Charlene Cannon tried not to be offended, angry even. She was, after all, at church. It was Sunday morning and the retired Birmingham police officer was settled in her pew at the Guiding Light Church in Birmingham's Irondale neighborhood, eager to embrace God's calling to love and forgive and hear the Word as preached by Bishop Jim Lowe, Jr.

It was not unusual for politicians, regardless of party, to be sitting amongst the predominantly African-American congregation, particularly of late--during a political season that seems to have encompassed the entirety of 2017.

"Bishop welcomes anybody, and I appreciate that," Cannon told me later Sunday afternoon. "I've never been offended by anyone. But ..."

Suddenly, standing at the front of the church, mike in hand, was Roy Moore.

The Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate had been introduced by Lowe and offered the opportunity to address the church.

Moore, standing awkwardly next to Lowe, said he couldn't "talk about politics," adding, though, that he would "appreciate your support." He then read a Christmas-themed poem he said he wrote himself.

Cannon says many women in the congregation turned their heads away from Moore.

"I tried not to be offended; I really did," she said. "But it didn't work."

Moore, as we all know, has been accused by nine women of either sexually assaulting or making inappropriate sexual advances to them while they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s and working in the Etowah County district attorney's office. Moore, who is facing Doug Jones in the December 12 special election, has steadfastly--if not inconsistently--denied all allegations against him.

Yet even before the allegations surfaced last month, Moore was not exactly a friend to African-Americans.

Last December, he told CNN he still didn't believe President Barack Obama was an American-born citizen. And he famously said U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison, who is Muslim, should not have been allowed to serve after being elected in 2006 because he chose to be sworn in with his hand on the Koran rather than a Bible.

"Islamic law is not comparable to our law," he said.

Then just last month, while on the campaign trail, he said "new right" created in 1965 were the source of our "problems" today. You don't have to be a learned historian to know the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted that year to prohibit racial discrimination in voting.

Cannon, however, is most incensed at the allegations levied at Moore by the young women, allegations he has not suitably addressed to her satisfaction.

"He has no respect for women," she said. "And dealing with these young ladies, he hasn't explained that. If there were just one or two, it's their word against his. But as many as have come out, my momma used to tell me where there's smoke there's fire, and this has been smoldering for a while.

"When you come out and run for public office, sometimes it'll catch fire."

Cannon said she "hurried" out of the church after the service ended and spoke to other members who were more than a bit troubled by Moore's presence.

When she arrived at home, Cannon posted a photo of Moore speaking at the church on Facebook and wrote: "I was enjoying service until...."

The post prompted a flurry of comments, almost all of them negative.

"Until the devil showed up."

"Keep your young daughters close."

"What pastor allows an accused sex offender to address their congregation. It's time to find another church."

Politicians weighed in on social media, too

By last Sunday evening, Cannon's post appears to have been deleted but not before it garnered nearly 100 comments, including from Birmingham City Councilman (District 2) Hunter Williams ("I'm so glad I didn't go. Disgusting.") and Alabama House Representative (District 58) Rolanda M. Hollis ("Me too")

But Cannon's wasn't the only Facebook post on the event,

Cara McClure created six posts referencing it. The first read simply: "Bishop Jim Lowe??? Whyyyy??? Roy Moore? Oh well."

Among the comments:

"Ratched! Absolutely ratched!"

"Maybe it would have been something else if he were there with a repentant spirit and to actually hear the word, but no....just to secure some votes from some easily fooled negroes. Disgusting."

Elsewhere in the comments, McClure added: "I'm in my car in tears because I'm so tired of our black preachers embarrassing us and allowing any ole pieces of crap ... to speak over our congregations (sic) life."

Indeed, many of the commenters were critical of Lowe, though there were also defenders:

"These fake pastors black and white (especially the so-called evangelicals) need to put Christ back into Christianity. They are all making a mockery of the gospel of Jesus Christ with their ungodly behavior and/or attitude. Shameful and Disgraceful."

"Jim Lowe and all of his followers should be ashamed. If I was in that congregation I would have got up and walked out."

Yet, one commenter pushed back: "So you want to be rude cause this man is rude and whatever else he is. Now if I had walked in and saw I would have quietly walked in. But once I'm in I came to listen to the word."

On Monday, Bishop Lowe said:

"We have a standing invitation to all people, and that includes politicians. If they're a sitting politician, I will give them opportunity to speak. If they're a candidate I'll give them a few seconds to let people know who they are and what they're running for.

"Roy Moore asked to come worship with us, but not campaign, so I gave him a few moments to speak.

"When you have such a polarizing person, however, people don't always make their decisions about them in fairness. Some take it as an offense that we would have our doors open to him and give him the opportunity to speak, but if it is the policy of the church is to be open to all human beings and give the opporunity to speak to all politicians that have standing it would be discminatory to not give that opportunity to Roy Moore."

At one juncture during his sermon, Lowe appeared not so much to be preaching to Moore, but his detractors. He referenced the benched judge's infamous refusal to comply with a federal court order to remove a 5,280-pound block of granite featuring the Ten Commandments, which he had placed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building, defying the law separating church from state. He was ultimately removed from the bench for judicial misconduct.

"The law said he should remove them," Bishop Lowe said. "He said, 'No, this is the word of God.' He wouldn't support same-sex marriage. The law says support it. He said, 'But the law of God is supreme.' He's on a cross. He's being crucified for that now."

Cannon recalls asking her mother about the 10 Commandments controversy, too.

"She said, 'That's a piece of stone; it's idol worshiping,'" Cannon recalled. "'The Ten Commandments should be written in your heart, not on a piece of stone.'"

Updated at 10:34 on MOnday, December 4th with comment from Bishop Lowe.

Roy S. Johnson's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Hit me up at rjohnson@al.com or/and follow me at twitter.com/roysj.