It was recently reported that Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson was disinvited from a Christian pastors’ conference early this year because his religious beliefs were too outrageous.
Willy Rice, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Florida, invited Carson to the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference earlier this year. The conference was in June before Carson declared his candidacy for president. Members and groups of the Southern Baptist community became displeased over the invite because Carson is a Seventh-day Adventist.
Amid several complaints, Carson and the conference mutually agreed to not work together at the event. Rice posted on his blog that he didn’t agree with the Southern Baptist objections to Carson speaking:
As a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Dr. Carson is publicly identified with theological positions that differ from those of Southern Baptists. While this is true, I believed, and still believe, that leaders gathered for our Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference are open to listening to persons from outside our denomination. I believe most are willing to hear from national leaders even if we disagree on some points of doctrine as we have done in the past, particularly when the point of the discussion is a biblical worldview of prevailing cultural issues.
Conservative Christians hate other religions, and they generally aren’t fond of other sects of Christianity either. It’s like a contest to see who the most intolerant group is.
For more, visit Talking Points Memo “Carson Was Dropped From Christian Event Over His Own Religious Beliefs”
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