Do couples still get married in churches?

                        

Recently at our Faith of our Fathers group (FOOF) at the UALC Mill Run church we were discussing the removal of most religious/Christian content from public education textbooks and courses despite its inclusion in the founding documents. But maybe we should be looking closer to home.

Today I picked up (free) a copy of Columbus Bride at Giant Eagle. You'd be hard pressed to find any religious content in the wedding photos--hardly even a church or cathedral. Lots of country clubs, old barns, the Atheneum (which has sort of a faux chapel), Franklin Park Conservatory, old wineries, city streets, parks, and party barns. Maybe it's the interior of the modern churches which look like theaters and party houses--so why not just rent one or take the photos outside?

When we were in Russia in 2006 we saw so many weddings in the public square--in front of government buildings, fountains, parks etc. They had 70 years of Communism. What's our excuse?

                

Cross posted at Collecting my thoughts

13 liberal Columbus pastors going to DC

But not for "social justice." They want to deprive another Christian organization of its tax exempt status. Perhaps their churches should give up their tax status too and start turning down government grants for their Biblical "good works."

Dispatch Story.

The Rev. Eric Williams, pastor of the North Congregational United Church of Christ on W. Henderson Road, said he had vaguely followed early news reports about C Street Center and, "at some point, I heard that C Street was a church - and that's what hooked me. The more I read about it, the more I discovered there is no transparency and there is clearly a blending of private influence with public officials."

He organized a group of activist pastors in Columbus who in recent years have fashioned themselves as watchdogs for the separation of church and state, filing IRS complaints twice against central Ohio churches they think improperly delved into politics.

In their complaint, the pastors cite news reports, property records, IRS regulations, congressional records and other sources to bolster their case that the C Street Center is not a church but a boardinghouse providing cheap rent for members of Congress.

I'm just so impressed that there are no poor, no hurting, no needy, no unchurched, no unsaved in Columbus, Ohio. Nice that these folks have the time, money and desire to clean things up in another city. Is this the same gang that went after Rod Parsley? Has any of them ever led a sinner to Christ?

Can churches end poverty?

Maybe--if they toughen their message on chastity and marriage instead of having conferences and meetings about it. In 1970, 71% of all U.S. households were 2 parent families compared to 51% in 2007. Larry Elder says the 38 most important words about poverty are: “Finish high school, marry before having a child, and produce the child after the age of twenty." Only 8 percent of families who do this are poor; 79 percent of those who fail to do this are poor.

If liberal pastors in Columbus would gang up and make as much noise about chastity and fathers not being responsible for their children as they did about Rod Parsley's church, we might see some long term improvement! Parsley preaches that message; the liberal preachers don't.

The editorial last week in our SNP Upper Arlington News by Lyndsey Teter was titled "Can Columbus churches unite to end poverty?" Churches might make a dent in poverty if they would stop focusing on the gap. The Clintons have earned $109 million since leaving the White House and my husband and I have been living on Social Security and STRS pension since they left the White House. We give almost double in percentage of income that the Clintons do, and vastly more than the Obamas, and Al and Tipper Gore's contributions were just a joke (something like $400 a year when he was VP). What portion of Bill and Hillary's wealth would Ms. Teeter suggest we take to even things up a bit? Isn't that what liberals usually suggest? Taking from the wealthy will not solve the hard core problems of poverty. Nor will aborting babies of poor women, or taking canvas bags to the supermarket, or protecting the air in Berkeley with hybrid cars burning Midwestern corn, just to name a few programs that are favorites for assuaging guilt for rich, liberal Christians. The government programs, particularly those funded through the USDA for getting rid of food surpluses by giving them to low income families, have outstripped the churches ability to even make a difference. And they've compromised their message. Millions of federal, state and local workers are dependent on grant money "to end poverty,"--housing, jobs, food, retraining, internships, social workers, researchers, legislative staffers, counselors--to the point that if poverty were to miraculously end next week, we'd put government employees out of work at such a rate that we'd have to start all over! Evidence from the Great Awakenings that took place in this country about two hundred years ago shows it takes a spiritual renewal in the listener which then moves to the community. But if the preachers are silent about the Good News, where do the people have to go except to the government?