it was a church

Earlier this week, while in a department store shopping for shoes (a task I dislike above most others), I almost literally bumped into a local judge. Not to name any names but he was a central figure in a famous right-to-die case that came to its inevitable conclusion this year. We chatted for awhile and I invited him to attend our Methodist church because I know he was invited out of Calvary Baptist Church here in Clearwater. Maybe he'll accept that invitation but not anytime soon.

That got me to thinking, as I looked at their new "church" building, just what kind of church do they have left? I know of one prominent "pillar of the church" type of man who left the church recently because of its treatment of the judge. He was a young lawyer on the Deacon Board back when my father was a deacon. My parents left the church years ago because the pastor (at that time) was getting into deep right field and making comments about women that set my mother's teeth on edge. The Baptist Church has drifted further to the right since then, to the point that it now dis-invites a respected judge (himself a conservative Republican) from its membership rolls because of the judge's decision that was, by the way, upheld by the appellate court. (I left the church back in the 60's, much sooner than my parents did, after Tallahassee's Baptist church voted to keep its membership all white.)

So now I'm thinking, this new building may suit the Baptists just fine. They don't need a traditional church building now. The old stained glass windows didn't seem to inspire them appropriately anyhow.