Clark Blindsided by Baptists

On Monday, January 19, while everyone else was staring the other way--at the Iowa caucuses, to be precise--an amusing and unjustly neglected event played itself out in South Carolina, which holds a primary of its own February 3. Wesley Clark came to Columbia, the state capital, to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, appearing first at a prayer service at the Zion Baptist Church, then addressing a crowd on the statehouse grounds. Clark's speech was nothing much ("Dr. King! Dr. Martin Luther King. Happy Birthday to you, sir!" was the climax), but the prayer service was a doozy.

Guest preacher was an "evangelist anointed by Our Lord"--Dr. Sheila B. Koger, formidable pastor of Columbia's Bethlehem Baptist Church, who favors white satin robes, complete with surplice, and emphatic earrings. With Wes Clark sitting in the second row among a line of elected officials, Dr. Koger began her sermon with a conventional tribute to King, then took an unexpected turn.

"Everyone says these days, 'Give me rights,'" Dr. Koger said. "'Give the gay people rights,' they say." Dr. Koger's voice rose: "But the Lord God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. If you're a man, then be a man, not a woman!" Half of the congregation was on its feet before too long, shouting approval.

"Now if you're not sure which you are, you can just ask yourself a simple question: 'Do I have a womb?' If you ain't got a womb, then you're a man. And you better act like one."

There were multiple shouts of "Tell it!"

"They told me I could preach the Gospel unadulterated, so that's God's word, not mine," Dr. Koger went on. "He is a God of decency and order, and he ain't going to bless no mess!"