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 their 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.
The Wilsons were trying to get married at the
predominantly white First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs -- a church
they attend regularly, but are not members of.
"He had people in the sanctuary that were
pitching a fit about us being a black couple," said Te'Andrea Wilson. "I
didn't like it at all, because I wasn't brought up to be racist. I was
brought up to love and care for everybody."
The church's pastor, Dr. Stan Weatherford,
says he was taken by surprise by what he calls a small minority against
the black marriage at the church.
"This had never been done before here, so it
was setting a new precedent, and there are those who reacted to that
because of that," said Weatherford.
Weatherford went on and performed the wedding at a nearby church.
"I didn't want to have a controversy within
the church, and I didn't want a controversy to affect the wedding of
Charles and Te' Andrea. I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a
special day," said Weatherford.
After months of planning, the newlyweds say
they had no choice but to go through with the wedding at the new
location, but they still can't understand why a church would ban their
wedding because of race.
"I blame the First Baptist Church of Crystal
Springs, I blame those members who knew and call themselves Christians
and didn't stand up," said Charles Wilson.
Church officials say they welcome any race
into their congregation. They now plan to hold internal meetings on how
to move forward, should this situation occur again.
"I was prepared to go ahead and do the
wedding here just like it was planned, and just like we agreed to," said
Weatherford. "I was just looking for an opportunity to be able to
address a need within our congregation and at the same time minister to
them."
Whats to be upset about?
At least they can still *get* married unlike others in our little bigoted country.
I'm sure these rednecks were just emboldened by their victories over the fags so logically, they have moved onto the next group on their hatelist...blacks.
And while your lamenting this civil violation of your basic human rights, just remember, majority rules and if you allow state wide constitutional amendments banning one group from basic civil rights, you could very well be next on the list.
Those who will not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
'nuff said,
Ulf
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