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Gay Group: Church broke law!
Billings Gazette ^ | 5.27.04 | tckrdout

Posted on 05/27/2004 6:36:54 PM PDT by tuckrdout

Gay rights group: Church broke law By ALLISON FARRELL Gazette State Bureau

HELENA - Gay rights advocates filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Political Practices against the Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church Wednesday, saying the church inappropriately held an event to support a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Montanans for Families and Fairness, a coalition that includes InterMountain Planned Parenthood, PRIDE and the Montana Human Rights Network, said in the complaint that the church failed to report to the state commissioner it used its "in-kind" resources to support the proposed constitutional ban.

Petitions supporting the proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage in Montana were circulated at a church event Sunday night. The initiative will be placed on the November ballot if 41,000 voters sign a petition in favor of the measure.

"They made an expense on behalf of this thing," said Rob Hill, campaign director for the coalition that filed the complaint. "We believe they have to file with the commissioner's office. They haven't done that."

The Rev. B.G. Stumberg, who leads the church, was surprised to hear from a reporter Wednesday that someone filed a complaint against his parish.

"I don't know what they're talking about," Stumberg said, after hearing the details of the complaint. "We haven't given a cent. The only thing we've done is we've spoken out for marriage."

The Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church opened its doors Sunday night for a broadcast event that piped in leading national evangelical leaders, including James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Chuck Colson of the Prison Fellowship, who promoted traditional marriage.

Petitions supporting the constitutional ban against gay marriage were circulated, and signed, Stumberg said. He said the church did nothing wrong.

"If they want to go to court about it, I guess I'll get me a lawyer," Stumberg said.

(Excerpt) Read more at billingsgazette.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Montana
KEYWORDS: ammendment; chuckcolson; church; churchandstate; gays; gaystapo; homosexualagenda; lavendermafia; lesbians; marriage; marriageamendment; montana; rallyformarriage
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To: tuckrdout

With their recent successes they have become emboldened.


21 posted on 05/27/2004 8:00:11 PM PDT by TOUGH STOUGH
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To: TommyDale

LOL! Isn't that true?! Democrats can have political fundraisers at any church that will have them, and there are no repercussions. In fact St. Pauls Methodist church in Helena held a MHR task force--(one of the very groups who filed this "complaint")--- event a few months ago!


22 posted on 05/27/2004 8:00:43 PM PDT by tuckrdout (Grant Teri Schindler (Schiavo) her wish: A DIVORCE!)
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To: JohnnyZ

I agree with that!


23 posted on 05/27/2004 8:06:01 PM PDT by tuckrdout (Grant Teri Schindler (Schiavo) her wish: A DIVORCE!)
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To: TommyDale
Our church has members and officers that speak of advocating justice. We all know that "justice" in this context means liberal causes. Announcements are made (usually by members taking advantage of the announcement segment to stand up and speak) during services of this event or that event. I only cringe when they do this. But they will hear from me vocally and financially if some of these causes become church policy. I won't sue, but I might cut them off.

If the Montana libs are successful with their suit I will be tempted to organize a group to sue every black church that hosts a guest sermon by a Dem politician.

24 posted on 05/27/2004 8:06:56 PM PDT by jimfree (Ernie is a truly great actor.)
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To: tuckrdout
Why is it better that this is happening in Montana and not Massachusetts?

Because, ultimately, the decision will be before the Montana Supreme Court, and not the Massachusetts SJC. Which one do you think is likely to sustain the church's free speech activities?

This is clearly an attempt to silence free speech.

No one has the right not to get sued. If we are to have freedom, then freedom must always be defended.

There's an old maxim about picking your battles. Gay rights groups used to follow it quite well, only trying to challenge the laws in places where they were likely to get a judiciary more in sympathy with their views. Overreaching and trying to get judicial victories out in flyover country is likely to backfire on them. By the time the SCOTUS takes up the issue of gay marriage, and gay hate speech, there is likely to be an entire body of law in many jurisdictions that do not favor the gay rights side.

It's not absolutely determinative of what the SCOTUS will do, but it will be a factor influencing their decisions. By the time that the SCOTUS struck down bans on interracial marriage, only a relative few states had laws against it, and only Virginia was still actively enforcing it. If the SCOTUS visited the issue right after California's Supreme Court struck down CA's interracial marriage ban in 1948, there might have been a precident set that would not have fallen so easily in 1967. The same thing is possible here.

