Wow. Somebody actually gets it!!!

I read the most incredible article today on AOL News, of all places. Please take the time to click on this link and read this story. It will either challenge your mind-set, verify it, or, in my case, both... Rev. Gregory Boyd, pastor of the (formerly) 5000-member Woodland Hills Baptist church in St. Paul, MN, preached a six-week sermon series caled "The Sword and the Cross," publically refuting popular Christian beliefs that the Church should endorse conservative Republican candidates and defend the Bush administration's stance on defending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As well, he speaks of the need for Chirstians to abstain from mixing faith with politics. As a result, 1000 members (20%) left the church and have not returned. I would like to congratulate Rev. Boyd and thank him for voicing what I've been thinking all along, though it cost him dearly-- both figuratively and literally. The church was in the midst of a $7 million fund-raising campaign when Boyd delivered the pulpit series, and only $4 million came in. Also, some in the Baptist Convention want to see Boyd defrocked for blasphemy. Some of his most poignant statements (copied directly from the article) are as follows:
“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”
...In his six sermons, Mr. Boyd laid out a broad argument that the role of Christians was not to seek “power over” others -- by controlling governments, passing legislation or fighting wars.
“...America wasn’t founded as a theocracy,” he said. “America was founded by people trying to escape theocracies. Never in history have we had a Christian theocracy where it wasn’t bloody and barbaric."
...He said Christians these days were constantly outraged about sex and perceived violations of their rights to display their faith in public. “Those are the two buttons to push if you want to get Christians to act,” he said. “And those are the two buttons Jesus never pushed.”
...Mr. Boyd now says of the upheaval: “I don’t regret any aspect of it at all. It was a defining moment for us. We let go of something we were never called to be. We just didn’t know the price we were going to pay for doing it.”
...One woman asked: “So why NOT us? If we contain the wisdom and grace and love and creativity of Jesus, why shouldn’t we be the ones involved in politics and setting laws?” Mr. Boyd responded: “I don’t think there’s a particular angle we have on society that others lack. All good, decent people want good and order and justice. Just don’t slap the label ‘Christian’ on it.”

OK, so where's the stupidity in all this, you may ask? Try this on for size:
Mary Van Sickle, the family pastor at Woodland Hills, said she lost 20 volunteers who had been the backbone of the church’s Sunday school. “They said, ‘You’re not doing what the church is supposed to be doing, which is supporting the Republican way,’ ” she said. “It was some of my best volunteers.” (Not what Van Sickle said; what the congregants said...)

So to close, kudos to Rev. Boyd for speaking his convictions, and best stupie wishes to the 1000 who left the church so they could hang on to their blind, narrow views without threat of being challenged.