Two weeks ago, Jerry Pittman Jr. and his boyfriend Dustin Lee tried to attend services at Grace Fellowship Church in their town of Fruitland, Tennessee. They didn’t make it through the front door.
On instructions from the church pastor–Jerry’s father–church deacons attacked Jerry and Dustin in the parking lot while shouting homophobic slurs to prevent them from entering.
This kind of hate and violence has no place in our society, particularly in our churches. Not only does this assault directly harm Jerry and Dustin, it reinforces the lie that all religion is hostile to LGBT people.
Faithful America is fighting that myth by standing up for Jerry and Dustin and demanding an apology. Thousands of people are adding their names to a simple petition to church leadership:
To the leadership of Grace Fellowship Church,
Your actions against Jerry and Dustin are appalling and in no way faithful to the Christian Gospel. Such hate and violence are never acceptable.
As people of faith, we call on you to apologize immediately.
Join them by signing your name to the petition here.
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This clip from NBC affiliate WESH in Orlando shows Faithful America member Rev. Randolph Bracy, Jr., Senior Pastor and Founder of New Covenant Baptist Church, speaking out about the moral consequences of the budget cuts endorsed by many of the Republican presidential candidates.
Rev. Bracy was speaking as part of a joint press conference with Protect Your Care outside of the Orange County Convention Center where the GOP debate took place on Thursday:
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Tonight in Orlando, the GOP presidential candidates will participate in a debate hosted by Google, Fox News, and the Republican Party of Florida. So far these debates have helped reveal the distorted values of the Tea Party and the influence of these extremist views on prominent candidates.
But before this next debate, Faithful America and local religious leaders are sending the candidates a clear message: their political priorities must reflect the real values of faith voters, namely caring about how those policies affect the poor and vulnerable.
This afternoon, during a press conference outside the debate venue in Orlando, faith leaders spoke out against the morally extreme positions expressed at the last debate, specifically the acceptability of letting an uninsured person die due to lack of health insurance coverage. The speakers also denounced chants at recent debates celebrating the death penalty and rejected policies that reward the rich and powerful while harming families, seniors, and others in need.
“We want to hear these candidates state their clear and unambiguous commitment to helping the poor, the vulnerable, the hungry, the homeless in our nation – it is simply and purely wrong to sacrifice these members of our communities, often represented among our senior citizens and our children, on the greedy altar of protection for the wealthiest members of our society,” said Rev. Bryan Fulwider, Senior Minister of First Congregational Church of Winter Park in Winter Park, FL. “It is high time for those with significant wealth to pay their fair share… fairness is a real faith value – greed is not.”
As a backdrop to the press conference was the mobile billboard emblazoned with a biblical passage from Isaiah sponsored by nearly 500 members of Faithful America. The billboard’s presence is serving as a constant witness to our values during the CPAC Florida and Faith and Freedom conventions happening in Orlando today and tonight.
The billboard also highlights Faithful America’s “Real Values Agenda” calling on elected officials to act with honesty and integrity in the political arena, stand up for the poor and vulnerable, and put the common good above self-interest. Over 6,000 people of faith have already endorsed it.
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There’s going to be a new perspective at the Republican debate in Orlando. (No, it’s not another candidate). Faithful America has raised money to bring a mobile billboard – and their message – directly to the debate.
The ads take a passage from Isaiah to remind the candidates that governments have a responsibility to ensure justice for all people – especially the poor. As questions about economic policy take center stage in the Presidential debates and during Super Committee negotiations in Washington, the reminder is more urgent than ever.
You can read and endorse Faithful America’s Real Values Agenda here.
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In 1991 Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. But since that trial (in which there was no physical evidence linking him to the scence), seven out of the nine witnesses who testified against him have recanted their testimony, raising serious concerns about Troy’s guilt. Despite these doubts and three previous stays of execution, the state of Georgia decided to proceed with Troy’s execution–now scheduled for next Wednesday September 21st.
Yesterday in Atlanta, advocates delivered petitions from over half a million people urging the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Troy’s sentence to life in prison.
One of those petitions was a statement from almost 3,500 religious leaders from across the country asking for clemency. According to Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, typical petitions for clemency garner around 200 signatures from religious leaders, but Troy Davis’s case has struck a different chord, prompting even such notables as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI to speak up.
Faithful America has joined these efforts with a petition of its own. You can help prevent a potentially innocent man from being put to death by signing their petition here.
With so many lingering doubts and wide array of withdrawn testimony, we can’t risk watching Georgia potentially make a horrific, irreversible mistake.
Photo credit: Amnesty International USA
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