I attended an evangelical church for nearly a year.
Parkside Church is one of the largest evangelical "non-denominational" church in the US, and it's senior pastor, Alistair Begg, runs Truth for Life Ministries, a huge outfit that runs radio shows, missionary wrk in third world nations, lots of good work. I really appreciated the work they did, not only abroad, but in the myriad of social and bible-oriented events that the church ran daily.
But as the run-up to the war began two years ago, I began to strongly question the government's intentions, while quoting Matthew's "blessed are the peacemakers" and arguing that Christ would never condone our government's actions.
I was handing out literature after a service that contained information about military spending from the
War Resisters League. I was approached by a church elder -- a fairly good friend of mine, to be honest -- who asked me what I was doing, asked for a copy of the flyer, then, after reading the information, asked me to stop handing the flyer out at the church until "Alistair had a chance to look at it," and approve the message being delivered.
I relented, not wishing to create a scene, but the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up -- I knew something rotten was happening.
Two days later I recieved a call from the minister in charge of the "Singles Over 35" Wednesday night prayer and study group which I was an active participant of, who asked me to stay away that week, because the church elders wanted to talk to me about my activities, and would I be willing to meet with him and a few other members of the staff to discuss what I was trying to do. I agreed, now really creeped out by the whole situation, and feeling a fiery burn in my middle. I can proseletize and preach with the best of them -- my dad was a minister, my mother a claassical voice teacher, so I could deliver fire an brimstone with the best of them.
The elders -- a group of five middle-aged white men of rank and stature -- shredded me.
I was called everything but an apostate and a heretic, for speaking out against President Bush -- a good Christian man, saved by Christ! -- and opposing things that the church leadership had determined to be good and right, and "approved by God," by god! They asked me to recant, to surrender my damning literature -- clearly the work of the devil himself, to print such lies about our good and kindly government -- and enter into a time of contrition, the duration of which to be determined by the elders handling my case. I also was to stay away from Parkside except for Sunday services, was told not to contact members of my Singles Group, and was ordered to remain quiet and subdued. Any attempt to stray from that path would result in my immediate expulsion.
I said "no thanks," and haven't stepped foot on the property since. I occasionally send emails to the Singles list, alerting them to various criminal activity being made by BushCo and his cronies -- the runup top the election was especially fun, while I forwarded the Daily Mislead to the list almost every day.