The Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers has named Rev. Mike Burr, pastor of Koinonia Church in Grand Junction, as their “Person of the Year.” Burr was unanimously chosen by the group for his work with peace and social/environmental justice issues; his leadership in advocating for the poor, disadvantaged and exploited; his advocacy of separation of church and state; his opposition to recent wars waged by the United States; and his opposition to anti-Muslim views and actions. The Koinonia Church congregation is aligned with American Baptist Churches of USA and Church of the Brethren.
“I've been a staunch advocate of separation of church and state all my life,” Burr said in this newspaper article. He's also a believer in science. “I have no difficulty with scientific truth. Truth is truth,” Burr said. He says of the scientific theory of evolution: “It's a description of the way things happened. It in no way denies the holiness of creation.”
I like this guy. I would never try to convince him there wasn't a God, and he would never try to take science out of schools. I'm no threat to his religion, and he's no threat to my lack their of. He wouldn't try to force me to follow his religion, and I wouldn't try to force him to give his up. And we share the values of the separation of church and state. Many Christians and Muslims actually don't believe the church or sharia law should be a part of local or state government - I wish we heard more from them!
Thanks to the Stiefel Freethought Foundation's Facebook page for bringing this to my attention!
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