Reply With Quote
ing Fundies! This is why I quit going to church! Grah!
Church Cancels Memorial for Gay Vet
By ANGELA K. BROWN,AP
Posted: 2007-08-11 18:24:38
Filed Under: Nation News
ARLINGTON, Texas (Aug. 10) - A megachurch canceled a memorial service for a Navy veteran 24 hours before it was to start because the deceased was gay.
Officials at the nondenominational High Point Church knew that Cecil Howard Sinclair was gay when they offered to host his service, said his sister, Kathleen Wright. But after his obituary listed his life partner as one of his survivors, she said, it was called off.
"It's a slap in the face. It's like, 'Oh, we're sorry he died, but he's gay so we can't help you,"' she said Friday.
Wright said High Point offered to hold the service for Sinclair because their brother is a janitor there. Sinclair, who served in the first Gulf War, died Monday at age 46 from an infection after surgery to prepare him for a heart transplant.
The church's pastor, the Rev. Gary Simons, said no one knew Sinclair, who was not a church member, was gay until the day before the Thursday service, when staff members putting together his video tribute saw pictures of men "engaging in clear affection, kissing and embracing."
Simons said the church believes sexuality is a sin, and it would have appeared to endorse that lifestyle if the service had been held there.
"We did decline to host the service - not based on hatred, not based on discrimination, but based on principle," Simons told The Associated Press. "Had we known it on the day they first spoke about it - yes, we would have declined then. It's not that we didn't love the family."
Simons said the decision had nothing to do with the obituary. He said the church offered to pay for another site for the service, made the video and provided food for more than 100 relatives and friends.
"Even though we could not condone that lifestyle, we went above and beyond for the family through many acts of love and kindness," Simons said.
Wright called the church's claim about the pictures "a bold-faced lie." She said she provided numerous family pictures of Sinclair, including some with his partner, but said none showed men kissing or hugging.
The 5,000-member High Point Church was founded in 2000 by Simons and his wife, April, whose brother is Joel Osteen, well-known pastor of the 38,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston. Now High Point meets in a 432,000-square-foot facility in Arlington, near Dallas.
Wright said relatives declined the church's offer to hold the service at a community center because they felt it was an inappropriate venue. It ultimately was held at a funeral home, but the cancellation still lingered in some minds, she said.
http://news.aol.com/story/ar/_a/chur...00010000000001
ing Fundies! This is why I quit going to church! Grah!
That's a pretty ed up church. I may not have a particular respect for gay people but I have respect for the deceased if they were innocent of harming another human being, because that's the kind of you forgive, not turn your back to.
While I disagree whole heartedly with the church, and their stance.
Its their right.
That's pretty sad actually. They shouldn't refuse the funeral....
It's like refusing a funeral because someone comitted suicide or once had a child out of wedlock.
I agree with the church's decision, it was based on their principles and if they had held the service there, it would have been going against their own principles. You may not agree with their decision but as T Park said, it's their right.
Word yo, it's their right.
As missmyzte said, it goes against their principles.
Word mang, it's their right.
As alvarez said, it goes against their principles.
Maybe cuz he was a back slider?
Jesus hung around with 12 guys all day and night, never got married and lived with his parents until the age of 30. All signs point to gayness.
Now the church is hating on gays.
I don't get these people.
sigh.....
Like I said in the thread about this in the political forum...Is God going to punish the deceased for loving, or them for hating?
Of course it's their right.
It's also my right to say that it's a completely backwards, bigoted, closed-minded, ignorant, ed up and, frankly, Godless way of thinking.
If I was the owner of the church, I would have accepted the gay corpse. However, I would never accept a fake fatass like you.
This really is getting tiresome.
I know you got the memo, but I highly recommend you READ the memo.
And yet Kori and Timvp still keep you around.
Do me a favor and say the "C" word.
I just want to know if anything happens to you.
I know you got the memo, but I highly recommend you READ the memo
yeahhhhh
ill make sure you get a copy of that memo mkay?
grrrrreeeaaaatttt
THIS IS A PERSONAL ATTACK AND WILL BE HANDLED ACCORDINGLY. YOUR INFORMATION HAS BEEN FORWARDED TO THE AUTHORITIES.
I'm going to be needing those TPS reports by the afternoon, mmkay?.
Grrrreeeaaattt.
Thanks.
I'm beginning to think you're all bark and no bite.
I watched Office Space just the other day. I love that movie.
One of the best movies of all time!!!
Michael Bolton: I told those fudge-packers I liked Michael Bolton's music.
Peter Gibbons: Oh. That is not right, Michael.
Hypocricy, thy name is religion.
Seems strange, if you aren't going to host his funeral, why provide the food, video, and pay for another venue?
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
