Erin Palette of BlazingSword.org had a class on Active Shooter Survival Techniques scheduled for Mid June at the First Congregational Church of Winter Park, Fl. No guns involved, no ninja shit, just a class. And yesterday she gets this communication from the church:
To say Erin was disappointed would be too weak a description. She explains in her Facebook page why she chose the church:
God Bless her for believing in the good intentions of organizations, but unfortunately it is not so all the time, even with churches. The First Congregational Church of Winter Park is part of the United Church of Christ and by their own HQ website, virulently Anti Gun.
My take is that people in the First Congregational Church of Winter Park received Erin’s initial request, saw that she was a member of the LGBTQ community and in a knee-jerk reaction said yes to the event. Then somebody either drop the dime or the church reviewed BlazingSword.org and an “Oh shit!” moment developed necessitating the canceling the class even though it had nothing to do with guns. The church could not afford be associated with a group that advocates Self Defense and Self Reliance because it contravenes the political stance of the Church in general.
And allow me to use some raw language here about Liberal organizations: As long as you follow the political dogma, you are a welcomed member of the LGBTQ class. You stray from the dogma, and you are nothing more than a freak faggot for them, undeserving of Human Rights.
Now, expense had been made and Erin will have to eat the cost so we need your help. Sean Sorrentino is making an emergency fundraiser via Facebook to at least cover the urgent reprinting of the flyers. I am sure there are other costs and there will be future events also, so please donate a couple of buck their way. And seeing that Blazing Sword is a 501(c)3 tax deductible group, so you can write off any donations.
Damn, that sucks, but it’s unfortunately not surprising. Thanks for the link to the emergency fundraiser — I must have missed that on FB.
I could write several pages about what happened to our local Congregational Church back in the ’60s (and by extension the national churches). The short version is that for most of its history the local Congregational Churches were independent, and what national organization existed was more like a loose association rather than a governing body.
Sometime in the ’50s or ’60s the national Congregational organization merged with the United Church of Christ in order to combine resources i.e. only for financial reasons. By the mid ’60s UCC totally dominated the Congregational Churches and using the financial clout of mortgages held by the national organization began dictating who to hire for ministers and what social agenda to be followed. After being forced to hire a liberal socialist, our local church was torn apart and no longer exists. There are some local churches that retained their independence, but sadly they few and few and far between.