Texas is the unlikely home of biggt gay church | Rters

Contents:

• TEXAS IS THE UNLIKELY HOME OF BIGGT GAY CHURCH
• BIGGT GAY CHURCH FDS A HOME DALLAS
• 2 TEXAS UNED METHODIST CHURCH APPROVE OF HOSTG GAY WEDDGS

TEXAS IS THE UNLIKELY HOME OF BIGGT GAY CHURCH

Stedfast Baptist Church, which was forced to leave two lotns Tarrant County last year and recently bought a buildg Cedar Hill, was the subject of protts church was found Fort Worth 2014 and is led by pastor Jonathan Shelley, who advoted for “pal punishment” for gay people at an Arlgton Cy Council meetg last year and, a sermon, doubted that the Nazis killed six ln Jews.

In June 2022, pastor Dillon Aw said “Every sgle homosexual our untry should be... ”Edward Sebta, who wr a newsletter lled Dallas Gay Liberatn and has tracked the movements of Stedfast Baptist Church, said he hop protts agast the church will ntue at s new lotn. It sets a level for the rt of the muny, straight and gay, [of] what’s acceptable.

BIGGT GAY CHURCH FDS A HOME DALLAS

Queer or sgle, married, divorced, widowed, straight, gay, bi, transgenr, cisgenr, or non-bary, so we wele you too. Members of the Cathedral of Hope, the largt gay church the world, attend servic Dallas, Texas March 18, 2007.

But the Cathedral of Hope Dallas mak one Texas-sized claim that few would expect the nservative Bible Belt state -- says is the world’s biggt gay church. “I thk this shows that God has a tremendoly great sense of humor, ” said senr pastor and rector Jo a more ser note, she says the church, affiliated wh the Uned Church of Christ, is a spirual refuge for gay people of fah a regn associated wh more nservative brands of Christiany.

2 TEXAS UNED METHODIST CHURCH APPROVE OF HOSTG GAY WEDDGS

Many of the untry’s 60 ln evangelils view homosexualy as a sful liftyle choice -- a stance that angers gay activists who say their sexual orientatn is not a Epispalian church -- the Amerin wg of the Anglin Communn -- is sharply spl on the matter of gay clergy, while the Republin Party has ed state ballot iativ banng gay marriage to get s supporters out to the timat that over 90 percent of the Cathedral’s 3, 500 members are gay, lbian or transgenr. Found 1970 by a dozen gays and lbians who gathered a home and cid they wanted a safe and tolerant place to worship, has grown to a large and affluent stutn centered on a verno church that n seat up to year beme part of the Uned Church of Christ, which claims 1.

Ngregatns and tradns of diversy and pneerg actn on social a recent Sunday durg Lent -- a perd of prayer and penance the n-up to Easter -- mostly gay upl, men and women, streamed for morng big pickup tcks and sports utily vehicl gave the parkg lot a Texan flavor and most were on the expensive si -- highlightg the fact that beg openly gay remas a mostly whe-llar phenomenon church offered lurgil worship wh an Epispalian flavor, plete wh munn. It also provis ntemporary and Spanish-language there was no discsn of homosexualy om the pulp.

One pastor spoke of South Ain Archbishop and Nobel lreate Dmond Tutu and the importance of ’s sermon foced on humany’s propensy to ON THE POORMembers of the ngregatn said that while the church was a place of spirual fort for gays, s foc was on misterg to the wir muny, pecially the poor. “We don’t talk much about gay stuff here, ” said Coy Jam, who has been attendg the church for almost 30 years. “Homosexualy & Christiany: no matter who you are, God lov you, ” clar the church’s Web se, which featur a discsn on the matter, strsg among other thgs J’ silence on the subject.