Score: Christians 1 Christians 0
Here in the Swirling Epicenter of Hate we have been treated to an event that has had national coverage...way too much national coverage for my taste. As I have told you before, we have earned the nickname for our fair burg because of the many churches and churchy organizations and their enemies and counter groups that seem to congregate here in the shadow of the big hill.
One of the biggest churches in town was founded by Pastor Ted and has been very successful at being a church...missionary support...feed the poor...counsel and comfort the rest...collect a lot of money. I gotta say right off the blocks that I am neither a member of Pastor Ted's flock nor am I an antagonist to his group. As I am sure you have heard in the last couple of months, Pastor Ted has run into some bad times. The gay male back rubber who got Ted his dope ratted him out to the press. The shock, the disbelief, the horror, comedy......well, it has been entertaining.
The best stuff happened after the shock wave passed by. First, Ted checked himself into a rehab place somewhere for a couple of weeks and then announced he was cured. Not a lick of queer left in him. And no more dope, either. Pure and forgiven, just like that. It came as a great relief to all his former sheep who had mostly been understanding and forgiving. A great relief and a reinforcement of their basic belief that homosexuality is disease that is curable. Ted just came down with a case of queer but now it's cleared up.
And now that that is out of the way, the question of his future status in his own church was up for discussion. Ted figured he probably would continue on in some capacity (other than ministering), but that didn't seem to work out. So he is settling for a pay out of about $100,000.
The gay and lesbian groups in town don't know how to wrap this one up. Is he or isn't he...should we or shouldn't we...aaargh!
As you might imagine, this whole thing has had the local talk radio shows smokin' for weeks. Many folks are really ripped about the cash out. But I'm not. Taken purely as a business...Ted founded it, funded it, ran it and kept the cards and letters coming in for many years...it was his. It is now a multimillion dollar operation and he comes away with a piddling 100 grand. Taken as a church, he's lucky they didn't take him out and stone him to death.
And once again, those who are opposed to religion for what ever reason are filling their ammo boxes with all this. They can now lump all of us Christians into the Pastor Ted soup. They say we hate gays because secretly we ARE gays and we hate ourselves because of it. See, big religion is corrupt. They're all in it for the money and all the stupid little sheep just keep following along going BAH BAH and filling up the collection plate.
The saddest thing is that there are probably some good people who admired Ted and are now afloat on a sea of doubt...old Ted no doubt did do some good, he just couldn't be good. Well...that's life in the Swirling Epicenter