25 posted on 05/27/2004 8:10:06 PM PDT by hunter112
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To: little jeremiah
Bump


What We Can Do To Help Defeat the "Gay" Agenda


Homosexual Agenda: Categorical Index of Links (Version 1.1)


Myth and Reality about Homosexuality--Sexual Orientation Section, Guide to Family Issues"

26 posted on 05/27/2004 8:11:30 PM PDT by EdReform (Support Free Republic - All donations are greatly appreciated. Thank you for your support!)
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To: inflation

Gotcha...


27 posted on 05/27/2004 8:14:09 PM PDT by tuckrdout (Grant Teri Schindler (Schiavo) her wish: A DIVORCE!)
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To: tuckrdout
So.... when do we start drawing lines in the sand? The drums are beating faster and faster,

" As a man danced, so the drums were beaten for him" Achebe,

28 posted on 05/27/2004 8:17:23 PM PDT by Porterville (oOOOo USA against the World in this summer Olympics oOOOo)
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To: tuckrdout
In addition to incurring fines, the church could be in danger of losing its nonprofit status with the IRS if it engages in political advocacy, he said."

I wonder what THE REVEREND Jesse Jackson's thoughts on this are? Or maybe THE REVEREND Al Sharpton could answer it instead.

29 posted on 05/27/2004 8:19:21 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: TOUGH STOUGH
Olson said churches that "engage in this type of activity"

I am very offended by this demeaning choice of words. Olson is insulting, ignorant and obviously a bigot!

Actually this article is the definition of bigotry.

30 posted on 05/27/2004 8:21:03 PM PDT by tuckrdout (Grant Teri Schindler (Schiavo) her wish: A DIVORCE!)
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To: FreedomCalls

Notice the media and the ACLU never complained about the "Separation of Church & State" when Al Sharpton ran for President.


31 posted on 05/27/2004 8:22:10 PM PDT by Kuksool (Get your souls to the polls in November)
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To: tuckrdout
Actually this article is the definition of bigotry.

Agreed. It's outrageous!

32 posted on 05/27/2004 8:23:24 PM PDT by TOUGH STOUGH
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To: Kuksool
Notice the media and the ACLU never complained about the "Separation of Church & State" when Al Sharpton ran for President.

Nor when Al Gore made campaign speeches in Black Churches.

33 posted on 05/27/2004 8:29:05 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: King Prout
They will try to say this is a separation of church and state thing, and pull the tax exempt status from the church.

Scary thing is it just might work. There are enough Californians moving to Montana that the state is lurching left.
34 posted on 05/27/2004 8:36:20 PM PDT by redgolum
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To: tuckrdout

bttt


35 posted on 05/27/2004 8:39:15 PM PDT by kimmie7 (Are you a VETERAN voting for Kerry? Remember: The grass is always greener over the septic tank!)
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To: tuckrdout

Meanwhile, if you are a Black Preacher in a Black Baptist Church, you can drag John F'n Kerry up to the pulpit, scream "Praise the Lord and Vote for this man" and pass the plate for his campaign, and NOTHING will ever happen to you.


36 posted on 05/27/2004 8:47:39 PM PDT by montag813 ("A nation can survive fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.")
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To: redgolum

separation of church and state?
has no one but conservatives ever actually READ the US Constitution???


37 posted on 05/27/2004 9:00:55 PM PDT by King Prout (the difference between "trained intellect" and "indoctrinated intellectual" is an Abyssal gulf)
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To: tuckrdout

Way to go, Montana!


38 posted on 05/27/2004 9:38:58 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: tuckrdout

And thus it starts . . . . .


39 posted on 05/27/2004 10:42:50 PM PDT by 3catsanadog (When anything goes, everything does.)
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To: tuckrdout

Someone please tell me what the F**K a Commissioner of Political Practices is! Is this BS for real? Have we become the former Soviet Union? Have they mangaged to really defeat us from within as promised by using the educational systme (NEA)?


40 posted on 05/27/2004 10:46:11 PM PDT by Wolfhound777 (It's not our job to forgive them. Only God can do that. Our job is to arrange the meeting)
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