Lancet Fluke
Well-Known Member
Utterly outrageous, how can shit like this still be happening in a country that has a black president?
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9436486/Mississippi-church-turns-black-couple-away-who-wanted-to-marry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... marry.html</a>
Mississippi church turns black couple away who wanted to marry
A race row has erupted in Mississippi after a couple were turned away from the church where they planned to marry because they are black.
By Nick Allen, Los Angeles
6:26AM BST 30 Jul 2012
Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson had set the date and mailed invitations but, the day before their wedding, the pastor of the predominantly white First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs said the ceremony would not go ahead.
The pastor told them a small number of church members had virulently opposed holding the event at the church, and he faced being sacked if he went ahead with it.
The church in Crystal Springs, a 5,000-strong suburb of the state capital Jackson, was founded in 1883 and no black couple has ever been married there.
Mr Wilson, who had been a regular attendee at the church, said: "A wedding is a Christian ceremony. Where's the Christianity in there? My nine-year-old daughter was going to the church with us. How would you say to your nine-year-old 'We cannot get married here because, guess what sweetie, we're black.'
"I blame the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, I blame those members who knew and call themselves Christians and didn't stand up. I feel like it was blatant racial discrimination."
Pastor Stan Weatherford, who is white, said: "This had never been done before here, so it was setting a new precedent, and there are those who reacted to it because of that."
The pastor said he wanted to go ahead with the wedding but decided to carry it out elsewhere as a compromise. He moved it to a mostly black church down the road where he married the couple on July 21.
Casey Kitchens, 37, a member of the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, said she and most of the congregation were "ashamed" at their church's refusal to marry a black couple, and that they had known nothing about it.
She said: "This is a small, small group of people who made a terrible decision. I'm just ashamed right now that my church would do that. I can't fathom why. How unfair. How unjust. It's just wrong."
Rev Jim Futral, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, said: "It's not reflective of the spirit of the Lord and Mississippi Baptists. It's just a step backward, it's a sad thing."
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9436486/Mississippi-church-turns-black-couple-away-who-wanted-to-marry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... marry.html</a>
Mississippi church turns black couple away who wanted to marry
A race row has erupted in Mississippi after a couple were turned away from the church where they planned to marry because they are black.
By Nick Allen, Los Angeles
6:26AM BST 30 Jul 2012
Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson had set the date and mailed invitations but, the day before their wedding, the pastor of the predominantly white First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs said the ceremony would not go ahead.
The pastor told them a small number of church members had virulently opposed holding the event at the church, and he faced being sacked if he went ahead with it.
The church in Crystal Springs, a 5,000-strong suburb of the state capital Jackson, was founded in 1883 and no black couple has ever been married there.
Mr Wilson, who had been a regular attendee at the church, said: "A wedding is a Christian ceremony. Where's the Christianity in there? My nine-year-old daughter was going to the church with us. How would you say to your nine-year-old 'We cannot get married here because, guess what sweetie, we're black.'
"I blame the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, I blame those members who knew and call themselves Christians and didn't stand up. I feel like it was blatant racial discrimination."
Pastor Stan Weatherford, who is white, said: "This had never been done before here, so it was setting a new precedent, and there are those who reacted to it because of that."
The pastor said he wanted to go ahead with the wedding but decided to carry it out elsewhere as a compromise. He moved it to a mostly black church down the road where he married the couple on July 21.
Casey Kitchens, 37, a member of the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, said she and most of the congregation were "ashamed" at their church's refusal to marry a black couple, and that they had known nothing about it.
She said: "This is a small, small group of people who made a terrible decision. I'm just ashamed right now that my church would do that. I can't fathom why. How unfair. How unjust. It's just wrong."
Rev Jim Futral, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, said: "It's not reflective of the spirit of the Lord and Mississippi Baptists. It's just a step backward, it's a sad thing."