Pastor may have lost post over Prop 8

by Dan Aiello
Bay Area Reporter
05/14/2009

The pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Sacramento was removed from his post by the denomination's regional leadership Monday without explanation. LGBT activists believe his firing, which began in earnest in January, is likely the result of his ordination of three gay parishioners to leadership positions within the congregation and his staunch opposition to Proposition 8.

The decision to remove the Reverend Dr. David Thompson from Westminster was made by a regional administrative commission that did not include a single member of his church's 500 congregants, none of whom were allowed into the closed meeting held at the church May 11. Instead, congregants and approximately 50 members of Sacramento's LGBT and allied community, including many from PFLAG, along with a half dozen pastors from other downtown churches, gathered in a small sanctuary within Westminster's Mission-style compound to pray for justice for Thompson.

Their prayers went unanswered.

(Article continues here)


1 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the things the Yes on 8 campaign did well was to recognize their weaknesses, chief among those was their bigotry and intolerance. They successfully turned it around and convinced many, through protesting intolerance and organized vandalism of some their own campaign signs with black paint (political signs aren't vandalized, they're taken - as in the case of prop 8 signs) that prop 8 opponents were intolerant of their religious beliefs.

The removal of Rev. Thompson shows who is truly intolerant. It's sad to know that bigotry is almost always hidden behind religion. What's worse is knowing that religious leaders allow it. Nowhere in this action do you see the God's love or Christ's compassion. These leaders serve the faithful poorly. Here, Rev. Thompson was a true shepard, the regional presbytery, the wolves. Where is God's love or Christ's compassion in the actions of these church leaders? The answer is nowhere.

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