Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

"Hate".....I was brought up in a Republican household...and "hate" wasn't allowed to be said outloud because it was considered a four-letter word. Sermon on the Mount ring any bells for you or the fact that "we are ALL created in God's image" or for that matter.....the only one with "judging" in their job description is God, "judge not, that ye be not judged"? Just sayin'....

Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

….so why then, did the National Council of Churches agree with Madalyn Murray O'Hair, and NOT a single Christian organization file a brief in support of school prayer when the Supreme Court heard O'Hair's and one other case (a New York case)? As to "preachers speaking ill of the Left"....it's not their place (in my opinion)….they have entered the political arena. Just sayin'....

kemmer

America is a multi-cultural nation; this is not the 19th century when everyone was Christian if they knew what was good for them. Our constitution separates church and state, and most schools are state schools. If parents want their kids to pray and read the bible in school, there are many church-run schools where they can do so.
Religious leaders who dabble in politics from the pulpit risk losing their tax exempt status, and that is only just.

Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

….and that "indeed" is the REST of the story.

padremike Loc: Phenix City, Al

No! He's a liar, a degenerate and a fraud. And this is the sort of creature educating children.

kemmer

Show me where there’s ONE lie in what I wrote, you scurrilous old bigot!

Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

I haven't been back "here" long, don't recognize everyone, not the instant recognition I once had, but I'm sorry, I don't see his words the way you do. I left because I found that minds don't want to be opened, that there are those whose "hate" trumps everything, and all they wish is a podium to bear witness from. I originally joined because I wanted to understand others who are "not like me". I need to hear words beyond "liar"....happy to listen, not necessarily agree with "....liar, because of x, y, and/or z". Just sayin'....

kemmer

The so-called “padre” despises me and everything I say simply because I’m gay. He gets extremely vicious in his attacks on me and I think he may have been banned from OPP For awhile because of his vitriol. He’s a real character.

padremike Loc: Phenix City, Al

Kemmer is a militant homosexual who takes pleasure in taunting Christian's with disgusting descriptions of his sexual acts. He is a Trump hater, a conservative hater because of our overall opposition to his lifestyle, and makes a mockery of Christianity. He believes there is a separation of Church and State found nowhere in the Constitution but deeply imprinted in his poisoned mind.
He conveniently believed clergy should not disguss anything political from their pulpit because deviants, hedonists, perverts and progressives have politicized predominantly Godly and spiritual concerns. I made a pact with myself not to directly engage with him in conversation because it was costing me too much money for sanitizer afterwards. It was easier to "dust" him off my feet. You are certainly free to form your own opinions based on your own values and morality.

He mistakenly believes that I was banned from the OPP for a time when I intentionally signed off for awhile because I found myself becoming too strident for my own good dealing with the type of moral and spiritual corruption Progressives advocate.

kemmer

That’s one of your biggest lies so far. You’re really back with a vengeance, aren’tcha boobie.

I don’t give a damn about what you do or don’t think about my life; I’m a Catholic and think your version of Christianity is sick and depraved, judging by your demeanor.

You are grossly uninformed.

Hahahahaha...! Amazing.

I can imagine the spit all over your computer might get to stinking after awhile.

Uh-huh.

Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

Awwww.....padremike…..Thomas Jefferson first talked about division of church and state w-a-y back then, and the Supreme Court made that pesky ruling about school prayer. While I am a registered Republican, have been since "forever", and know you and I could relate on a level or two, I'm afraid you might not like me on others. I do thank you for sharing your "x,y,z" of why you feel you can't have any love for Kemmer. It gives me a better understanding of where you are coming from. I also understand why you walked away from OPP for a while. I think a great many of us for a host of reasons have done just that.

That said, I am a most spiritual person, feel a direct line to "The Man" having "not" died three years ago, as those in the medical community expected me to. I am a firm believer in The Sermon on the Mount and its principles, have been forever. I have a philosophy that says "let your life speak. the journey is the destination." Mind you, not our final destination, but we need to be present in the here and now of our lives. We need to make our lives count. I'm sure you and I would be in agreement there. However, I do not share your fondness for Trump, and since I truly believe "we are all created in God's likeness", that includes everyone. While I am most heterosexual, have been married for a long time, I have friends all across the "rainbow" spectrum. I look at what's in a person's heart, whether they "do unto others as they would do unto themselves", not their sexual identity. That's all that matters to me, that they walk the walk, the walk of empathy, compassion, and acts of kindness towards their fellow man and woman. I understand, from your room with a view, that Kemmer couldn't possibly exemplify any positive qualities, perhaps simply by the fact that he is gay, and that he does not share your views. He must seem like a threat to you, totally alien in thought, and I can see how much he upsets you. I can't say I feel the same, and so, I have to ask you, is there room in your heart for others who "aren't" just like you? We all have something to contribute....I look forward to seeing what you have to say on "all" topics, because it helps me to understand and relate to people "who are not like me".

Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

Well now....I'm not going to add fuel to the fire here. I'm just going to say "REALLY pleased to meet you", thank you for giving your thoughts on padremike's observations, and as I said to padremike, I look forward to seeing what YOU have to say on ALL topics. My thought has always been that the only way we are going to be able to reach across any aisle to extend a hand "in faith", is that we have to have an understanding of "why" someone "not like us" (yeah, I'm wearing that phrase out, I know) feels the way they do. I grew up in a household that was a split personality, with my mother not allowing me to say outloud the word "hate" and my dad, a D.C. cop, uttering every ethnic and racial slur there was while we sat at the dinner table, and if he didn't know one, he made up one on the spot, for all those who "didn't think the way he did". I loved the man, but he made Archie Bunker look saintly. I have no idea why, but I am blessed with an "ecumenical" spirit, feeling like there's room for us all. Glad to have you as my neighbor.

kemmer

Welcome!

padremike Loc: Phenix City, Al

Don't question my heart and don't question my reluctance to resist compromising the faith as you evidently find cause. Understand here that we are addressing evil behavior and a misunderstanding and corruption of love. People who genuinely love one another do not continuously express it thru sinful behavior because they accept the responsibility of caring for one another's souls. (I now question why this was never a part of theTraditional marriage vows.)

Read the 1st Amendment and tell me afterwards one single word that separates church and state. You will unquestionably find that it clearly says that the State is to keep their rump scratching fingers out of the Church. It is a common enough misunderstanding because it worked itself into the lexicon of false statements thru Progressives and atheists lies.

Kemmer is not gay. He is a homosexual; an unrepented militant homosexual who claims God approves of homosexuality. Gay is a distortion of Truth intended to put a happy face on Homosexuality. He either doesn't understand or denies what the 2nd Amendment says and he also denies what God has said favoring, instead what Kemmer says. He claims he's a catholic although he once claimed he was an Episcopalian. If he's catholic he's a Nancy Pelosi type of Christian. I expect he's an Episcopalian because they've put their imprimatur, their blessing on all sexual disorder and dysfunction and have sadly fallen into apostasy. Many other once mainline Christian Churches follow suit.

You actually believe Kemmer poses a threat to me? That is a remarkable miscalculation. I am far stronger than he is because I know right from wrong, good from evil. My stubbornness is not the stubbornness of a mule refusing to budge. My stubbornness is like that of a finely trained and conditioned racehorse determined to run a race I cannot lose unless I quit.

"Rainbow Spectrum?" What you call a rainbow spectrum I understand as a thorough desecration of God's rainbow originally intended to be His sign of Peace and beauty.

Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

I'm sorry to see that I've upset you, and no, I don't believe Kemmer poses a threat to you. I'm not sure why you would think that was my intent, but no, it wasn't.

Note also, I did not say that the Constitution's First Amendment says a separation of church and state "specifically", but that the Supreme Court and Thomas Jefferson did. The First Amendment does say that there will be no state sanctioned religion, no official religion. I did go back and read the First Amendment, several times, and then I did a little history research afterwards because I wanted to see if what you said was true, at least as far as intent of the First Amendment, that the First Amendment was not to separate church and state. From what I could glean, and I feel I was thorough....Thomas Jefferson was not satisfied that the Constitution was complete, and one of the things he wanted in that First Amendment was a protection for ALL people, that there would be no "State" religion, and that no one would be forced to honor "any" religion. He proposed that very bill here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. James Madison's first "draft" of the First Amendment included that....."the civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious beliefs or worship...." Yes, I can see the final wording. It is as you say, but I don't think that was the intent. I have been known to be wrong....

Again, while I am sorry that I upset you with my opinions, I like the fact that you challenged me. We all get comfortable with what we believe as fact and we all have a tendency to assume that facts stored away as truth are absolute truth. It is a good thing to go back and take a second, or even third look, because it is important to know, really know how to separate fact from fiction. Today, I learned that I favored the original intent of the First Amendment, not the final version. Thank you. Some things, certain issues, however, will remain subjective in nature. Personal opinions will appear to be (and are) as entrenched as if they were set in concrete. Blessed be and safe journey.