Showing posts with label black church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black church. Show all posts

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Black pastor responds to Trump's return to church call

Pastor Kelcy G.L. Steele of Varick Memorial AME Zion Church (New Haven, CT) released the following statement in response to President Trump’s call for churches to resume worship services:

I’m Kinda confused… Why did we need President Trump to declare churches essential? I mean, I’m glad he realizes that. But Christians already knew that. And, even churches that need to alter their worship experiences, have been tending to their flock with love and assistance in these times of need, right?

Churches are feeding, financially supporting, tending to elderly, proving support for school children, tending to first responders, providing space for testing, providing discipleship and soul care, assisting local and national efforts to keep proper medical information available to people, creating innovative worship experiences, online Bible studies, online small groups, helping people find new jobs, and so much more.

Let’s not forget that churches have helped facilitate many of the 94,000 funerals. And pastors, Rabbis, Imams, chaplains, and people of faith have been the source of strength and comfort during a ton of mourning and fear!

Is it that the president want us to reconvene in dense numbers, where (I know) many of the significant outbreaks of COVID-19 occurred just a little over a month ago! Many of the black bishops, pastors, black, brown, and white Christians and Jews contracted the disease in worship spaces! We know this from contact tracing.

We need more testing partnerships and not a president, who does not have a flattering reputation of worship attendance, who uses the church for impact in a statement for political advantage.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Son of sheriff's deputy faces federal hate crime charges in Louisiana church fires

Federal hate crime charges have been filed against the son of a sheriff's deputy who was arrested in connection with a string of fires at three historically black churches in Louisiana, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Holden Matthews, 21, faces three counts of intentional damage to religious property, which constitute hate crimes under the Church Arson Prevention Act. He was also charged with three counts of using fire to commit a felony, the Justice Department said in a news release after the federal indictment was unsealed.

Holden Matthews, 21, was booked into the St. Landry Parish Jail on three counts of simple arson of a religious building.St. Landry Parish Sheriff Dept. The indictment says the fires were set "because of the religious character" of the properties.

The fires at the three churches, which were all started by gasoline and set from late March to early April, unnerved churchgoers in the St. Landry Parish region — conjuring up images of attacks on black churches in the South during the civil rights movement, and more recently, during the 1990s.

"Churches are vital places of worship and fellowship for our citizens and bind us together as a community," David Joseph, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, said in a statement. "Our freedom to safely congregate in these churches and exercise our religious beliefs must be jealously guarded. Today we are one step closer to justice for the parishioners of these churches and the St. Landry Parish communities affected by these acts."

Matthews already faced state charges in the church fires, including violating Louisiana's hate crime law. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

[SOURCE: NBC NEWS]

Monday, May 13, 2019

EMANUEL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS OF THE CHARLESTON CHURCH SHOOTING

Emanuel

IN THEATERS JUNE 17 & 19 ONLY

National headlines blazed the story: Churchgoers Gunned Down During Prayer Service in Charleston, South Carolina. After a 21-year-old white supremacist opened fire in the church, nine African Americans lay dead—leaving their families and the nation to grapple with this senseless act of terror.

Forty-eight hours later, in the midst of unspeakable grief and suffering, the families of the Emanuel Nine stood in court facing the killer … and offered words of forgiveness. Their demonstration of grace ushered the way for hope and healing across a city and the nation.

It’s the story that rocked a city and a nation as it happened … and in the days that followed. Marking the fourth anniversary of the event, executive producers Stephen Curry and Viola Davis, co-producer Mariska Hargitay, and director Brian Ivie (The Drop Box) present EMANUEL. The documentary powerfully weaves the history of race relations in Charleston, the significance and impact of Mother Emanuel Church, and the hope that somehow emerges in the aftermath.

Featuring intimate interviews with survivors and family members, EMANUEL is a poignant story of justice and faith, love and hate, examining the healing power of forgiveness. Marking the fourth anniversary, EMANUEL will be in movie theaters across the country for two nights only: June 17 and 19.

Find theaters and get tickets here: Emanuel In Theaters

Sunday, April 07, 2019

FBI investigating fires at 3 black churches in Louisiana


The FBI has joined the investigation into a string of suspicious fires at historically black churches in Louisiana. Three churches have burned in less than two weeks in St. Landry Parish near Baton Rouge.



