Behavior That *Should* Get One Removed From the Roster

There is a retired pastor in Central Pennsylvania who really hates gay people. I mean, REALLY. HATES. gay people.

. . .so much so, that he makes inappropriate and non-sequitor bestiality references when arguing against resolutions on the synod assembly floor.

. . .so much so, that for the past several years he has turned preaching supply gigs into a bully pulpit to rail against all things LGBT. This is why I never allowed the man into my pulpit. Technically, if we were looking for supply we were supposed to exhaust all ordained options first before moving on to synodically authorized lay worship leaders. Pretty much every time I was going to be away, this guy was the only ordained clergy on the list. I never called him. I wasn't going to do that to my people, I wasn't going to let him abuse the office of preaching like that, and I sure wasn't going to give him a platform.

. . .so much so, that a couple years ago he put out a blanket call to strategize about the upcoming churchwide assembly, scheduling this meeting for the day after Easter. As Andy said, "Man, you've really gotta hate gay people to call a meeting to talk about how much you hate gay people and plot their demise within the church the day after we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord."

His behavior is just obnoxious, all the more so because he has somehow managed to get his hands on the synod's mailing lists and continues to sporadically assault pastors and churches with undesired mailings and emails, extending "invitations" to join his cause (I just got another one today, hence the rant).

To me, his is the kind of behavior that's way more harmful and damaging to the people of God, to the Word of God, and to the institution of the church, than anything two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own room.

Some days I wonder why the church is so good at fretting over sins of a personal nature, yet so bad at calling out sins against community. . .