Gay activists disrupt Sunday service at Michigan church

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Comments: 8

A picture of Bash Back members from the group's web site

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Lansing, Mich., Nov 13, 2008 / 01:20 am (CNA).- A homosexual activist group on Sunday disrupted services at a Michigan Assemblies of God-affiliated church, throwing fliers, shouting slogans at churchgoers, and kissing each other.

David Williams, communications director at the church and son of its pastor Dave Williams, said their slogans included phrases like “It's OK to be gay” and claims that Jesus was homosexual, the Lansing State Journal reports.

During the disruption, another group of protestors demonstrated outside the church. The outside protesters left peacefully when someone on the pastoral team told them they were not welcome on church property.

Williams said in a statement that churchgoers were unclear what the purpose of the demonstration was.

The church reportedly teaches that homosexuality is a sin, but Williams stressed “Mount Hope Church strives to follow Jesus' example of loving the sinner but not the sin."

According to the Lansing State Journal, a Lansing group affiliated with a radical homosexual organization called Bash Back issued a call on October 7 for activists to join a “radical queer convergence” in Lansing between November 7 and November 9.

A report on the Bash Back group’s web site claimed credit for the protest. It described the outside protesters as a small group dressed in pink and black equipped “with a megaphone, black flags, picket signs and an upside-down pink cross.”

“The group was extremely loud and wildly offensive,” the web site said, describing the outside protest as meant to distract the church’s guards.

According to the web site, a fire alarm was pulled and protesters of the same sex “began making out in front of the pastor.”

The Eaton County Sheriff’s Department reportedly received a call concerning the protest at about noon on Sunday. Deputies did not handle the protests inside the church and made no arrests.

Jessica Larkin, an employee with the Eaton County Sheriff’s Department, told CNA on Wednesday that no charges were filed.

“The church didn’t file any complaint. When we arrived there, they [the protesters] left on their own accord when they were told to leave. There was no incident as they were leaving,” she said.

Officials at the Eaton County Prosecutor's Office told CNA that an investigation would not be conducted into the incident if charges were not filed with the sheriff.

The Lansing State Journal reports that Williams said the church had received 80 to 85 e-mails and phone calls by Tuesday, "from churches and individuals around the country to express their concern and general disgust for what happened on Sunday."

Comments: 8

Subscriber comments:

Published by: Nick Curtis
Idaho Falls/ID/USA 01/08/2009 08:58 PM EST

I just found out today that a good friend of mine in Michigan was fired from his job of twenty years. Two gay men in his large corporation discovered that he was a Mormon. Although my friend was not a contributor to the Prop 8 cause, these two men were so enraged that a Mormon worked at their place of employment that they fabricated accusations against my mild-mannered friend saying that he had threatened, among other bizarre things, to place bombs in their respective homes to kill them. My friend is a soft-spoken family man who had been successful and well-respected by his peers and management. The corporation, subsequently, fired him, though. He has no degree to fall back on. He was forced to leave his family behind in Michigan to search for employment elsewhere. He now lives in Florida while his wife and children still live in Michigan. Mormons regard marriage as a sacred, eternal covenant between a man and a woman and God. They believe that a family unit can be together forever. Eternal marriage is the highest state a Mormon can attain. Although Mormons believe pre-marital sex and gay sex are grievous sins, those who commit such sins are not loved any less by God as He loves those who choose not to commit such sins. Mormons believe we are all literal children of God. He is our Father in Heaven. He loved us and knew us individually before we were born into this temporal existence. We must eventually be jud

Published by: Heather
Michigan 11/20/2008 01:18 AM EST

Victor: I don't think the homosexuals truly need your forgiveness.
H.J. D'cruz: They shouldn't have to find a different faith just because they were born attracted to the same sex.
And finally, E.A.: I've read Romans. The word homosexual never came up. Odd.

Published by: E.A.
St. Louis, MO 11/14/2008 05:26 PM EST

Gregory Peterson,

I feel I must correct you. It's in Romans. Whatever you wish to say about homosexuality, you can't say that its not forbidden in the Bible.

Published by: Ray
Manhattan/Kansas/USA 11/14/2008 05:17 PM EST

What would people do without their enemies? Also, people seem to enjoy raising you know what all the time about something. Life is boring. If we don't have enemies we will create them - both on a personal and national level, and world level. Bashing people seems to be much more fun than paying bills and mowing the lawn. And the beat goes on. Who would the gays be if everyone ignored them?

Published by: H.J. D"cruz
Karachi Pakistan 11/14/2008 03:48 AM EST

The gays and lisbions should form their own places of worship or go to churches / denomination or to other religions that allow this practice.

Published by: Gregory Peterson
New Mexico 11/13/2008 03:52 PM EST

My Bible says nothing about "homosexuality" being a sin.

"Homosexuality" is a Victorian sexology theory, and an obsolete one at that. People who apply the homosexual label to people are generally not to be respected. They're often exhibiting condescending ignorance at best, and deliberate ill will at worse.

Applying "homosexual" to animal behavior, however, is another matter. Animals don't do identity.

Published by: Greg Dodd
Dallas, Texas, USA 11/13/2008 01:39 PM EST

Thank you for being an excellent source of Catholic news. Why do you use the term "gay"? It is a misnomer created by the homosexual movement to obscure what they are and what they do. The accurate term remains "homosexual".

Published by: victor
bergenfield, nj 11/13/2008 01:34 AM EST

I wonder why this is not a scandal for the media, while it would be a scandal if a Christian or anyone one for that matter, says a negative comment about Homosexuals. I noticed this double standard during the gay parade in new York. they would stand in front of the Cathedral to yell obscenities, while the Cardinal would beg us to remain calm and to forgive them.

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