Thursday, September 06, 2018

With Voting Rights Act weakened, black church networks seek more voters

The months ahead of midterm elections, often a time of lower turnout among African-Americans and others, have become a focus of passionate activity by black Christian leaders.

“The attacks on the Voting Rights Act and other setbacks in civil rights have alerted the faith community that we need to take action,” said the Rev. Barbara Williams-Skinner, co-chair of the National African American Clergy Network. “We need to be proactive and not reactive.”

It’s been five years since the Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the VRA, and voters in almost two dozen states face stricter rules. In response, black denominations and networks focused on people of color and the poor are gearing up in hopes of getting more people to the ballot box in November:

This week, leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church plan to continue their “AME Righteous Vote” initiative with mobilization briefings, Capitol Hill meetings and a “Call to Conscience” vigil at Lafayette Square across from the White House.

* Faith in Action, the grassroots organization formerly known as PICO National Network, hopes to reach more than a million people in 150 cities with phone calls and door-to door visits before Election Day on Nov. 6.

* A “Lawyers and Collars” program co-led by the Skinner Leadership Institute and Sojourners plans to train clergy on voter protection, hold meetings with state elections officials and spend Election Day at the polls with lawyers to assist voters.

* Stricter rules at polling places — such as ID laws — could lead to people being turned away on Nov. 6. Pastors and other leaders can serve as advocates on their behalf, said Williams-Skinner, who is also CEO of the Maryland-based institute.

“We’re saying that vulnerable voters need to have protection and we believe that the most respected leaders (and) the influential stakeholders should be there,” she said. “As they stand in line with people, people will stay in line no matter what happens.”

Read more: With Voting Rights Act weakened, black church networks seek more voters.

Tuesday, September 04, 2018

Aretha Franklin's family says pastor's eulogy was offensive

The late Aretha Franklin's family said Monday that it found an Atlanta pastor's eulogy delivered at the Queen of Soul's funeral last week to be offensive and distasteful.

The eulogist, the Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., was criticized for a political address at the Friday funeral that described children being in a home without a father as "abortion after birth" and said black lives do not matter unless blacks stop killing each other.

"He spoke for 50 minutes and at no time did he properly eulogize her," said Vaughn Franklin, the late singer's nephew, who said he was delivering a statement for the family.

Franklin said that his aunt never asked Williams to eulogize her, since she didn't talk about plans for her own funeral. The family selected Williams because he has spoken at other family memorials in the past, most prominently at the funeral for Franklin's father, minister and civil rights activist C.L. Franklin, 34 years ago.

His eulogy "caught the entire family off guard," Vaughn Franklin said. The family had not discussed what Williams would say in advance, he said.

"It has been very, very distasteful," he said.

He said it was unfortunate because everyone else who participated in the ceremony was very respectful.

[SOURCE NBC NEWS]

Tuesday, March 06, 2018

Black churches host screenings of ‘Black Panther’

(RNS) — Xavier Cooper went straight from his shift as a cook at a fast-food restaurant to an early showing of the “Black Panther” movie — sponsored by his church.

As his elders at Jonahville African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Huntersville, N.C., had hoped, the film had a profound effect on the young man, a leader in the church’s youth group.

Cooper exited the theater with a buoyed confidence about his dreams after spending two hours watching the futuristic kingdom of powerful black people in Wakanda.

“Being an African-American, it shows you that you can do anything you want to,” said Cooper, 17, who wants to own his own record label and production studio.

Across the country — from California to Chicago to Virginia — members of black churches have bought out theaters for screenings and dressed in their favorite African attire to see a superhero who looks like them. And others, from a New York multicultural congregation to a Detroit Muslim professor, are also tapping into the movie’s messages they hope will be particularly affirming to young people of a range of races and religions.

The Rev. Latasha Gary, Cooper’s youth minister, said 67 people attended the Feb. 16 showing organized by their church near Charlotte, and dozens had to be turned away when they ran out of seats.

Black youth get tired of seeing negative depictions of people of their own race in movies, said Gary, who wore a yellow and brown African dress to the movie showing. “When we found out that this was going to be an epic tale that actually was written by black writers, costumes designed by black costume designers, we were just, like, ‘We have to go see it.'”

While the movie tells a fictional story, some religious leaders said its lessons about generosity and brotherhood and sisterhood promote their values. Some also saw specific ties to their faith.

“It’s not a perfect movie but it has so many affirming messages,” said the Rev. Warren H. Stewart Sr., pastor of Phoenix’s First Institutional Baptist Church, which organized an outing to see the movie. Among them, he said, were “mutual respect and affection toward one another, being made in God’s image and likeness. Even with the death of the star … I saw immediately the concept of death and resurrection, the fact that he came back to life.”

Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago hosted screenings of the movie and created a “Black Panther Study Guide” that calls the historical Ethiopian Empire the home of the biblical Garden of Eden and “the real Wakanda.” It reminds that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church “has her own pope.” The movie’s lead character T’Challa is “a king, a leader, a mentor, and a reflective spiritual individual,” the guide says.

The Rev. Otis Moss III, senior pastor of the church, told Auburn Seminary’s Voices: “T’Challa, if you take away his suit, he gets his real power from the spirit, the spirit of the panther. In other words, he gets his power from the Holy Ghost.”

The Rev. Hodari Williams, pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church in College Park, Ga., planned a sermon series related to the movie after attending a Feb. 15 screening organized by his predominantly black church. Among his themes is not keeping your gifts to yourself. As Wakandans learned in the movie, he hopes his church will “make our resources the resources of the community.”

Williams, who wore a blue and white dashiki from Ghana when he saw the movie, said he also wanted young people to gain a sense of the beauty of the African continent.

“In our history books, it’s been taught that it’s a land of savages and people who have no regard for humanity or God,” said the pastor, whose church is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). “This movie conveyed a deep connection to spirituality and the ancestors and how one cannot lead without that kind of spirituality and a superhero himself is very in tune with the ancestors and the creator of the universe.”

Leaders of predominantly black churches were not the only people of faith who wanted to get young people into the theaters for the popular movie.

The Rev. Jacqui Lewis, the African-American pastor of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City, said her congregation’s white youth director took a multicultural group of teens to see “Black Panther” on Feb. 15 and they have since used Trinity United Church of Christ’s study guide.

“You know how teenagers are all about the superheroes, the kind of projection of the good we hope is in ourselves out on the screen,” said Lewis. “For that to be larger-than-life black folk was moving to our white children as well as our black children.”

Khaled Beydoun, an associate law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, treated a group of 17 Muslim students to the movie on Friday (Feb. 23). The Muslim educator said “they were totally enthralled by the film.”

Given the significant percentage of Muslims in this country who are black, his goal was to help young nonblack Muslims bridge divides in a diverse city where schools are often segregated.

“If these young Arab, Muslim kids begin to see black people as members of their own, I think that can do a lot to erode racism in places like Detroit, but also nationally,” said Beydoun, author of the forthcoming “American Islamophobia.”

Cooper, of the AME Zion church in North Carolina, also noticed the movie’s universal themes of common humanity, which he said reminded him of the bond he has between “my brother in Christ, my sister in Christ” in his youth group.

“In my youth group, we loved the movie,” said Cooper, who planned to see it again. “It was the best movie I’ve seen.”

[SOURCE:RNS]

Saturday, November 05, 2016

Black clergy making last second push to get out the vote

Black clergy are taking to the pulpits and the streets nationwide this weekend in hopes of energizing black voters ahead of Election Day, aiming to make a difference in the presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Many expect a drop in black voter participation this year, primarily because Barack Obama, the nation’s first African-American president, is not on the ballot. His historic candidacy in 2008 and re-election in 2012 helped to fuel record black turnout.

“Voting, for us, is both a spiritual and a political issue,” said Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and architect of the Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina. Barber will be one of several clergy at the historic Riverside Church in New York City Sunday evening for a revival service to encourage voting on Tuesday.

