Sir,
Thank you for your gracious words. You are absolutely correct that we are at risk for losing our tax exempt status by engaging in politics. It is a violation of the “Johnson Amendment. But the hypocritical thing is that our GMP, in her blog against the new tax legislation, expressed concern, along with a number of DOC leaders, that the legislation, as it stood then, would have eliminated the Johnson Amendment, thereby ALLOWING tax-exempt organizations to engage in politics. The enacted legislation kept the Johnson Amendment, but I find it outrageous that our leadership would argue a position that would prevent churches from engaging in politics, but then do it enthusiastically when the issue suits. Of course, it depends on the side of the aisle one is on ….

Mr. Lyons,
Thank you for your courage and integrity in standing up to this one-sided effort by the DoC leadership to sway DoC members to follow their agenda. As a DoC elder I’ve dedicated many years to avoiding political debates and weighing-in on current events and social issues so I can serve the entire church family without them having any reservations about my leanings. Our denomination has been pushing an agenda for years and this statement by the GMP is another strong step in that direction. My understanding is that a church cannot keep its tax exemption if it tells people how to vote. And more to the point, it may lose half of its members if it tells people how to vote. A church divided cannot stand.
Man, I can’t stand this stuff. I’ve never enjoyed political debates. Too bad our church is making it difficult to avoid. There are just too many people being told to be silent (like you are in these comments) while the other half keeps pushing their agenda. If they really want to say ALL are welcome, then they need to live it. I’ll continue praying that God guide us as disciples to live according to his word. By the mercy and grace of Christ, may we each seek to stay focused on him.

Dear Gloria,
David was also held accountable by the Lord, in his case for killing a faithful servant to cover up his adultery, and for failing as a parent, which resulted in the rape of a daughter and the death of two sons. I believe that the leadership of the Church seeks to remind us all that while we should be praying constantly for our leaders, we are also called to hold one another accountable. As the President has, on numerous occasions, claimed to be a Christian, we must, like the prophets of old, be willing to boldly confront serious and repeated behaviors that do not align with our faith.
Thank you for the reminder that it is so important that we continue to pray for our President, and that there are a few areas in which he has been faithful to God’s will. Let us pray together for him to follow God’s perfect will.
In Christ’s love,
Ann Courtney

As a 4th generation disciple myself, I stand in solidarity with our GMPs call to action. I attend a Disciples church that is growing and vibrant and raising many many children in this denomination. As I look at my world and what inspires people to come to church it is seeing others live according to Jesus teachings, rather than just talk. It is letting God use us. I have never been very comfortable with religion and politics, but that is not the case here. Where there are those that are marginalized, treated with injustice it is our duty to speak up, to live our faith. Whether the particular vulgarity was spoken or not is irrelevant. A man with great power chose to diminish and see as lesser people with dark skin. we must speak up. We must stand, whether we politically agree with him or not, we must say no to that kind of thinking. It hurts the weak and marginalized. It hurts us all.

We as christians have a duty. Pray fpr our leaders. We are not judges!

We should pray that his cancer be removed from us.

Pastor/Chaplain Pamelajune Anderson, DMin.
Your Sibling in Christ and Creation.

Sir, I congratulate you for possessing such a profound insight into the thoughts and motives of a person you have never met. Otherwise, I would have taken your words, as they appear, as bullying and a personal attack – which I am sure you would never do. You are wise beyond your years, and truly a great person. With regard to our President – I am sure you, or no-one of your apparent leanings has ever bandied around any unseemly adjectives about him, or the “Basket of Deplorables” who support him.
I stand by the merits of my posting: we rush to judgement when something in the poitical world does not suit us, but seemingly stand aside as our denomination slowly, but most certainly dies. If the trend of the last twenty years continues for the next twenty or so, I doubt this blog, this webiste, this denomination will still exist. As a fourth generation Disciple, I pray the Lord will call me home before this happens – and my point was to commend the GMP to give less attention to the media and political events (which Churches are not supposed to do anyway) and to constructively devote her greater energy to preserving what is left of our Church while a remnant still remains. I apologize for my many sins, and if the concept was unclear to you.

Dear Mr. Lyons. Your remarks, while couched in terms of moderation and caution, cannot belie your point of view. It is obvious that you are condoning our President’s present and past record of dehumanizing persons and places that he does not favor. Pointing out other deficiencies in our world does not lessen the need to address transgressions by the leader of the free world.