African American
Related: About this forumOvert Racism in Crystal Springs, Mississippi First Baptist Church: No Black Weddings Allowed!
Jesus wept.
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CRYSTAL SPRINGS, MS (WLBT) -
It was to be their big day, but a Jackson couple says the church where they were planning to wed turned them away because of race.
Now, the couple wants answers, and the church's pastor is questioning the mindset of some of members of his congregation who caused the problem in the first place.
They had set the date and printed and mailed out all the invitations, but the day before wedding bells were to ring for Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson, they say they got some bad news from the pastor.
"The church congregation had decided no black could be married at that church, and that if he went on to marry her, then they would vote him out the church," said Charles Wilson.
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More at Link
http://www.wsfa.com/story/19125864/black-wedding-banned-by-baptist-church
drm604
(16,230 posts)Every time I see this type of shit I'm puzzled by the mindset behind it. When will the people in this country grow up?
deutsey
(20,166 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,937 posts)Wow!
But then - I kind of sighed and said - same old, same old. And the reality is - that Church will carry on as it always has, and the church members who were panty bunching over it will keep giving their money to the church and attending.
America - the place where sometimes we really really REALLY suck.
exboyfil
(17,865 posts)the ceremony anyway. Let them kick him out. That is what Jesus would have done.
Further clarification -
They were not members of this church. No indication that they would have been denied membership if they had applied. Churches can and, in my opinion, should exclude non-members from wedding ceremonies (at least one member should be a current member of the church or had had parents as members in the church or had grown up in the church). We exclude non-members at our church and all couples have to go through counseling with the pastor.
I would want more details before passing judgement. If the couple had a prior contractual arrangement to have the ceremony in the church, I would think the church would be liable. The membership requirement should have been brought up at the time, and any decent church would gracefully ask that they become members.
drm604
(16,230 posts)There were people in the church who were specifically against a black couple getting married there.
SemperEadem
(8,053 posts)were turned away, too. If the church has a policy of not marrying non members across the board, then this wasn't racist but economic, even if there were satan worhsippers sitting in the pew quoting bible verses on sundays.
However, from the way the article and news packages have presented the story, it does seem as if the pastor is cowed by the satan worhsippers sitting up in his church and the right thing to do would have been to marry them, since marriage is supposedly an honorable institution and tell those who didn't like it that they could go join another church more to their liking.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)There are many couples that still want to get married in a church despite the fact that they never attend one. Many churches oblige.
It is a very good thing this story has become national news, too.
inductivetreasoning
(7 posts)Growing up and living in the south, I have learned that churches and funeral homes are some of the last places that are so strictly segregated.