Christian Businesses in Trouble Over Christian Policies

Monday, 14 October 2013 16:10
Written by Raven Clabough




A Mennonite couple in Iowa may be forced to choose between financial penalties or disregarding their own principles after the Iowa Civil Rights Commission filed suit against them for refusing to host a same-sex wedding. Dick and Betty Odgaard, who operate The Gortz Haus Gallery in Grimes, Iowa, has filed a counter-lawsuit against the state’s Civil Rights Commission in the hopes that they may be able to maintain their own convictions without penalty.

The Odgaards’ Gallery served as the location of a Lutheran church for over 60 years, but is now a bistro, floral and arts shop, as well as a wedding facility. They declined a request from Lee Stafford and his partner Jared to host a same-sex wedding in August. According to their countersuit, they did so “because their religion forbids them from personally planning, facilitating or hosting wedding ceremonies not between one man and one woman.”

His wife Betty explained to local television station KCCI that the company policy reflects their Christian faith. “That decision is based on our religious beliefs,” she stated. “And we want to honor that. We want people to know that is our stand, [which] comes from our faith and convictions, and I think we should stand by those [convictions] no matter what.”

The Odgaards did offer to provide the flowers or cake for the ceremony, but indicated that they were not comfortable allowing an exchanging of vows between the two men on their premises. “I would serve them in every other way; we simply don’t want to take part.… It just comes down to that final line of taking their vows in our facility,” she told reporter Billy Hallowell. “I do not hate these people and they have the right to do what they want to do under the law and in humanity.”

Their offer was not well-received by Stafford, who filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and accused the Odgaards of violating state law, as same-sex "marriage" was legalized in Iowa in 2009 after a state Supreme Court ruling. “They discriminated against us based on our sexual orientation. Iowa code says if you have a public accommodation, you can’t discriminate based on sexual orientation,” said Stafford.

On October 7, the Odgaards responded by filing a counter-lawsuit through the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty.

“The Iowa Civil Rights Commission is now seeking to force the Odgaards to plan, facilitate and host same-sex wedding ceremonies at the Gallery,” the suit reads. “Publicly associating with a wedding ceremony that violates their beliefs would send a message to others who share their beliefs, including some of their employees, that those beliefs are untrue or unworthy of devotion, and thereby cause others to sin.”

Meanwhile, Stafford found another facility at which to host the ceremony for him and his partner.

But that has not stopped angry critics from hurling angry expletives at the Odgaards. After the incident at the Gortz Haus Gallery became public knowledge, the couple indicates that they began receiving harsh and angry e-mails. “You are mean, rude, selfish, [expletive] racist sons of [expletive] from Hell,” one message stated. “[Expletive] your God. [Expletive] your religion.”

“Betty, you’re very old and almost dead,” another e-mail read. “How do you both feel knowing that America and the world will be a better place without you?”

Likewise, the incident has been harmful to their business. Christian News reported, “Two clients also canceled their reservations, and several others have asked for their money back.”

Others within the community, however, have reportedly been largely supportive of the Christian couple.

And Betty Odgaard does not believe that she should feel anymore guilty for maintaining her own views on the subject as those who have grown angry over the incident. “Can’t I have my beliefs without being ostracized for that?” she opined. “I think that I have my right, too, to stand firm on my convictions and beliefs.”

But the Odgaards do fear that they may be forced to shutdown if they continue to refuse to host same-sex weddings.

And the Odgaards are not the only ones who have found themselves in legal troubles because of their strict adherence to their beliefs.

A Christian couple in Oregon was forced to close their bakery business because of the harassment they had received from homosexual advocates after they refused to make a cake for a lesbian wedding.

“It’s a sad day for Christian business owners and it’s a sad day for the First Amendment,” Aaron Klein, co-owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham, Oregon, told commentator Todd Starnes. “The LGBT attacks are the reason we are shutting down the shop. They have killed our business through mob tactics.”

“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman,” he stated. “I don’t want to help somebody celebrate a commitment to a lifetime of sin.”

Across the ocean, in Cornwall, England, another Christian couple experienced a similar dispute that resulted in the couple selling their business.

Peter and Hazelmary Bull, Christian owners of the Chymorvah Hotel, were forced to sell their bed and breakfast, which also served as their home, after legal costs and harassment from opponents drove them out of business.

In 2008, Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy reserved a double room but were turned away by the Bulls because of their homosexuality, and the Chymorvah Hotel does not permit unmarried couples — homosexual or heterosexual — to share a room.

“Please note that as Christians we have a deep regard for marriage (being the union of one man to one woman for life to the exclusion of all others),” the business website states. “Therefore, although we extend to all a warm welcome to our home, our double bedded accommodation is not available to unmarried couples.”

The Bulls were forced to pay restitution to the Hall and Preddy of nearly $3,000 each. The couple also accumulated a considerable amount in legal fees.

Furthermore, they have been targeted by vandals who have also been issuing death threats. Christian News reported, “They told reporters that a dead rabbit was once nailed to their fence, the bolts were removed out of the wheels of their car, and they were infected with pornography on their computer."

The Bulls attempted to remain strong in the face of such intolerance but were ultimately forced to close their doors and sell their business when the financial impact of the dispute began to take its toll.

It is becoming increasingly clear that some of the loudest proponents of “tolerance” are intolerant of beliefs that are not their own.


Source
.

Total of 23 children seized from Mennonite community; youngest nine months old

By The Canadian Press | Associated Press – Thu, Jun 20, 2013



WINNIPEG - Court documents show a total of 23 children have been taken into the care of the province from a Manitoba Mennonite community where adults have been charged with abuse.

The documents show the youngest child is nine months old while the oldest is 15.

Documents from Child and Family Services quote one 13-year-old boy as saying he "does not want to return home."

Four adults from the orthodox community have been charged with assaulting children using cattle prods and leather straps between July 2011 and January of this year.

RCMP are still investigating and say more charges could be laid.

The identities of the children are protected under a publication ban.

Source

.

Adventists and Mennonites in conversation

NEWS




Adventist and Mennonite Leaders meeting in Silver Spring/USA



08.03.2013:




Bern, Switzerland [APD; CD EUDNews]. In 2011 and 2012, representatives of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and of the Mennonite World Conference met together for official conversations. In many respects the meetings proved to be a journey of mutual discovery. Mennonites and Adventists have had frequent contacts during the past forty years, particularly through their participation in the annual meetings of the secretaries of Christian World Communions.

These periodic encounters, along with other contacts, gradually led to the conviction on both sides that an official conversation might be both instructive and valuable. Adventists and Mennonites have distinct identities that are critically important to them. From the outset of discussions leading to the conversation, it was understood that organic union was not the objective. Rather, the dialogue would provide an opportunity for learning about each other's history, beliefs and values, clarifying misunderstandings, and removing stereotypes. Out of the discussion, therefore, might emerge areas where Mennonites and Adventists can join forces in selected areas of mutual concern.

The history of Mennonites stretches back 500 years, that of the Adventists' only about 160 years. Mennonites arose out of the religious ferment of the sixteenth century, Adventists out of the Second Great Awakening in the United States in the 1830s and 1840s. The mennonites come from the anabaptist tradition. The Anabaptists were persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants. Since “Anabaptist” was from the beginning a designation of opprobrium, many adopted the term “Mennonite” after the name of Menno Simons, a Dutch leader and writer, who stressed a renewed vision for the church, including the call for followers of Jesus to reject violence and seek peace.

Over the course of the centuries, Mennonites, along with other branches of the Anabaptists, suffered ongoing persecution, including imprisonment and death, because of their beliefs and practices. They frequently found it necessary to uproot and move on, seeking a more tolerant environment. Many eventually migrated to Canada and the United States where they established communities.

In 1925 European Mennonite churches came together to form the Mennonite World Conference (MWC). Today Mennonites are frequently known as a “peace church.” They are active in building congregations as disciples of Jesus - the Prince of Peace, living and promoting reconciliation, mediation, justice and peace in all aspects of life. As a consequence of active missionary and evangelistic engagement over the last century, MWC is presently made up of 101 national churches, in 53 countries, with 1.3 million members.

The first conversation was held June 28—July 1, 2011, at Seventh-day Adventist world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA; the second, May 27-31, 2012, at the Study and Conference Center Bienenberg, near Basel, Switzerland. Each day's discussion began and ended with worship, the worship leader alternating between the two communions. The theme, “Living the Christian Life in Today's World,” focused both conversations, which were built on papers prepared on selected topics by representatives from each side. These papers, while theological in nature, endeavoured to show the practical outworking in the life of the community.

During the first round of conversation, each group presented an overview of their communion's history. Papers followed on the topics of peace; non-violence and military service; discipleship and non-conformity; health, healing and ecology; and the nature and mission of the church.

In the second dialogue, major papers were presented from each side on eschatology, nonconformity, and hermeneutics. In addition, shorter discussions took up questions raised by each communion prior to the meeting in Bienenberg. Mennonites responded to issues of pacifism, Sabbath, salvation and obedience, personal lifestyle, hermeneutics, and eschatology. Adventists addressed questions of military service, Sabbath, contextualization, justice and discipleship, the role of women in ministry, church discipline, Ellen White, and eschatology.

Participants in the conversation quickly realized that they have much in common. They share a desire to recover the authenticity and passion of the New Testament church, a similar understanding of Christian history, and a strong commitment to be followers of Jesus in their personal lives and in their corporate witness to the world. Each communion brought to the conversation a deep experience of what it means to live the Christian faith, often as a minority voice in the world, and stressed the importance of discipleship and the practical living out of the Christian life. Together they understand that Christians live “in the world” but are not “of the world.”



pictures: Adventist Leaders meeting Mennonite Leaders (ANN archive)


By: APD; CD EUDNews;

Source

.

Why did the Pilgrims come to America?

Feb 23rd, 2009

by Anthony Delgado

First let's define Pilgrims. Pilgrims are typically considered to be early protestant Christian settlers from England...

Why did the Pilgrims come to America?

First let's define Pilgrims. Pilgrims are typically considered to be early protestant Christian settlers from England. They chose to come to America to escape religious persecution from the church and from the English monarchy. At the time Protestants were forced to practice their beliefs in secrecy, otherwise they would be considered a threat to the Church and to the throne, which was far from the reality. The secret living is what caused them to make the trek to the Americas in order to escape this way of living.

Pilgrims began to migrate to the Americas in about 1620 AD. The first settlers came over on the Mayflower and landed in Plymouth. They received aid from the Native Americans and actually befriended them, a concept contrary to other settlers. These pilgrim communities are the ones that the typical Thanksgiving stories come out of.

There were more ships than just the Mayflower that came over, over many years, containing Pilgrims or Protestants. They formed communities all over the northern coast and eventually moved inland. Many of today's Amish communities are descendant of these early settlements.

Today, just as in the sixteen hundreds, Protestants as well as all religions are able to practice their religion freely, as long as the practice does not break any laws in the United States. It was the protestant migration that paved the way for early constitutionalists to include freedom of religion into the constitution even though they themselves were mostly Protestant and could have made it the national religion.

-- Why did the Pilgrims come to America?
.

Source

.

KKKKKKKKKK

.

*Amish: Personally, I don't agree with this statement. Amish are actually descendants of German Protestants who emigrated to the U.S. (also fleeeing religious persecution) a couple of centuries later:

Amish Mennonites are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, and a reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology.

The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann.[2] Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish.[3] These followers were originally from three main places: the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, Alsace (now part of France), and the Palatinate of Germany. In the early 18th century, many Amish and Mennonites emigrated to Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons.
...
Amish Mennonites began migrating to Pennsylvania in the 18th century as part of a larger migration from the Palatinate and neighboring areas. This migration was a reaction to religious wars, poverty, and religious persecution on the Continent. The Amish congregations remaining in Europe slowly merged with the Mennonites. Most Amish communities that were established in North America did not ultimately retain their Amish identity. Many of these eventually united with the Mennonite Church, and other Mennonite denominations, especially in the early 20th century. The more traditionally minded groups became known as the Old Order Amish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish
.

11 killed when truck, church van crash in Ky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogCeSITwQgYhttp://


11 killed when truck, church van crash in Ky.
(AP) – 1 hour ago

MUNFORDVILLE, Ky. — A truck crossed a Kentucky interstate median and hit a Mennonite church van headed to a wedding, killing 11 people, state police said Friday.

State police Trooper Charles Swiney said two children survived the crash with the tractor-trailer on northbound Interstate 65.

A pastor for the family in the van says they were Mennonites on their way to a wedding in Iowa. Authorities say the truck driver was also killed.

Officials say the tractor-trailer crossed the median and struck the church van head-on around 5:30 a.m. CDT near Munfordville, about 75 miles south of Louisville.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was dispatching a team to investigate the crash.

Pastor Leroy Kauffman with the Marrowbone Christian Brotherhood in Burkesville says the two surviving children were taken to a nearby hospital.

Kauffman said there were three young children on board ages 1, 3 and 5. He said the father was an assistant pastor at the church and there was also a couple on board the van who were engaged to be married, although they were traveling to someone else's wedding.

"They had a July wedding planned but they won't need that now," Kauffman said. "They'll have a wedding in heaven I guess."

He said the family's house burned down in December and they had just moved into a new home built by church members.

"We're experiencing a lot of heartache and a lot of sadness, but with that a hope," Kauffman said. "We know where these people are going, they were all saved Christians and walking with the Lord."
.
.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hLwSxXtdifP0CI2hAcp3nu-NSl-QD9EME7FG5
.
.