Friday, March 05, 2010

Baptist pastor supports distribution of anti-Catholic booklets

A Pigeon Forge baptist church is drawing attention after one of its members passed out anti-Catholic literature at school.

One of the teens who received the tract at Pigeon Forge High School attends Holy Cross Catholic Church just down the street.

"This girl came up to her and said, 'This will make you very mad,'" said Holy Cross Catholic Church Pastor Father Jay Flaherty.

One of the booklets is titled "The Death Cookie".

"It says that our eucharist is of the devil," Father Flaherty said.

In it, cartoon caricatures of the devil and the pope make an agreement to take over the world with a eucharistic wafer.

"It irritates me that in today's age, with the tolerance we're learning, that this stuff still exists," Father Flaherty said.

"The reason they do this is they believe what these things say. They're trying to save Catholic souls. They feel and believe we are devil worshippers and that are souls are lost because we don't see the Christ that they see. It's just ignorance."

On the back of the tracts, a stamp reads "Compliments of Conner Heights Baptist Church."

The church's pastor stands by the literature, saying it helps spread the Gospel, which he says he's called to do.

"It's what saved my life. Why would I not want to share it if I believe it's the right way to go?" said Conner Heights Pastor Jonathan Hatcher.

Pastor Hatcher says he's not trying to target Catholics specifically, just the belief that the eucharist will save one's soul.

In fact, he says he doesn't even really know much about the Catholic faith.

"I'm obviously not schooled in the Catholic religion, I've not read the Catholic canons. I study the King James Bible and that's what I preach from, what I study from," Pastor Hatcher said.

When asked if he's concerned about passing out literature targetting a religion about which he admits he doesn't know much, Pastor Hatcher says he trusts the publishers of the material.

"The people who distribute these tracts, or put them on the market, say they are schooled in it," Pastor Hatcher said.

"Our goal is not to spread not to start violence, not to spread hatred, but to share the Gospel."

However, not all baptist leaders say the tracts spread the Gospel.

First Baptist Church Pigeon Forge Student Pastor David Huskey says the literature is divisive and hopes the theological conflict can be worked out, especially since the two churches are neighbors.

"One way we can honor God is to spend less time focusing on our differences and pointing people to how great God is," Huskey said.

"My prayer is that this [conflict] doesn't give people outside the church another reason to say, 'That's why I don't go to church'."
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