AJLove
10-06-2007, 09:26 PM
Friday, April 21, 2006
Alert: Homophobic Black Pastors Gathering in Los Angeles
Az_top_rtAnytime there’s a gathering of more than one mega church Black pastor in the same place at the same, I get worried. For starters, they hardly like to be together at one time in the first place. Not enough room to fit all of that ego in. Secondly, depending on what tithes have been looking like in the past couple weeks, you can bet a sure way to fire up the crowd and raise more money is to do it off of the back of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. For some reason, that always opens up wallets.
This year's Los Angeles celebration of the Azusa Street 2006 Centennial Celebration is being held at mega church pastor Bishop Charles Blake’s West Angelus Cathedral bringing together the who’s who in Black mega church pastors.
From Los Angeles there will be the infamous Bishop Noel Jones of City of Refuge and Faithful Central’s Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer.
From the Southwest comes Bishop T.D. Jakes.
You will remember from the Outing Black Pastor’s Campaign last year done in conjunction with my colleague Keith Boykin that Jakes has his own political involvement with the Republican Party and with President George Bush. In fact, when black America was outraged about the Administration's handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis, George Bush turned to one black man to bail him out and shore up his damaged reputation. That man was T.D. Jakes, who was all too willing to give the President the political cover he needed.
But Jakes is even more conservative than Bush. Unlike Bush, who has hired gays and lesbians in the federal government, Jakes has called homosexuality a "brokenness" and said he would not hire a sexually active gay person.
Jakes has endorsed the so-called Truth for Youth campaign, which is distributing specially-made anti-gay Bibles to high school students all across the country.
"To date, I have not seen scriptural authority that allows me to stand on behalf of God and say I now pronounce you husband and husband, and wife and wife," Jakes told USA Today last month. "This is an issue the government is undecided about. The Bible is not," he said. But if Jakes still believes in the separation of church and state, it's not clear from his political activity. In fact, Jakes publicly endorsed the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have been the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution to legalize discrimination against a group of citizens.
From the South comes Bishop Paul Morton.
Bishop Morton of the Full Gospel Baptist Church, first came under our radar when he attended a 24-Hour Summit to Protect Marriage, sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition, a group led by Lou Sheldon, a white, Republican, Christian evangelical, which is problematic in itself if you know of Lou Sheldon’s background and history. He then raised an eyebrow when he attended the Republican National Convention.
He later organized a press conference of Black pastors calling on the Congressional Black Caucus to support a constitutional amendment defending marriage and banning civil unions.
He and the pastors were denied a meeting with key members of the Congressional Black Caucus. And, after a press conference, two members of the Caucus showed up to try to silence any further comments by the pastors, according to Family News in Focus. One of those Caucus members was Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick from Michigan. According to Kilpatrick: “I am opposed to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage clearly because I do not support opening up the Constitution for such an amendment at this time or for any other thing at this time.”
Bishop Paul Morton refused to be silenced by Kilpatrick.
“We must have this federal amendment to make sure that marriage is kept sacred. It’s not about a hate thing. This is not a Republican thing, this is not a Democrat thing, this is what God says.”
According to Bishop Morton, "Marriage is a legal and moral institution that is deeply rooted in the fabric of our community. It is the joining together of two families represented by a groom/man and bride/woman to create a new family as an open statement to family, community and children of the next generation. This is our position … because it's GOD's position."
And what would service be without the music… bring in Vickie Winans, Mom and Pop Winans, and Smokie Norful.
The new West Angelus Cathedral is located at 3600 Crenshaw Boulevard in the heart of Los Angeles.
If I planned to be town, I would attend just for the chance to give them a piece of my mind.
Activities with these pastors are scheduled Wednesday, April 26 through Friday, April 28. After that you know everyone will be making their way home so that they can collect dues on Sunday from their own parishioners.
If you’re in Los Angeles, here’s a perfect opportunity to take a stand.
Alert: Homophobic Black Pastors Gathering in Los Angeles
Az_top_rtAnytime there’s a gathering of more than one mega church Black pastor in the same place at the same, I get worried. For starters, they hardly like to be together at one time in the first place. Not enough room to fit all of that ego in. Secondly, depending on what tithes have been looking like in the past couple weeks, you can bet a sure way to fire up the crowd and raise more money is to do it off of the back of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. For some reason, that always opens up wallets.
This year's Los Angeles celebration of the Azusa Street 2006 Centennial Celebration is being held at mega church pastor Bishop Charles Blake’s West Angelus Cathedral bringing together the who’s who in Black mega church pastors.
From Los Angeles there will be the infamous Bishop Noel Jones of City of Refuge and Faithful Central’s Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer.
From the Southwest comes Bishop T.D. Jakes.
You will remember from the Outing Black Pastor’s Campaign last year done in conjunction with my colleague Keith Boykin that Jakes has his own political involvement with the Republican Party and with President George Bush. In fact, when black America was outraged about the Administration's handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis, George Bush turned to one black man to bail him out and shore up his damaged reputation. That man was T.D. Jakes, who was all too willing to give the President the political cover he needed.
But Jakes is even more conservative than Bush. Unlike Bush, who has hired gays and lesbians in the federal government, Jakes has called homosexuality a "brokenness" and said he would not hire a sexually active gay person.
Jakes has endorsed the so-called Truth for Youth campaign, which is distributing specially-made anti-gay Bibles to high school students all across the country.
"To date, I have not seen scriptural authority that allows me to stand on behalf of God and say I now pronounce you husband and husband, and wife and wife," Jakes told USA Today last month. "This is an issue the government is undecided about. The Bible is not," he said. But if Jakes still believes in the separation of church and state, it's not clear from his political activity. In fact, Jakes publicly endorsed the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have been the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution to legalize discrimination against a group of citizens.
From the South comes Bishop Paul Morton.
Bishop Morton of the Full Gospel Baptist Church, first came under our radar when he attended a 24-Hour Summit to Protect Marriage, sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition, a group led by Lou Sheldon, a white, Republican, Christian evangelical, which is problematic in itself if you know of Lou Sheldon’s background and history. He then raised an eyebrow when he attended the Republican National Convention.
He later organized a press conference of Black pastors calling on the Congressional Black Caucus to support a constitutional amendment defending marriage and banning civil unions.
He and the pastors were denied a meeting with key members of the Congressional Black Caucus. And, after a press conference, two members of the Caucus showed up to try to silence any further comments by the pastors, according to Family News in Focus. One of those Caucus members was Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick from Michigan. According to Kilpatrick: “I am opposed to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage clearly because I do not support opening up the Constitution for such an amendment at this time or for any other thing at this time.”
Bishop Paul Morton refused to be silenced by Kilpatrick.
“We must have this federal amendment to make sure that marriage is kept sacred. It’s not about a hate thing. This is not a Republican thing, this is not a Democrat thing, this is what God says.”
According to Bishop Morton, "Marriage is a legal and moral institution that is deeply rooted in the fabric of our community. It is the joining together of two families represented by a groom/man and bride/woman to create a new family as an open statement to family, community and children of the next generation. This is our position … because it's GOD's position."
And what would service be without the music… bring in Vickie Winans, Mom and Pop Winans, and Smokie Norful.
The new West Angelus Cathedral is located at 3600 Crenshaw Boulevard in the heart of Los Angeles.
If I planned to be town, I would attend just for the chance to give them a piece of my mind.
Activities with these pastors are scheduled Wednesday, April 26 through Friday, April 28. After that you know everyone will be making their way home so that they can collect dues on Sunday from their own parishioners.
If you’re in Los Angeles, here’s a perfect opportunity to take a stand.