Since when does the church have a right to silence an opinion on city politics?

Deborah Boschman of Brandon Manitoba was concerned for her city. So she decided to raise her voice. She wrote a letter to a local newspaper. In it she criticized her local political figures and made suggestions to help the city become more prosperous. Seems simple enough. A woman concerned, voices that concern.

Not really. You see, the pastor of her church (the Bethel Christian Assembly http://www.bethelbrandon.ca/) Mike Davis decided that she had stepped out of line. So much so that he wrote her his own letter. In that letter, he boldly stated that he was embarassed when he saw her letter in the paper. He reprimanded her as though she were a petulant child and not a concerned citizen. He even went so far as to suggest that she may want to worship God elsewhere. Pushing away a member of the flock for writing a letter to a newspaper, regarding local politics?? It is completely absurd. Made so by the simple fact that it had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Church, Faith or God.

It is people like this that drive potential followers of faith away. Exclusionary, elitist superiority at it's best. It is also people like Mike Davis that have kept me from even trying organized religion. I believe in God and I do not believe for one moment s/he would approve of his flock being turned away for voicing concern and opionion. After all it is my belief that he wants us to come to him in faith and of free will. Not out of fear and the need to assimilate ourselves in to a society of little unemotional robots that smile and nod.