Discrimination in the name of Jesus?

[SamuraiKatz]

There is no place for this kind of discrimination in 2012. :x

I am beyond shocked. The pastor should have risked his job and married these people AT the church he pastors. I'm not the church going type. That being said, I can't imagine sublimating my integrity for employment..ever.

Mississppi Church Refuses to Marry Black Couple

They had booked their wedding far in advance. The invitations had been sent, the programs printed. But one day before Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson were to be married at the Mississippi church they frequented, they said a pastor told them they would have to find another venue -- because they were black.

There has never been a black wedding at the First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs, Miss., since its founding in 1883. According to Pastor Stan Weatherford, some church members objected so strongly to breaking that precedent, they threatened to oust him from his pastorship.

Rather than risk his job, Weatherford, who is white, said he decided to marry the pair at a black church down the road.

For the rest of the story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/mississippi-church-rejects-black-wedding/story?id=16878536#.UBR1SbTY9wU

[doggie]

one of those non Christian churches way to many of those anymore.

[Deleted07]

If this Pastor was really a man of God, He should have ousted the disgusting tactics of this churches members for their bigotry and made a stand! There is no way he would have even been 'investigated' for simply performing the marriage!

I really have no words, cannot believe how disgraceful this is.

[AtroposHeart]

Why did I know the church would be in Mississipppi?

[CanadianHippie]

Oh, what a lovely precedent to want to keep. Racism. :roll:

[Glass Cowcatcher]

And just last year we had someone refuse to marry an interracial couple. :evil:

This isn't what I'm thinking about when I fantasize about time travel.

[Burris]

That preacher is a coward and should be booted from the pulpit for his utter spinelessness. I thought prohibitions against "race-mixing" were dumb. Somehow those racist assholes have lowered the bar even more.

[Guest Anonymous]

Did they know that their church was racist? I can't imagine them sitting there on Sundays next to people who thought so little of them.

[Witsec7]

From the articles I read the minister said ok. When the congregation found out they said they would fire the minister.

I think Jesus should perform a miracle and give that minister some balls.

[SamuraiKatz]

I wish FJ has a like button! Each of your comments deserves a like.

Jesus needs to perform a miracle with this one... :-/

[Kaylee]

From the articles I read the minister said ok. When the congregation found out they said they would fire the minister.

I think Jesus should perform a miracle and give that minister some balls.

This. He did perform the marriage, but at another church. Still, he should have just done it and let the bigots be bigoted. I thought part of Christianity was supposed to be doing what is right even in the face of persecution, and marrying the couple there in the church they were attending would have been right.

I'm also wondering if this is a Southern Baptist church and, if so, what the SBC has to say about it, considering they just recently elected a black man as the SBC President.

[Hane]

Unfortunately, in Baptist* churches, hiring and firing is done by the congregation and not by any higher body. I've heard of cases (I have many American Baptist Convention relatives) in which ministers have been ousted based on flimsy gossip or an unwarranted grudge.

That said, the whole thing makes me wonder: how integrated was this congregation? How were the black members made to feel on a daily basis? Did this horrible incident arise out if the blue, or had there been rumblings? Yes, I do feel for this pastor, but wished he'd manned up.

*The UU, of which I am a member, does this, too. Can't think of any other denominations at the moment.

[Witsec7]

This. He did perform the marriage, but at another church. Still, he should have just done it and let the bigots be bigoted. I thought part of Christianity was supposed to be doing what is right even in the face of persecution, and marrying the couple there in the church they were attending would have been right.

I'm also wondering if this is a Southern Baptist church and, if so, what the SBC has to say about it, considering they just recently elected a black man as the SBC President.

I'll be long dead before the followers of Jesus begin to act like him.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I'm kinda amazed that this couple apparently was ATTENDING this church, before the wedding incident.

I presume (hope??) they don't go there anymore!

[maybeizfundie]

:( I am sad that the pastor chose keeping his job over integrity. :(

FTR, I have yet to see any Christian defense of the actual banning of the wedding in the church, though a few people have defended the pastor implying there is more to the story of why he was so afraid of this supposed "minority" of racists in the congregation. If they were a real minority they should not have had that much power.

