I just sent in my comment. You should too!

This story has made me sick all day. I am posting the forward I received earlier:


If you were watching CNN Headline News last night (3/27/06), you witnessed a vicious attack on the reputation of the Church of Christ on the "Nancy Grace" segment of the news.

Nancy Grace is a former prosecutor and current host of a CNN Headline News show every weeknight.

Her topic for last night's segment was the shooting death of Matthew Winkler, the Church of Christ preacher in Selmer, TN. She interviewed and showed film clips from various people associated with this distressing event.

Included among her guests was a Baptist preacher, Tom Rukala, who maliciously maligned the Church of Christ. I have attached an excerpt from the written transcript on CNN's website (See attachment "Nancy Grace.doc"). If you would like to read the entire program transcript, the web address at the top of the attachment page.

I'm writing this to encourage you to email CNN and/or Nancy Grace to express your feelings regarding the unfair characterization of the Church of Christ portrayed by her guest, Tom Rukala.

I feel it is reasonable to request that she has an interview with a Church of Christ preacher/member who will have the opportunity to give a rebuttal to the false characterization presented on this program.

I personally feel that her program has many positive elements. She is a "victim's rights advocate" who insists that criminals should be prosecuted. Unfortunately, the individual she chose as her "special guest" to inform her audience about the Church of Christ was extremely prejudice. As a result, the listeners were blatently misinformed.

At the bottom of the attachment, I have included two sites designed for feedback; one for CNN, the other for Nancy Grace. You may have to copy and paste the addresses into your web browser.

Feel free to pass this email to those whom you feel may also wish to express their sentiments regarding this public defamation.



Ken Stegall


EXERPT FROM TRANSCRIPT:
“GRACE: A well-respected and much beloved minister in the Church of Christ, Selmer, Tennessee, gunned down in his own home. His wife, according to many reports, has confessed to police. They say whodunnit is not the issue, it`s why she did it. That is the question.

I want to go to pastor Tom Rukala, joining us tonight, a special guest, a Baptist minister. I`ve been researching the Church of Christ. I don`t know that much about it. What can you tell me?

PASTOR TOM RUKALA, BAPTIST PASTOR: Well, the Church of Christ is a relatively new church. It was started about 150 years ago by Alexander Campbell (ph). And it`s, unfortunately, a very legalistic sect, and they tend to use methods of intimidation and pressure tactics. They claim that they are the only ones going to heaven, and all other people are condemned to hell. So in case...

GRACE: Uh-oh, I`m in trouble. But I already knew that.

(LAUGHTER)

GRACE: Now, wait a minute. What more can you tell me?

RUKALA: Well, they claim that if you`re not baptized by one of their ministers, that you`re doomed to hell, even if you`re a believer in Jesus Christ, which, of course, breaks completely from the traditional Christian view that all those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved because we`re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again. For the Church of Christ folks, that`s not enough. You have to be a member of their narrow sect. It`s a very exclusive group. And if you`re not a member of their sect, you`re condemned.

GRACE: You know, Pastor, you keep saying "sect." "Sect." You make it sound like a cult.

RUKALA: It kind of is a borderline cult, unfortunately. I don`t want to make it out to be some kind of Hare Krishna group, but it has cult-like characteristics and...

GRACE: In what sense?

RUKALA: Well, in the sense of the exclusivism, the attitude that they are the only ones who know the truth. The tactics that they use are sometimes just -- not only un-biblical but unethical, and they can be very ungracious, unfortunately.”

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