North Carolina: Political Pastor Resigns from Ungodly Church

Chan Chandler, the preacher who kicked Democrats out of his church, has himself now resigned. Some members of the East Waynesville Baptist Church continue to support him, though, and label the congregation "ungodly."

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Congregants of the 100-member church in western North Carolina have said Chandler endorsed Bush from the pulpit during last year's presidential campaign and said that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry needed to ''repent or resign.''

The church members said he continued to preach about politics after Bush won re-election, culminating with a church gathering last week in which the nine members said they were ousted.

Asked if she would remain a member of East Waynesville, Misty Turner said, ''I'm not going to serve with the ungodly.''

Presumably, the place is "ungodly" now because Democrats will once again be permitted to sit in the pews and be acknowledged as equals to Republicans. How horrible that prospect must be for Misty Turner.

The Charlotte Observer reports:

Tuesday night's meeting came a day after a national group that lobbies for church-state separation urged the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the tax-exempt status of the church.

IRS rules bar clear-cut politicking by tax-exempt groups. Last October, days before Bush won a second term, the IRS said it was investigating about 60 charities and other tax-exempt groups -- about a third of them churches -- for potentially breaking rules that bar them from participating in political activity.

Even other Baptist leaders weren't too happy with what Chandler did. His resignation was probably inevitable and doing it sooner means that the story will die more quickly. I wonder if he was pressured from the outside for that very reason?

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