“You’re not welcome back.”
That’s the message the manager of Philadelphia cheesesteak joint Max’s Steaks had for Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick, after his campaign held an event outside the restaurant Friday that the eatery was told would be about autism awareness.
Mike Sfida—who agreed to hold the event because his niece and nephew have autism—was alarmed when he saw Donald Trump signs being hung outside the beloved North Philly spot on Friday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. McCormick arrived, gave a campaign stump address, and then handed out free sandwiches.
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But the disaster didn’t end there.
After showing up at a cheesesteak restaurant to campaign under the auspice of an autism awareness event, McCormick went across the street to East Bethel Baptist Church, which happened to be holding an outdoor fundraiser for its food ministry.
The Rev. Thomas Edwards Jr., who leads the church, told his campaign to leave because he didn’t want the GOP candidate to use photos of his congregation for campaigning purposes.
“You can Photoshop,” he told the Inquirer. “You can make things seem like they aren’t. Maybe they’re going to post we’re eating dogs or eating cats, like in Ohio. Forgive me if I’m wrong. I don’t trust these people.”
On the one hand, my condolences.
On the other hand, congrats at getting free.
On the gripping hand, you have the ability to pull others, who are still capable of being saved, from that cray-cray. You can leverage what you used yourself to help others.
Not the poster you’re responding to, but I’m a preacher’s kid who made it out.
Man, it’s just about impossible to pull others out. I know the bible backwards and forwards. Can persuasively speak to the origins of tithing vs. what it is now, the confusion in the gospels, and so on. I’ve tried.
Fundamentalist leadership works very hard to innoculate their people against doubting what they’ve been led to believe. Centuries of propaganda techniques. Highly effective.
I had to think myself out of it and it took until I was in my 30’s to free myself. No one could do it for me and I haven’t been successful in pulling anyone else. My small family and I recently moved out of the deep South. It has gotten incredibly bad down there and, at this point, I don’t know what can be done to help someone out of it. Maybe planting seeds of doubt and rationality are all we can do.
It’s sickening what it’s done to my extended family and loved ones. I hate it. It still makes me sad. My parents and relatives would be great people if it weren’t for the bad religion.
I think we should invest in bringing back church on church ideological warfare. No more bitter an enemy than a former friend. Break up the ecumenical alliances! Get those church propaganda presses flowing! The crazies should not be able to rest a day without having to prove they’re not the bat-shit ones
It would be nice, but good luck. More rational churches will support batshit fundamentalist churches before they support dirty baby-eating atheists. Especially when it comes to their tax status.