lol you can keep on preparing yourself for the zombie apocalypse while everyone else can receive an education in order to advance society forward.
I have two doctoral degrees.... I have practiced law for years and have a doctorate in Economics... Good luck with "advancing society"... Although I suspect we don't agree on what that means.
No apology necessary. I didn't mean to act superior to anyone. I do believe that education is important no matter what people do for the livelihood or the type of activities they partake in.
What's still amazing to me is how racists can call themselves Christians. It's like, did you even open the bible?
You can use the bible to justify anything you want. People don't get their morals form the book, they use the book to justify their actions. (see slavery, misogyny, homophobia, etc) The same goes for all religions. You're not seeking truth, you're just rooting for a team.
I don't think anywhere in this thread did anyone say that black people can't be racist religious bigots also.
Please stop it with the Jeremiah Wright mentions. I'm sure he'll make it in through the pearly gates without much ado.
Churches are private organizations. They should be able to disallow whatever events they want. I wouldn't personally choose to be a member of a church that did this, and if enough people leave, the church won't be around for long. Were I that pastor, I would ask the racists that refused to allow a black couple access to the church for their wedding to find somewhere else to worship, or if they represented to large a majority in that church, to find another pastor. On an unrelated note: Te'Andrea? LOL.
This is not an argument that holds much water. The congregants want to deny service on the basis of race, which is a protected class in the US Constitution. If it was a banquet hall that didn't want to host the reception of black patrons, it'd be a clear rights violation. The only cover they have is the separation of church and state, and that's pretty thin too. I feel sorry for the pastor, who was put in a terrible spot. I'd like to say he should do the wedding anyway, blast the congregation in a sermon, and let the racists try to vote him out. But, I don't know what sort of financial straits that'd put him in and who is counting on him for support; you can't always afford to do the right thing. Besides that, I'm sure the couple wasn't too keen on using the church considering the attitude of the parishioners. And, man do they make the South look bad. I always want to say the South isn't like that anymore. That outsiders are still watching Mississippi Burning and we've moved on. Dumbasses like this make that argument hard to win.
Banquet halls should also be able to deny service to whoever they want. The SCOTUS got this one wrong in 1964 in Katzenbach v. McClung and Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, although the reasoning stemmed out of their earlier wrong decision in Wickard v. Filburn. The constitution is silent on who citizens elect to do business with or not. It is the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that precludes racial discrimination in public accommodations, and only the expansive view of the Interstate Commerce Clause adopted during the New Deal allowed the CRA to apply to private citizens operating businesses within a single state. While I agree that under the current law, private discrimination based on race in public accommodations is illegal, I disagree with the constitutional footing it stands on.
Can the church call 911 if someone vandalizes or robs the church? Can the church have the city/county do some road repair leading up to the church properties? Does this all not apply to other "businesses" as well? If yes, then I believe the Govt has the right and duty to protect equality.