Pastor says McCain not full member of church, has never undergone adult baptism.

McCain Keeps His Faith to Himself, at Church and in Campaign

By Hans Nichols
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April 25 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain's pastor ends his sermons with an altar call, beckoning any stirred souls to the front of his 3,500-seat``worship center'' to publicly dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ. In McCain's 15 years of attending Dan Yeary's North Phoenix Baptist Church, the pastor says, the Arizona senator has never made that walk.

``All I can tell you is that John and I have had some interesting conversations'' about faith, said Yeary, a 69-year- old Texan. ``And we'll have more.''

McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is more private about the role faith plays in his life than either Democratic candidate or the president he is running to replace.

While McCain, 71, describes Yeary as his family pastor, Yeary said the senator -- who was christened an Episcopalian -- isn't a full member of his church because he has never undergone the adult baptism that membership requires.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aHH18X6Vsqzk&refer=home

WTF is up with all this sanctimonious BULLSHIT

voter has completely bad reasoning (and dangerous) for voting for Pres. But if it keeps McCain's hands away from that Red Button, this is what needs to be done. You always have to talk to voters from THEIR viewpoints, from THEIR concerns.

Guess he calculated there are more Baptists than Episcopalians - and Baptists would likely be way more into the fundy political positions.

and sanctimonious pieces of SHIT will vote McCain

with their own lies and hypocrisy?

I simply believe in separation of church and state and consider it the ULTIMATE in hypocrisy to believe this, then question a politican's CHURCH STANDING. FUCK ALL THAT.

I don't like the big role religion is playing in this election either. But McCain is courting the religious vote by seeking endorsements from major pastors, talking about the sanctity of life, and generally sucking up to those he once called "agents of intolerance."

Given that he's telling stories about a captor who drew a cross in the sand with his foot and saying "there were just two people there, praying together," it becomes an issue of character and hypocrisy, not religion, when he talks about the path of God but does not walk it.

.. telling us how "we shouldn't go there".

from the GD: Primary days also.

As Arsenio said, "Things that make you go hmmmmmmm"!

...the full disclosure of candidates' religious beliefs and affiliations are litmus tests adopted by McCain's own party.

...when their own candidate doesn't make the grade. In the early primaries, John McCain was reviled by Christian fundamentalists on the right. Now that they're beginning to embrace him, we have the right to ask "What's changed?" And, of course, the answer is that nothing about McCain's history has changed--which makes his newfound fundie friends hypocrites with a capital H. This isn't news, either, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't take every opportunity to rub their collective nose in it.

But I don't really care to get sucked into the very same game in the process, that's all.

Obama's national approval rating has taken AT LEAST a 10 point hit by a never ending deluge about him either being a muslim or because of the crazy A nonsense the pastors at his church spewed ... Further, as others noted, religious beliefs have been drug into this by the right wing AND this clown is making the most superficial attempt to coast through on this ...

Sorry, high ideas are GREAT ... But, this election is FAR to close AND BO is a TRUE man of faith who has been hammered left and right on supposed religious grounds, while McCain is a half hearted poser who has not had to answer to his facade in the least ...

BO has been ATTACKED visciously on LIES ...
This is exposing the TRUTH about a poser ...

IF BO, or any other D, was actually posing like this, he/she would hung from a rafter ...

or, do the rules just not apply to him?

fine but critical point.

i always thought one baptism was enough, God doesn't need to do things twice since baptism is something where what God does for you is the important thing, not what you do for God. :think:

so, Senator McCain, oh my goodness, i actually agree with you on something, you don't need that second baptism and i don't like what being baptized a second says about one's first baptism.

my two cents.

It sounds like that is why he doesn't really claim a particular denomination.

He has been listed as an Episcopalian, and hasn't commented or tried to fix it. But he says he is a Baptist.

it's a big misunderstanding of baptism to think that the primary thing it confers is membership in a denomination.

i was baptized in a Roman Catholic Church, but because it is a Christian baptism, i was not baptized again in the Lutheran church. if i were to join most Baptist churches, they would not consider their baptisms "Baptist" baptisms, but Christian baptisms.

i think you misunderstand the topic you are writing about and i'm trying to explain where you are incorrecxt about it. by the way, it's a common misconception, but it is a misconception.

