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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Bachmanns resign from "cure the gays" church
Saturday, July 16, 2011 7:09 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote: Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has long been a darling of conservative evangelicals, but shortly before announcing her White House bid, she officially quit a church she’d belonged to for years. Bachmann, a Minnesota congresswoman, and her husband, Marcus, withdrew their membership from Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minnesota, last month, according to church officials. The Bachmanns had been members of the church for more than 10 years, according to Joel Hochmuth, director of communications for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the broader denominational body of which Bachmann’s former church is a member. The church council granted the Bachmanns’ request to be released from their membership on June 21, Hochmuth said. The Bachmanns approached their pastor and verbally made the request “a few weeks before the church council granted the request,” Hochmuth said. Bachmann had listed her membership in the church on her campaign site for congress in 2006. She lists no church affiliation on her campaign website or her official congressional website. A similar request for membership is to transfer membership from one church to another within the denomination. But that does not appear to be the case with the Bachmanns, according to Hochmuth, who said that to his knowledge, the couple was no longer attending a church within the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Pastor Marcus Birkholz has been at the helm of Salem Lutheran Church for nearly three decades. When asked about the Bachmanns leaving the church, he said, “I’ve been asked to make no comments regarding them and their family.” Bachmann was asked about her status with the church on Thursday at Reagan National Airport as she headed to catch a flight. When asked about her pastor, she asked, “Which one?” An aide quickly hustled her away, noting that they were late for a flight. The Bachmann campaign declined to immediately respond to a request for further comment Friday. Becky Rogness, a spokesperson in Bachmann’s congressional office, said the Congresswoman now attends a nondenominational church in the Stillwater area but did not know the name of the church or how long she had been attending. Hochmuth said that, “My understanding of the situation was the timing of the request for release was far more coincidental than strategic.” The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has come under criticism from some Catholics for its views on the papacy, an institution that the denomination calls the Antichrist. "We identify the Antichrist as the Papacy," the denomination's website says. "This is an historical judgment based on Scripture." "We find no evidence of any bigotry on the part of Rep. Michele Bachmann," the statement continued. "Indeed, she has condemned anti-Catholicism. Just as President Barack Obama is not responsible for the views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Rep. Bachmann must be judged on the basis of her own record." Bachmann and Associates has faced accusations that it uses a controversial therapy that encourages gay and lesbian patients to change their sexual orientation. In an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune published Friday, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique but said they did so only at the request of a patient. "Is it a remedy form that I typically would use?” he said. "It is at the client's discretion."
Saturday, July 16, 2011 10:00 AM
KWICKO
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
Saturday, July 16, 2011 10:48 AM
CUDA77
Like woman, I am a mystery.
Saturday, July 16, 2011 11:36 AM
MAL4PREZ
Saturday, July 16, 2011 12:23 PM
AURAPTOR
America loves a winner!
Saturday, July 16, 2011 12:55 PM
MINCINGBEAST
Saturday, July 16, 2011 1:18 PM
Saturday, July 16, 2011 1:21 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: Neal Boortz likes to ask the " It's a choice " crowd whed did THEY make their choice, to be gay or straight. Funny to hear them " uh- uh " their way through that one.
Saturday, July 16, 2011 2:09 PM
Quote:Originally posted by mincingbeast: Dan Savage, whom I admire, has accused the lisping Mr. Bachman of longing for the dong. If Mr. Bachman were gay, that would explain his choice of mate and church. There's no way to be sure, however, but doing the gay to him hard and seeing if he digs it, or weeps.
Saturday, July 16, 2011 2:19 PM
Quote:Bachmann has been questioned about her church’s beliefs for years and denounced their anti-Catholicism when she was running for Congress in 2006. “It’s abhorrent, it’s religious bigotry,” Bachmann said then. “I love Catholics, I’m a Christian, and my church does not believe that the pope is the antichrist, that’s absolutely false.” She remained a member of the church for years after, but as Bachmann’s political ambitions got bigger, she began to distance herself. When she decided to run for president, Bachmann seemed to realize she could no longer belong to an organization that formally endorses intolerance.[emphasis mine]
Saturday, July 16, 2011 2:33 PM
Quote:Originally posted by mal4prez: Quote:Originally posted by mincingbeast: Dan Savage, whom I admire, has accused the lisping Mr. Bachman of longing for the dong. If Mr. Bachman were gay, that would explain his choice of mate and church. There's no way to be sure, however, but doing the gay to him hard and seeing if he digs it, or weeps. Stewart took that one on this week. Um... meaning Mr. B's voice. And dancing style. Yep, it makes plenty of sense. Not saying that Mr. B is definitely closeted, because funny voice is such a bad stereotype of gayness and, in reality, the two do not equate. But such a denial of his own nature would certainly fit what I know of the man. Sometimes I wish I could make a map of what's happened in these people's heads, the ones who can only convince themselves they are straight by villifying and going to war with homosexuality. Their gray matter must be especially twisty... Anyway. In the theoretical world where Bachmann the Mr. is a closeted gay man, would Bachmann the Mrs. be a closeted lesbian? ----------------------------------------------- hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
Saturday, July 16, 2011 6:13 PM
Saturday, July 16, 2011 6:50 PM
PIRATENEWS
John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!
Saturday, July 16, 2011 7:17 PM
PHOENIXROSE
You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.
Saturday, July 16, 2011 10:01 PM
FREMDFIRMA
Sunday, July 17, 2011 5:18 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/07/16/270896/bachmann-preemptively-ditches-her-church-to-avoid-association-with-its-radical-views/ Excerpt from ThinkProgress's coverage: Quote:... When she decided to run for president, Bachmann seemed to realize she could no longer belong to an organization that formally endorses intolerance.[emphasis mine] So she's quitting the Republican Party and Tea Party as well?!
Quote:... When she decided to run for president, Bachmann seemed to realize she could no longer belong to an organization that formally endorses intolerance.[emphasis mine]
Sunday, July 17, 2011 5:25 AM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: If you don't take a stand against evil, then it wins. Period.
Sunday, July 17, 2011 6:05 AM
Sunday, July 17, 2011 8:18 AM
Sunday, July 17, 2011 8:34 AM
Sunday, July 17, 2011 10:04 AM
BYTEMITE
Sunday, July 17, 2011 10:13 AM
DREAMTROVE
Sunday, July 17, 2011 11:37 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Bytemite: But these people when they're in denial hurt a lot of people. So it's hard to be sympathetic there. Though it's also hard to be sympathetic to anyone who's been hurt who then goes on a "disgusting faggots" rant.
Sunday, July 17, 2011 11:53 AM
Sunday, July 17, 2011 2:26 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Bytemite: There's a difference between saying that someone is cute/pretty and liking them as a person, and being INTERESTED, y'know what I mean? Otherwise I'd be writing OC slash romances instead of being a shipper. But, okay, Inara is about as close as I come to having a crush on a fictional character. IRL, I don't even really have girl crushes. There was one time I had a crush in kindergarten I guess, but it was still pretty platonic.
Monday, July 18, 2011 7:33 AM
Monday, July 18, 2011 7:34 AM
Monday, July 18, 2011 12:28 PM
Quote:Palin takes herself seriously (I think?).
Monday, July 18, 2011 12:46 PM
NEWOLDBROWNCOAT
Quote: Amid Bachmann controversy, many Christians cool to conversion therapy for gays
Monday, July 18, 2011 4:33 PM
RIONAEIRE
Beir bua agus beannacht
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 7:01 AM
Quote:Glenn Close is an excellent actress. As is Michele Bachmann.
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