a ministry assignment of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. Baptist P ...

'', Chandler attempted "to clarify whether the nine people were in fact voted out of the church, Chandler said they initially left voluntarily." He also told the Baptist Press: "I don't know how these folks voted," Chandler told Baptist Press. "And I never endorsed any candidate." But he admits he preached about the "unbiblical values" of John Kerry, particularly in regard to abortion and homosexuality. He also claimed to have "mentioned two Republicans' names" as unbiblical examples. He opined that he made "negative endorsements" but "never a positive endorsement" of a candidate.> On May 10, 2005 Chandler resigned as pastor. He denied that the actions at the meeting were politically motivated, but did not give his version of events. The BSCNC offered to assist the church in healing the rift between the factions. At least some of the former parishioners continued to be disgruntled, and contemplated taking further actions, including hiring an attorney. The dispute focused attention on the limits, if any, on the relationship of sermonizing from the pulpit and the political activities of religious practitioners. An opposing view is that a church, being a voluntary association, has an inherent right to discipline and choose its members incidental to its rights of

Freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedo ...

and

Freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline mem ...

, which should not be interfered with by the state.

References

Notes

Citations

External links