Therefore, the infant baptism he underwent worked for him as an Episcopalian, but not as a Baptist.

in Episcopalian theology, when you get baptized, God does the work in the baptism and makes you a Christian.

in Baptist theology, you believe in God and "accept" him as your saviour and then as evidence of your Christianity, you get baptized.

in Baptist theology, you do the work associated with baptism, God does not do something for you in baptism.

in Episcopalian theology, God does something for you in baptism and thus babies can be baptized since they need not affirmatively believe to be baptized. Baptism is something God does for you (or at least the critical part of baptism is what God does for you rather than what you believe, do or did beforehand).

This is why during the reformation the Baptists were called anabaptists or wiederteufer (re-baptizers) which even turned into the derisive tern widerteufer (anti-baptisers) because they were denying what both Catholics and Lutherans believed about the validity of the baptism

but it gets murky as to the effect of that because Baptists teach that baptism is a symbolic act on the part of a believer.

also because Baptist churches are congregational rather than synodical, you may get differing practices and beliefs from church to church. though most require a profession of faith followed by a baptism for membership --and for that matter to even consider one a Christian.

On the first, one would think that his infant status precluded his ability to perform the act, but as far as congregational rather than synodical issue, spot on.

I was raised a Southern Baptist. Baptism has no connection to salvation in the Doctrine of the Southern Baptist denomination.

You attain salvation through faith by grace, by believing that Christ died for your sins and publicly professing that faith.

Baptism is simply following Christ's example, and Baptism is necessary for inclusion in The Souther Baptist church.

Where Baptist differ from Catholics/Episcopals is in rejection of infant baptism. Southern Baptists don't believe that infant baptisms are of any effect in regards to salvation. They believe that individuals must reach the "age of accountability" where they are aware of their own sinfulness, before they can be saved.

And infant can't have the awareness necessary to accept Christ as their savior, thus infant baptisms are of no consequence. Your parents can't accept Christ as the savior of their child, the child itself must do so themselves when they reach the age of accountability.

Pentacostals are different than Southern Baptists and see baptism as part of salvation, and necessary to receive the Holy Spirit.

The Baptists came much later.

Sure, because it means nothing but something he uses to further his career.

He and his church deserve each other.

That may not count for Baptists, but it does count for Catholics and others.

I don't know why he can't just get it done. Does he have a problem with it? What would that be?

Just a hunch.

MPK

liar.

children are being baptized next Sunday in a Lutheran church. Should we ask for certified, notarized, honest to God evidence? There are so many facets of Christianity it boggles the mind.

or any other the other liturgical churches.

Baptism is Baptism. A single molecule of water is sufficient. A newborn baby about to die can be Baptisted with spit.

If he was baptized as an infant, most evangelical and fundamentalist churches would say that it was just a dedication and not a "real" baptism. Baptism only counts in those churches if it is a decision made after a born-again moment and entered into after the age of accountability (basically, the kid is old enough to make his or her own decision about faith, and that age is different in every church). Not everyone agrees with that, though, so I'd put money on it that there are many others in that church who aren't full-fledged members because of that policy. It doesn't mean that they're not part of the church, though.

Interesting. Why does he go there if the theology isn't all to his liking? If it's purely for votes, that has to make every visit painful. If he's really there because he likes it there, then why not pray over it and see what God wants?

in which they are not members. Very very very common.

pretty sick of seeing politicians trotting out their religious beliefs like designer labels, it's nice to hear that someone wants to keep this stuff private, even IF it isn't because of humility, but as a strategy. Whatever. I'd love to see less talk of religion in our politics (hey, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter!) and more good actions, dammit. And I know it makes my non-Christian friends uncomfortable to have so much of it.

So yeah, I do wish they'd all lay off it already.

I just can't stand the hypocrisy, which is my problem with Christianity in general.

Full stop?

Actually, most people I know personally who profess their faith live up to their religion in their life. It is mostly religious leaders or politicians like Bush who disappoint.

" THE BAPTISM OF McCAIN "

Then they will make you a member. You will have to go through a rather(said in a Thurston P.Howell voice) rigorous background check.

It's a start since you are faith shopping.

The lost votes are adding up for the Curmudgon

and...edit.....he cannot do it NOW...it would be Pandering....he has trapped himself once more....

His Crew is going into hypodrive whipped into a fenzy by tongue lasshing from the ANGRY ONE....more pain killers///please order more asap

being baptised. It'll happen. Anything for a vote.