[Anxious Girl]

Sadly; discrimination in the name of Jesus has and always will happen as long as fundies use their white conservative christian republican privlages to get away with shit.

[E Street Fan]

Did they know that their church was racist? I can't imagine them sitting there on Sundays next to people who thought so little of them.

That's what I thought. Another article I read said the engaged couple were not members of the church but attended regularly. Did they not realize they were attending church with a bunch of throwback bigots?

Either way, no excuse for such disgusting racism. Mississippi must be so proud. :roll:

[luckystone]

WTF. Is that even legal?

I totally would have done it and risked my job. You have to take a stand to change things, you can't give in! I guess it's tough in this economy but surely it would be worth it rather than knowing every day you were making money by being employed by bad people. And let's face it, if he'd been brave I'm sure other people would have recognised it and something would have come up.

I don't even know what I'd do if I was in that couple. How dreadful they must be feeling.

[NjoyingNsanity]

I actually have a worse story, a church I used to attend got a new pastor who adopted a little girl who was black. The first Sunday he and his wife went to bring their new eight year old daughter to church a bunch of deacons and church elders physically blocked her from entering the church, but get this wanted the preacher and his wife to leave her sitting in a hot car while he preached the sermon and she taught Sunday school. All of us teens in the church, as well as most of the bellow forty demographic of the congergation walked out and the preacher quit. That happened back in the early 90's it's been twenty years and none of us have been back.

[Witsec7]

I actually have a worse story, a church I used to attend got a new pastor who adopted a little girl who was black. The first Sunday he and his wife went to bring their new eight year old daughter to church a bunch of deacons and church elders physically blocked her from entering the church, but get this wanted the preacher and his wife to leave her sitting in a hot car while he preached the sermon and she taught Sunday school. All of us teens in the church, as well as most of the bellow forty demographic of the congergation walked out and the preacher quit. That happened back in the early 90's it's been twenty years and none of us have been back.

:clap: :clap: Thank you.

[GeoBQn]

That's what I thought. Another article I read said the engaged couple were not members of the church but attended regularly. Did they not realize they were attending church with a bunch of throwback bigots?

Either way, no excuse for such disgusting racism. Mississippi must be so proud. :roll:

The article on Yahoo said the couple weren't members, but the wife's uncle is an employee there, her father is a member, and they had planned on becoming members after they got married.

The church is now "holding internal meetings to figure out how it should respond to future requests by black couples to be married there." What? What's there to figure out? Anyway, after this debacle I imagine black and non-racist white couples will avoid the church altogether.

http://news.yahoo.com/mississppi-church ... ories.html

[kunoichi66]

I actually have a worse story, a church I used to attend got a new pastor who adopted a little girl who was black. The first Sunday he and his wife went to bring their new eight year old daughter to church a bunch of deacons and church elders physically blocked her from entering the church, but get this wanted the preacher and his wife to leave her sitting in a hot car while he preached the sermon and she taught Sunday school. All of us teens in the church, as well as most of the bellow forty demographic of the congergation walked out and the preacher quit. That happened back in the early 90's it's been twenty years and none of us have been back.

Thank you for doing this.

[latraviata]

Why did I know the church would be in Mississipppi?

Mississippie?

Here is a very recent story from 'secular' Holland. I live in a appartement complex for people over 55 yrs and I am the Chairman of the residents' committee.

My direct neighbour is a Rastafari Dutch/African man (62) from Aruba, a very exuberant and lovely man with 5 Chiuauas, a bright orange Vespa and usually enveloped in a hallucinogenic cloud.

Almost every day he pops in for a beer or a meal or a chat and we are very fond of each other.

It was 2 or 3 days ago when 2 female residents, stiff perm and sensible shoes, in short last years turnips rang the doorbell' and asked me to sign their petition, to kick my neighbour out, because He wa a disgrace for the appartment complex.

The same 'ladies' asked me ( as the chairwoman) to rent the recreation room 2 hrs a week for their 'bible study club'.

I told them very polite and eloquent to piss off.

The good news is, nobody signed.

[CynicMom]

That said, the whole thing makes me wonder: how integrated was this congregation? How were the black members made to feel on a daily basis?

This was in Mississippi. I guarantee there were no black members of the congregation. They would not have been welcome.