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How Christian Of Them

Started by Solitary, January 14, 2015, 10:22:51 AM

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Solitary

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/colorado-church-refuses-to-hold-funeral-for-lesbian-woman-after-dispute-over-%e2%80%98affectionate%e2%80%99-photos/ar-AA88z8F?ocid=iehp


Colorado church refuses to hold funeral for lesbian woman after dispute over ‘affectionate’ photos
A Colorado church refused to hold a funeral service for a lesbian woman after the family declined to remove photos of her showing affection to her wife.

Vanessa Collier, 33, died in December and her funeral service was scheduled at New Hope Ministries in Lakewood, Colo., on Jan. 10. But shortly before the service was set to begin, New Hope’s Pastor Ray Chavez discovered that the family’s memorial video contained photos of Collier kissing her wife.

The church refused to hold the funeral in its building unless the photos were removed. And the family instead decided to move the service elsewhere.

“They said that they didn’t agree with her alternative lifestyle,” Dawnnetta Pierce-Fernandez, Collier’s friend of 15 years told The Washington Post. “They gave the family the option to edit the video and the family decided that they were not going to allow Vanessa’s life to be edited.”

“It’s devastating â€" and disgusting, honestly,” she added.
On Tuesday afternoon, friends and family of Collier protested outside the church, calling for “Dignity in Death” for Collier and other gay people.

“Pastor Ray Chavez and New Hope Ministries Cancelled the funeral of our friend 15 minutes after it was to have begin,” they said on a Facebook page announcing the protest. “Her casket was open, flowers laid out and hundreds of people sitting in the pews.”

Chaplain Gary Rolando, a friend of Collier’s father, who ultimately conducted the funeral and internment service instead, said that everyone involved worked hard to resolve the situation.

“Everybody involved â€" the church, the mortuary â€" did their best,” Rolando told The Post. “They did encounter difficulties but they did their best.”

Chavez, through his church, has declined to comment on the incident.

“The pastor of the church did not sleep well the next two nights,” Rolando said. “He’s really struggling because he really desired to minister to that family.”

Rolando said that Chavez was “sorrowful” over the situation, but doesn’t believe that speaking publicly will “help the family get past this and move on.”

According to Rolando, the dispute was over about “3 or 4″ photos, of Collier displaying affection to her wife. The church, he said, was willing to allow photos of Collier’s marriage proposal to be shown.

“They only ask that the policy be followed and that they not be overtly affectionate in the way of kissing,” Rolando said.

It was just 20 minutes before the service when the church discovered that the video included those pictures. The mortuary delivered the pictures to the church later than usual and then the church misplaced one of the discs, Rolando said. About 10 minutes before the service was scheduled to start, the family called Rolando, who works with the International Police and Fire Chaplains Association.

“The family, the funeral director, the church understood there was an impasse,” Rolando said. “The family was not willing to compromise by allowing the [audio-visual] guy to allow them to self-censor some of the photos.”
Friends who gathered in protest on Tuesday demanded an apology.

“You will not find Jesus at New Hope but you will find hypocrisy,” one sign said, according to the Denver Post.
“We want them to apologize publicly to the family and the friends,” Pierce-Fernandez said.

Collier died on Dec. 30, when her gun went off while she was cleaning it, according to 9 News. She and her wife Christina Higley have two daughters.

Christianity: The breeding ground of bigotry!  :axe: :wall:
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

ApostateLois

Pretty dumb way to die, though, huh?
"Now we see through a glass dumbly." ~Crow, MST3K #903, "Puma Man"

Munch

Shows me just what a song and dance christian faith really is, how they pretend to show concern and remorse for their 'fellow mankind', but the second something of that persons life conflicts with there backwards and archaic rules, they show their true colors, and in so showing they don't actually care about people, only their own warped values.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

hrdlr110

I'm surprised that the fact she was a gun owner didn't outweigh her lesbianism, or at least cancel it out in the eyes of the church.
Interesting choice of words, "alternative". I didn't know people still referred to gays that way anymore.
Q for theists; how can there be freewill and miracles? And, how can prayer exist in an environment as regimented as "gods plan"?

"I'm a polyatheist, there are many gods I don't believe in." - Dan Fouts

Mr.Obvious

Quote from: ApostateLois on January 18, 2015, 02:05:46 PM
Pretty dumb way to die, though, huh?

But... But... Guns don't kill people... Right? People kill people, right?

No seriously, that pastor sucks.
"If we have to go down, we go down together!"
- Your mum, last night, requesting 69.

Atheist Mantis does not pray.

MagetheEntertainer

Wow, what an asshole...  BTW I thought the bible was fine with lesbians, I thought it was just man on man stuff they didn't like.

Munch

Quote from: MagetheEntertainer on January 19, 2015, 03:18:44 PM
Wow, what an asshole...  BTW I thought the bible was fine with lesbians, I thought it was just man on man stuff they didn't like.

nah, its in the same camp since lesbians fly the rainbow flag too.

Now when it comes to children and christian pastors..
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin