In an African-American Baptist church in Waynesville the pastor and two members sat in the sanctuary and said they will vote for Barack Obama, even though the Democratic presidential candidate supports abortion rights and civil unions for gay couples.

Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church Pastor A. Ferman Sweat said he disagrees with Obama’s stance on abortion and gay marriage but said those are only two issues and Baptists must look at the entire picture.

Church Treasurer Lee Bouknight agreed, saying, “You can dig up portions in the Bible and contradict anyone.”

Bethel Baptist Church Pastor Roy Kilby said he supports McCain because McCain is against abortion, believes in the “sanctity of life,” and is against gay marriage.

Bouknight noted that Republican Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter is a lesbian.

Kilby said McCain is “pro-family in that he supports traditional family values.” Kilby added, “This country was built upon strong Biblical family values.”

Christians can vote either way

Waynesville First Baptist Church Associate Pastor Rev. John Daniels said Christians could support either candidate, saying Christians can’t be labeled.

“Christians should have the ability to use their brains and be given the opportunity to look at issues,” said Daniels.

Life Church Pentecostal Pastor Paul Hensley said Christians will vote differently based on their denominations, saying some are right, left and moderate.

Pastor Kilby said when it comes down to it there is only one Bible. “It’s pretty simple,” Kilby said.

Hensley said Episcopalians may be considered the more left of the denominations because gay ministers have been ordained in that church. A local Episcopalian church declined comment on Hensley’s statement.

Evangelicals have not gotten behind McCain strongly because he is considered moderate, Hensley said. However, evangelicals liked McCain’s choice for vice president in Sarah Palin, who is considered more conservative, Hensley said.

Even without Palin, evangelicals would have selected McCain, because he was the “lesser of two evils,” said Hensley.

Evangelicals couldn’t go with Obama because of his “far-left leanings,” including his stance on abortion, which, Hensley said, is more liberal than Hillary Clinton’s and John Kerry’s.

Edward Moore at Mt. Olive said it should be an “insult” to women that McCain chose Palin as a running mate, saying McCain only did so to capture Hillary Clinton supporters.

“It’s very condescending,” Moore said.

Moore added that if McCain wanted an intelligent woman as vice president why didn’t he pick Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rather than Christians focusing on the candidates’ stances on abortion and gay marriage, “poverty, war and peace and social justice” should also be considered, Daniels said.

For instance, he said Christians are supposed to be for peace, and Obama is the candidate that seems to favor getting the U.S. troops out of Iraq.

As for abortion, Republicans may say they are against it but have only “discussed” the issue and “delivered nothing,” Daniels said. He added that Democrats are “trying to lower the number of abortions.”

Jesus probably would not “politic” for either candidate, Daniels said, adding, “The kingdom of God is more important than a U.S. election.”

A man who identified himself as an associate pastor at New Hope Church of God Family Worship Center in Waynesville but refused to give his name said some think Obama has “ties or influence with the Islam nation.”

Preachers on Rev. Wright

Pastor Hensley said Obama’s former preacher, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was controversial for making anti-American statements, practices “black liberal theology,” which Hensley said is “racist.”

Pastor Sweat at Mt. Olive, who said he has sat on the back of the bus and been called the “N-word” during Jim Crow segregation days, agreed that Wright “might be prejudice” and that he “said things that he shouldn’t have said.”

Jackson County Democratic Women President Sam Bryant and member Ann Chambers said there are white pastors in the region that speak racism from the pulpit.

“I’m afraid it’s true,” said Chambers.

Bouknight at Mt. Olive said, “If he (Wright) feels so bad about America” he should leave.

Moore at Mt. Olive said he does not think Wright should have been an issue in Obama’s campaign because Wright was not the one running for president.

The important thing is that Obama has cut ties with Wright’s church, Sweat said.

Luis Farrakhan “loves” Obama but would not support him if that meant hurting Obama’s chances of winning, Sweat said. Sweat said he thinks that is “noble” of Farrakhan.

Hensley said Wright’s theology accuses the “white man” of being the “oppressor” and “much more lines up with Muslims.”

Hensley noted that Obama was in the church for some 20 years and didn’t resign until the media broke the story about the controversial church. For Obama to resign from the church once it became controversial “shows the character of the man (Obama),” Hensley said.

Daniels of the Waynesville First Baptist Church said he believes Wright is a “Christian man and leads a good church.”

Hensley agreed that Wright’s church probably did do some good things in terms of feeding the poor and helping homeless.

As for Obama attending Wright’s church, Pastor Kilby said, “It’s pretty unrealistic one would associate with a church with un-American values.”

Asked if he thinks it would be a sin to vote for Obama, Kilby said, “When one has the opportunity to do what is right it would be a sin to not stand for what is right.”

Sweat at Mt. Olive said, “It is not a sin to vote for Obama.”

Sweat said, “The country is going to hell in a hand basket” with economic problems and is on the “verge of a nuclear war” and there are more issues to talk about than abortion.

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