Posted on 02/10/2018 10:37:21 PM PST by TBP
Tucked away in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, somewhere along the winding roads that hug Great Lakes shores, is an idyllic town named Bay View. For more than a century, generations of “Bay Viewers” have congregated here to share in summer activities.
What started out as a modest camping ground for Methodist families 140 years ago has quietly developed into a stunning vacation spot for people who can afford the upkeep of a second home. Streets named Moss, Fern and Maple are dotted with impeccably maintained century-old gingerbread cottages. Over the horizon, residents can watch lifelong friends sail their boats across the water.
But this paradise is not open to all.
In Bay View, only practicing Christians are allowed to buy houses, or even inherit them.
Prospective homeowners, according to a bylaw introduced in 1947 and strengthened in 1986, are required to produce evidence of their faith by providing among other things a letter from a Christian minister testifying to their active participation in a church.
Last summer, a dozen current and former resident members filed a federal lawsuit against the town, its ruling Bay View Association and a real estate company, claiming the Christian litmus test was illegal and unconstitutional.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
“If this can be, why not a community which would allow only rinos, pachyderms, or asses?”
We have those already.
They’re called zoos.
Every other translation translates it correctly as "hades." Hades is simply the abode of the dead. (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
What Jesus was saying was that the kingdom He was going to establish would not cease with His death nor would the kingdom itself die.
We tend to make biblical interpretation more complicated than it really is.
Being born in a Christian country no more makes one a Christian than stepping into a church. Accepting Jesus Christ as one’s savior is what makes one a Christian. It’s a personal relationship, in which one chooses to serve God The Father, God The Son, and God The Holy Ghost.
The last straw woll be revelation 8, when God wipes the wicked from the face of the earth with His wrath. Evil always wants to give God the finger. It’s not wise.
I’d like to see some Christians get into leadership roles at the antichristian ACLU.
Yes. Agreed. And I dare say your friend doesn’t need any church building or cleric to discover faith. (But visiting one of the a rotted- out churches can really turn a person/ seeker off)
Yes. Auctions of Amish owned farms happen all the time and anyone can bid. Anyone. Amish will buy farms that were previously owned by “Englishers”.
There is no such thing as “Amish land”.
:>/
How is what they are doing any different than say...Amish country? Or that Islamic village in Pennsylvania?
I have no issue with them requiring Christianity to live in their town.
And you don’t need a church for that. Just be a man of God everyday.
My church had a campground and you are not allowed to lease unless you are a member in good standing.
Do you mean, superb preachers?
(runs and hides)
Yes, actually. I do think Protestant sermonizing is an art not particularly practised that well in my faith because the sacrament of Holy Communion is the most important part of the service, not the sermon. I also think the music is better in American Protestant churches with their reliance on English and American hymns which can be quite beautiful and moving. Of course, in France, the music in Catholic Churches is sublime. I’ve seen nuns playing classical violin in Paris during Mass.
Yeah, forgot about that place and that is totally legit.
The Jewish community funds that through donations and direct contributions.
Same with Haddasah or even Masonic Homes.
It is a benefit to the membership and comes with qualifiers.
Was the entire Methodist Chautauqua of Bay View a private enclave bought and owned by the Methodist Church, and continuing as not a city government but a private homeowners association with the deed restriction covenants continued by the private voluntary act of those who chose to buy into the home-owners-association of Bay View.
“Non-descrimination” Constitutionally is about what the Federal government is not allowed to do, because for the law to do that would be the law acting differently toward some citizens, compared to others, in a discriminatory (making preferential choices) manner.
But none of that applies to our private choices that we voluntarily enter into in our private associations. It is not a moral question of right or wrong as to “racial” or “religious” discrimination. That is and can be addressed in our Liberty-based social actions. And it is not a legal question because it is not by acts of government, but by our private choices in private associations. Yes, privately we can “discriminate”.
There was a great Britcom from the 80's called The Young Ones which featured a group of burned out hippie students living together in a cr@ppy apartment.
One scene has one of the characters,a proud anarchist,reading to his flatmates from the Guardian and you hear him trying to read a sentence that was one large typo.Funny stuff.
“When was the last time a Amish landholder sold his land ?”
When we were considering retiring in Western NY, we scoured the real estate ads. One house seemed like a steal — the cost per square foot. Then we drove by it. It was an Amish place. Of course, no electricity, plumbing, etc. Just a bare-bones house without utilities.
interesting - selling just the house or also the farm ?
Amish were selling the house and acreage. Not sure why; we never pursued that property seriously.
Moslem no-go zones are areas within some Western European nations where even police don’t dare venture due to high level of danger.
The Christian community in Michigan isn’t even remotely analogous to that.
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