Read more: Black clergy making last second push to get out the vote

Saturday, September 03, 2016

Here's what Detroit's black pastors want Donald Trump to know

In an effort to flip the script and court African American voters, Republican nominee Donald Trump is trying to broaden his appeal by attending Saturday service at a black church in Detroit. While some welcome his presence, many prominent African American pastors in the community are less enthused and more skeptical of his intentions. Watch those pastors express their views below.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Pastor to protest Trump's visit to Detroit church

In an effort to reach out to African-American voters, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will make his first foray into black churches with a visit to Great Faith Ministries Church in Detroit on Saturday and tape an interview with Bishop Wayne T. Jackson.

Rev. W.J. Rideout III, Pastor of All God's People Church in Detroit, said he'll lead a protest at the church against Trump. He isn't upset with Jackson opening his church and TV network to Trump, adding, "That's business. But I don't want him to think that he can come in here and get our votes."

"Donald Trump is an opportunist, and this guy will reach out to get a vote from the worst fish in the sea. He doesn’t care if he gets a vote from a rock. He just wants to get into the White House," Rideout said. "He’s outsourcing jobs overseas. Yet you’re talking about making American great again."

“I think he’s a racist, I think he’s a bigot and I think he doesn’t have a care for human kind,” Rideout said about Trump.

[SOURCE]

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Historic Black Church Donates $1M to Smithsonian's African-American History Museum

A historic black church based in Virginia has pledged to donate $1 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

Alfred Street Baptist Church, a historically black congregation in Alexandria that traces its history back to the early 1800s, has announced their donation for the educational institute.

"ASBC has always been a leader in community outreach and missions within the faith-based community," said the Rev. Howard-John Wesley, lead pastor of Alfred Street Baptist, in comments to The Christian Post on Monday. Wesley added that this was the first time a faith-based organization had donated $1 million to the Smithsonian.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Arson reported at Virginia church with historical African American roots


A fire at a Northern Virginia church with historical roots in the African American community was deliberately set, authorities said Friday.
The fire was reported Oct. 22 at the Grace Annex United Methodist Church in Purcellville, said Laura Rinehart , a spokeswoman for the Loudoun County fire department.
In a statement released to the media, Rinehart said fire investigators had determined that the fire was “incendiary in nature.”
It remains under investigation, she said.
According to the statement, the early-morning fire caused a minimal amount of damage to the structure, and did not impede church operations.
Available historical information traces the roots of the church, in part, to a 19th-century congregation of Freedmen and Quakers that was established in the Lincoln area of Loudoun.
That church was described as one of the first black churches permitted by law in Loudoun.
[SOURCE]

Monday, November 30, 2015

Caught in a lie: Trump cancels press conference with black pastors

While the meeting with several black pastors will still take place on Monday, the press conference in which Trump told everybody 100 black pastors will endorse him will not.

The endorsement claim prompted many of the pastors to issue angry denials from those involved who said they had agreed to listen Trump's positions on key issues. Others said they had declined the invitation altogether.

Getting the endorsement of the 100 black church leaders would have shown that he can reach beyond his his base . Unfortunately, he he lied to the pastors about his intentions. Several complained their names had been given to the media even though they declined the invitation.

On Sunday afternoon, Mr Trump announced on Twitter that Monday's meeting would not include a press conference.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Black pastors to Trump: No endorsement.

UPDATE: TRUMP CANCELS PRESS CONFERENCE WITH BLACK PASTORS

It appears that the Trump Campaign has been caught in a lie. A meeting has been scheduled between Trump and 100 black clergy on Monday November 30, 2015 . The meeting was described by the campaign in a press release as, "a coalition of 100 African American Evangelical pastors and religious leaders who will endorse the GOP frontrunner after a private meeting at Trump Tower."

Several members of a group of prominent African American ministers have stated they aren't even going to the meeting and are making clear that they have made no commitments to endorse Donald Trump.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

New Documentary: The Church House Sexuality in the Black Church

"The Church House: Sexuality in the Black Church" is a documentary directed and produced by D. Channsin Berry.

The Church House features interviews with ministers, preachers, bishops, church members and former church members. Topics covered include, sexism, homosexuality, and abuse of power. Berry points out that historically many black leaders in America came out of the church and aims to show that in order for African Americans to become stronger, ‘we need our black church back’. “As a place of refuge, a place of the real word of God we can regain our power spiritually, physically, mentally and financially,” states Berry.

