"Disowning Conservative Politics"

Huzzahs for the pastor of Woodland Hills Church St. Paul, Minn. His name is
Rev.Gregory Boyd. Before the last presidential election he preached six sermons called "The Cross and the Sword" "in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns."

Mr.Boyd says he is no liberal. He is opposed to abortion and thinks homosexuality is not God’s ideal. The response from his congregation at Woodland Hills Church here in suburban St. Paul -- packed mostly with politically and theologically conservative, middle-class evangelicals -- was passionate. Some members walked out of a sermon and never returned. By the time the dust had settled, Woodland Hills, which Mr. Boyd founded in 1992, had lost about 1,000 of its 5,000 members.

I suppose we can't blame the parishioners. Rev. Boyd has just gotten fed up with all the politics something he believes shouldn't be part of the church at all.

Mr. Boyd said he never intended his sermons to be taken as merely a critique of the Republican Party or the religious right. He refuses to share his party affiliation, or whether he has one, for that reason. He said there were Christians on both the left and the right who had turned politics and patriotism into 'idolatry.' NYTimes article by Laurie Goldstein, July 30, 2006

Maybe now that Mr. Boyd has done it maybe some more pastors, priests, will do it. After all it's the right thing to do!