Last week, the senior class at Kings Mountain High School in Kings Mountain, North Carolina attended a baccalaureate service–an interdenominational service in their honor. What was preached at that service has parents in this Charlotte suburb up in arms. The seniors’ parents are furious that the pastor used what should have been a celebratory occasion to preach a viciously anti-gay message.
Chuck Wilson told WBTV in Charlotte that when his daughter came home from the May 31 service, she dropped a bombshell. The service was officiated by Scott Carpenter, the interim pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Kings Mountain. According to Wilson, his daughter said that Carpenter warned them against turning to the gay lifestyle. If they did, they would almost certainly go to hell. Watch WBTV’s coverage here.
Wilson hit the ceiling. He told WBTV that Carpenter’s message was nothing less than “bullying” from the pulpit. He pointed out–rightly–that Carpenter should have understood that a public school is no place for homophobia. To his mind, Carpenter should have had the decency not to “take advantage of a captive audience.” While the service was optional, Wilson thinks it was still grossly inappropriate. He went further in an interview with The Gaston Gazette, saying that Carpenter’s actions were “insensitive” at best and “an abuse of privilege” at worst. Wilson wasn’t the only one who was furious. Several other parents, as well as a number of students, were very upset at Carpenter’s sermon.
However, Carpenter isn’t backing down. He told WBTV that he decided to preach this sermon because “I love them too much not to tell the truth.” Carpenter denied he had any intention of being “mean spirited” or to “hurt anybody’s feelings.” As he saw it, “I was simply doing what I had to do as a Christian minister.” He admitted that he may have hit a few nerves, but his message was very appropriate because the service was Christian and not organized by either officials at Kings Mountain High or Cleveland County Schools. The service was organized by the local ministerial association; the school system’s only role was to provide a venue. Nonetheless, district officials are highly embarrassed by this, and say they plan to take steps to ensure there’s not a next time for this.
To understand why so many people were furious even though this was voluntary, consider that this is a small town in North Carolina. Speaking as a Charlotte native, it’s a near-certainty that any senior who skipped out on the service would have faced a lot of raised eyebrows at school the next day. That’s what makes the reaction to this sermon even more surprising. It should also be noted that Kings Mountain supported Amendment One, the now-overturned state constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage, with over 80 percent of the vote in 2012. In the two precincts that split the city–“KM 1” and “KM 2”–a grand total of 540 people voted “no.” And now, just two years later, the community is this furious over an anti-gay sermon? That tells you about the sea change North Carolina has undergone in just a short time.
