Actions that fail Words

The Nazarene Revolutionary Guard has an interesting post about movement of the Imperial Palace of Nazarenedom.

I used to live in the mecca of Nazarenedom. I even worked for the propaganda wing of the party, often called the Nazarene Publishing House (NPH). The old HQ was not in the best neighborhood. (NPH is in an even worse area.) The magisterial junta of the church in its selfish wisdom decided to flee the blighted area that it has called home for lo these many decades.

I see two sinister things that are driving this (and they are in no way motivated by anything remotely religious or noble):

1. You see, the Kansas City metro area is bisected by the state line between Kansas and Missouri. A great many people live on either side of the state line and work in the other state. Most of the big dogs live on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area. If one works lives in Kansas and works in Missouri (or vice versa for that matter), then one has to pay taxes in both states. They are trying to get out of "rendering unto Caesar." At the same time, many of the support staff who live in Missouri will now have to render a greater amount unto Caesar. It also means a shorter commute for the big shots.

2. The neighborhood is not a good one. (Translation: too many black folk live around the compound.) This is the upshot of the Nazarene Revolutionary Guard's argument. For all the hot air about diversity and inclusion, they have exposed themselves as hypocrites. The church has always been, currently is, and always will be lily white. Throw a couple token African-Americans on stage at General Assembly, and maybe a leadership post here or there. All talk of diversity is just that, talk.

It is a sad thing to see the Church of the Nazarene flee the inner city. Lest we forget that the founder, Phineas Bresee, founded the Church of the Nazarene in the inner city of Los Angeles where he worked with every race and color, not just good clean white folk.

Also, they are apparently shaking down churches to finance this.