Here is the current screening schedule for "The Church House":

Monday, September 28th at 6:30 p.m., Rutgers University, The Paul Robeson Campus Center, 350 MLK Blvd, Newark, NJ

Sunday, October 4th at 5:00 p.m., International Black Film Festival Nashville, Meharry Medical College/Cal Turner Family Event Center/Auditorium 2nd. Flr.

More dates to be announced as confirmed. The Black Church Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Church-House-186851908136720/timeline/

Watch the first trailer for the documentary: The Church House Sexuality in the Black Church.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Georgia pastor's powerful message to anti gay Christians

Georgia pastor E. Dewey Smith said that religious people who are critical of the LGBT community and the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage are "hypocritical" in a videotaped sermon that was posted Thursday. Watch his statement below.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Black Churches Cut Ties With Presbyterian USA After Same-Sex Marriage Approval

The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African-Americans, has broken its fellowship with Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) following its recent vote to approve same-sex marriage.

Read more: 34,000 Black Churches Break Ties With Presbyterian Church USA

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Go tell it on the streets: Black lives also have to matter to blacks

My wife and I had the privilege of attending a prayer service in Roselle, Dec. 29, for black men gunned down by police. There were many clergy and some elected officials from Roselle, Elizabeth, Hillside and Plainfield at the service, which was put together by the Rev. David Ford at the St. Matthew Baptist Church. I heard many great speakers discuss issues of special interest to the African-American community.

Because it was an open and honest dialogue, black-on-black crime was mentioned and our responsibility to address and deal with it were discussed.

Roselle Mayor Jamel Holley gave a great speech about the need for parents to step up, instill values in their children and value education. Myrtle Counts, president of the Roselle NAACP, gave an impassioned speech that, yes, black lives matter, but they must also be of value to us as African Americans.

The Rev. Ford mentioned not wanting to live in a world without police, but wanting to have a good and respectful police corps. I heard Councilwoman Rev. Tracey Brown of Plainfield lament the fact that she had made more than 100 eulogies in 2014, and most of those were for young people.

As I looked around, I saw the nodding heads and heard the “Amen”’s and shouts of “Yes!” But I also noticed something else: As great as the speakers were, the message they were delivering didn't need to be given to the 50 or so people in the church. They were preaching to the choir.

What good is a great and possibly life-saving message if the people who need to hear it don't hear it?

We as elected officials, clergy and community leaders need to take the message that “Yes, black lives matter, but they have to matter to us African Americans, too,” from the churches and meeting halls to the streets. Delivering that message won't be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is. I don't pretend to have all the answers on how to do that, but if we all work together, I'm sure we’ll find a way.

It's imperative that we get out there and deliver that message. As an elected official, I'm ready to do my part and hope that others will do the same. Our children's lives depend on it.

George L. Cook III, Hillside Board of Education. Email georgelcookiii@gmail.com

The opinions expressed here are mine and do not reflect the opinions of the entire Hillside NJ Board of Education.

Op-ed published by The Times of Trenton: http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/01/opinion_go_tell_it_on_the_streets_black_lives_also_have_to_matter_to_blacks.html#incart_river

The South Florida Times: http://www.sfltimes.com/opinion/that-black-on-black-crime-sermon-deliver-it

Frost Illustrated: http://www.frostillustrated.com/2015/take-message-black-black-crime-streets/

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Coalition Of Black Pastors Speaks Out Against Gay Marriage


*Note: I strongly oppose the actions of this pastors. I don't see how a group that knows discrimination first hand can condone it being done to another group. But my opposition does not mean that this is not newsworthy. George Cook AfricanAmericanReports.com.

A coalition of black pastors have condemned gay marriage, saying it's incorrect to compare the fight for equal marriage rights to the civil rights movement. The Christian, conservative Thomas More Law Center filed an amicus brief in Michigan's gay marriage trial Wednesday on behalf of 110 black pastors from Detroit, elsewhere in Michigan, and Ohio. Watch more on this story below: