Tag: church

A dying Tennessee man’s final wish will not be honored. Jessie Goodman says his dying father’s last wish is to have his funeral held at his childhood church, Lee’s Chapel Baptist Church in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Goodman, a hairstylist who is engaged to Brandon Smitty, told WTCV that when church leadership found out the gay couple would be involved in the funeral service, the pastor and some of its members refused to be a part of the funeral. “As long as I was...

The actor’s Twitter account shared a string of vile homophobic, racist, anti-Semitic and ableist messages shortly after midnight on Sunday 28 July, including one that asked followers to “kill a handicap f****t” for money. “Rumour has it that handicap f****ts are behind 9/11. Bush didn’t do 9/11, it was all planned by a handicap f****t that’s using text to speech,” read one of the now-deleted tweets. Another read: “Nazi Germany did nothing wrong and that’s on god n***a.” Fortunately, the tweets were...

Forensic experts extracted bones from two ossuaries within the walls of the Vatican on Saturday as part of an ongoing investigation aimed at resolving the case of a girl who vanished in 1983. Following an anonymous tip-off, the Vatican earlier this month opened two tombs to see if the body of Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican clerk, was hidden there. Instead, they ran into a new mystery when nothing was found, not even the bones of two 19th century...

Three men are accusing a Presbyterian minister in New Jersey of sexually assaulting them under the guise of exorcising evil spirits. The men claim Rev. Dr. William Weaver performed sex acts on them when they came to him for private counseling at Linden Presbyterian Church. The 69-year-old would allegedly tell the men that he needed to “suck” out demons through their semen, citing Native American rituals and a verse from Ephesians telling Christians to “put on the full armor of God.” According...

The Anglican Church of Canada has failed to vote in favour of recognising same-sex marriages. Despite having a lot of support, the motion failed to carry the two-thirds of support from each delegation that it needed. Although the Order of Laity and the Order of Clergy voted heavily in favour, with 80% and 73% in favour respectively, the Order of Bishops failed to reach the necessary two-thirds threshold with only 62% in favour. Had the bill passed, it would have allowed...

The Congolese health ministry has confirmed the country’s first Ebola case in the eastern city of Goma, raising concerns the disease could spread across the border to Rwanda. The person with the confirmed case is a pastor who had been in the town of Butembo, said the press release by the health ministry. “During his trip to Butembo, the pastor preached in seven churches where he would regularly place his hands on the sick. His first symptoms were detected on July...

A former Virginia youth pastor was sentenced to three years in prison for sexually abusing a teenager from his church. Jordan Baird, who was facing up to 10 years behind bars, was sentenced Monday to three years, plus three years probation after he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent acts with a child by a custodian. During his sentencing hearing, Baird told the court he took complete responsibility for his actions and apologized to the victim and her family, as...

The 100-plus teens who planned to attend Storybook Pride Prom at Willowbranch Library in Jacksonville, Florida, got their special night of music and dance after all. The library had canceled the prom out of safety concerns following backlash spurred by a conservative blogger, but the Buckman Bridge Unitarian Universalist Church in Jacksonville stepped in to host the LGBTQ event instead. According to Grace Repass, Buckman Bridge’s past president, the church board unanimously supported the decision to offer space for the...

All the good feelings Seth Owen, the gay valedictorian from Florida whose parents kicked him out, recently appeared on Ellen. His story first surfaced in August and quickly went viral. His parents found out he was gay when he was a sophomore in high school and subsequently sent him to conversion therapy. When he asked his parents if he could stop attending church, they gave him a choice: go to church or leave. Owen ended up leaving and staying with friends. Despite 4.16...

Austin Pride may have finished up, but Instagram users are still talking about it thanks to a heartfelt post from a Texas church member. According to Pink News, Jen Hatmarker, a religious writer who has faced backlash for her support of LGBTQ people and her opposition to President Donald Trump, organized a free hug “giveaway.” This “giveaway” saw church goers attend the Pride parade and offered hugs to anyone who wanted them. She then created an Instagram post about the event,...

Another day, another racist homophobe caught on tape. This time it’s a construction worker from Idaho yelling at a group of a group of high schoolers eating ice cream. 52-year-old Richard Sovenski was arrested after verbally assaulting a group of teenagers outside of a fast food restaurant, calling the youths “f*cking little f*ggot,” “f*cking half-breeds” and “f*cking n*gger wannabes.” The incident happened earlier this month in the parking lot of a McDonald’s in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and was caught on video....

Cleric at center of sex film scandal given 'personal leave' by church A young priest in Ireland, who was filmed having gay sex on the altar of a church, has gone into hiding after being placed on leave. The man has reportedly been removed from his duties to deal with personal issues and mental health problems. A report in the Irish Mirror newspaper, claims that the daily has seen an internal church document confirming that the priest at the center of the...

Although same-sex marriages outside of churches has been legal in Scotland since 2014, the Scottish Church’s law hadn’t changed. However, last week the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly voted by 345 to 170 votes to start changing their laws so same-sex couples can marry in their churches. The measure was proposed by Rev. Bryan Kerr. Speaking to iNews, Rev. Tom Gordon said: “I have two daughters, both of whom are married. I have one gay daughter in a same-sex marriage. “When my...

“He took a huge stick and started beating me." A South African man says he was beaten by his pastor for being gay and then forced to pay damages for “shaming” his church. Dumisani Ngcobo, 43, says he’s one of 50 gay men who have been brutally attacked by his pastor at the Shembe Nazareth (eBuhleni) church in Pietermaritzburg, the capital city of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. During a church retreat, Ngcobo was sleeping in a tent with other men from his...