Pastor Chan Chandler issued a statement today denying that he expelled nine members of his congregation because they were not Republicans.

“This church fellowships openly with all who embrace the authority and application of the Bible regardless of political affiliation, including current members who align themselves with both major political parties, as well as those who affiliate with no political party.”

The nine people who he kicked out of the church last Monday night directly contradict this statement.

The church members said they were ousted Monday after leaving a business meeting because they could not support Pastor Chan Chandler’s assertion that the church would be a Republican church. One of the members voted out was a Republican…

“Our memberships were terminated because we did not agree to have a political church,” said Thelma Lowe, the lone Republican voted out. “I did not vote for Kerry.”

Chandler is lying now because his actions may have jeopardized his church’s non-profit status. So sayeth the Biblical Recorder:

If indeed Chandler’s pulpit statement was made before the November election and did not indicate he was speaking only for himself, it would be a “pretty clear” violation of Internal Revenue Service rules against political endorsements by churches, said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC). That could lead the IRS to revoke East Waynesville Baptist Church’s tax-exempt status.

Chandler told the Associated Press that it was all “a great misunderstanding.”

I lived in nearby Canton, a paper mill town on the Pigeon River, when I was in elementary school. The mill emits a stank reminiscent of spoiled egg salad. In the early ’60’s, it routinely dumped yellow foamy waste into the river. By comparison, the pollution here in Los Angeles is barely noticeable.

With a population under 10,000, Waynesville doesn’t even have a putrid smell to put it on the map. At best, it appears to be the Gateway to Maggie Valley. I don’t remember East Waynesville, and couldn’t find it on a map .

It sounds like Pastor Chandler is seriously unhinged but, crazy or not, his actions offer stark proof that theocracy has entered the atmospherics of our time.