[Sam Hill]

Of course these aren't your garden variety Baptists.

[Sam Hill]

A "Sheehanigans" ping.

[rockrr]

"Leaders of The Alliance of Baptists said the Birmingham, Ala., group plans to appeal the fine, which would constitute about 10 percent of its budget for operating expenses."

Then the fine should have been $340,000

[the808bass]

Trips have included Savannah members visiting the homes of Cuban Baptists who led walking tours of downtown Havana.

Doesn't quite seem to add up to a "mission" to me. But I'm Charismatic.

[JWinNC]

I have absolutely no problem with anyone sending Miss Cindy to Cuba. It's the return trip that gives me trouble. ;)

jw

[tekriter]

Mass at a Baptist Church?

[swmobuffalo]

"Of course these aren't your garden variety Baptists."

You can say that again. This is just the type of thing that Christians need to avoid, the appearance of impropriety and the aiding and abetting of enemies of the US.

[teacherwoes]

our constitutional freedom to travel

I must have missed this in my latest reading of the Constitution

[Grizzled Bear]

Of course these aren't your garden variety Baptists.
___________________________________________________________
In otherwords; just because someone makes outrageous claims and shoves a stick up their butt it doesn't make them a popsicle.

[Sam Hill]

And look who met the party at the Havana airport:

American activist Cindy Sheehan makes the victory signal as she walks up stairs along with, from right to left, Cuban Baptist minister Raul Suarez, Medea Benjamin, Tiffany Burns, Adele Welty and Ann Wright after they arrived at the Jose Marti airport in Havana, Saturday, Jan 6.

Raul Suarez is the pastor the Ebenezer Baptist church in Havana.

[Sam Hill]

More info:

Not only is Raul Suarez the (former) Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, he is also a member of Cuba’s parliament.

But more importantly Mr. Suarez is high up in the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba which has long and deep ties to the Alliance of Baptists

Indeed, the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba is called "the Cuban arm of the Alliance of Baptists."

From an Alliance Of Baptists December 2006 newsletter (pdf):

Also reflecting on the makeup of the conference participants, Martin Luther King Center founder and director Raúl Suárez, another member of the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba, noted that nearly half of those present were under the age of 40. Suárez, at age 72 the eldest participant, is the retired pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Havana and is also an elected member of Cuba’s national parliament.

From the Alliance Of Baptists’ own website:

Cuba Partnerships - Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba

(Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba)

Since 1991 the Alliance of Baptists has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba [Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba]. Our respective journeys have been remarkably similar…

Both bodies began with an intensive study of the Bible, Baptist history and the socio-theological context of their respective situations. And both came to the conclusion that the context demanded restatements of basic Baptist values and new expressions of those principles. Soon enough representatives of the Alliance and the Fraternidad began to find each other…

At the institutional level, the partnership between the Fraternidad and the Alliance began to take shape in 1990 when Rodés invited Alliance Acting Executive Director Alan Neely to organize a visit to Cuba by a group of Alliance pastors…

Given the startling similarities in our origins and historical-theological perspectives, it is little wonder that the Fraternidad and the Alliance came to see themselves as spiritual twins or that this kinship would result in a joint project of fostering sister-church relationships. Indeed the tie between these two bodies of Baptists has become a model of what productive 21st century mission partnerships will be like.

So it would seem highly probably that Cindy Sheehan and CodePink are using a religious license supplied by the Alliance of Baptists to travel to Cuba illegally.

[philetus]

Please don't paint all Baptists with that brush.

"In contrast to most of the Southern Baptist Convention and much of the wider Baptist movement, the Alliance has emphasized women's ministry, encouraging women to seek ordination and senior pastorates, as well as acceptance of homosexuality as a legitimate way of life."

[SierraWasp]

"calling on us to “cease and desist” our plans for the trip, demanding the names of all the people who had signed up, and threatening us with a million dollar fine and ten years in jail."

Hey! Let the punishment fit the crime! If ya can't do the time, don't do the crime!! I think somebody recently "baptized" Cindy, cause she's all wet!!! Ha Ha Ha!!! (code pink... my A$$)

[endthematrix]

So they apparently went. Is the government going to follow up with this? This is one of the sickest openly subversive anti-US CP operations. The Treasury should come down HARD! The again, I see we will lift Cuba sanctions in the next couple years anyway, so fighting it would be futile.

[dawn53]

You can enter Cuba as an American citizen if you don't fly in from the US. Looks like the CodePink folks flew to Mexico first, and then to Cuba. We used to live in the Caymans and people would fly to Cayman first, then on to Cuba.

The Baptists and religious groups have permission from the government to go, but not help the economy.

Groups flying in from other countries, are clearly breaking the embargo, but CodePink doesn't care, and obviously their intention was to break the law.

[Cowboy Bob]

U.S. Treasury officials have threatened a national Baptist organization with a $34,000 fine, citing the First Baptist Church of Savannah and four other churches for participating in banned tourist activities during mission trips in Cuba.

Thought the amount is rather low, I think it is better to fine (or seize bank accounts/freeze assets) then it is to arrest someone. Arrests create photo ops for the MSM. Its hard to rally public support for a bank account seized by the government.

Liberals care more about money than anything else...except perhaps power.

[Mo1]

The Fed should have let them travel to Cuba and then pulled their visas so they were stuck in Cuba

Since they think Cuba is so great ... let them stay there

[Theodore R.]

I believe that these are the liberal Jimmy Carter supporters who broke away from the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1990s.

[PGalt]

Great post. Many anti-freedom collectives get mileage from 1-cylinder Cindy.

[aculeus]

American activists, from left, Cindy Sheehan, Tiffany Burns, Adele Welty and Ann Wright attend a mass at the Ebenezer Baptist church in Havana, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2007.

Baptist mass?????????

[CholeraJoe]

You don't have to go to Cuba to buy Cuban cigars. Any tobacco shop north of the border sells them. Easy to smuggle back if you're driving. (Not that I've ever done it.)