WP/Reuters: Texas is the unlikely home of biggest gay church

[DeepModem Mom]

Texas is the unlikely home of biggest gay church
By Ed Stoddard
Reuters
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

DALLAS (Reuters) - They say everything is bigger in Texas.

But the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas makes one Texas-sized claim that few would expect in the conservative Bible Belt state -- it says it is the world's biggest gay church....

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Founded in 1970 by a dozen gays and lesbians who gathered in a home and decided they wanted a safe and tolerant place to worship, it has grown into a large and affluent institution centered on a cavernous church that can seat up to 900.

Last year it became part of the United Church of Christ, which claims 1.3 million members in 5,725 U.S. congregations and traditions of diversity and pioneering action on social justice....

***

Members of the congregation said that while the church was a place of spiritual comfort for gays, its focus was on ministering to the wider community, especially the poor.

"We don't talk much about gay stuff here," said Coy James, who has been attending the church for almost 30 years.

"We give over $1 million each year in aid and services to the poorest of the poor and we have adopted elementary schools in low-income areas and helped them with tutoring and other things," he said after the service....

***

"Homosexuality & Christianity: no matter who you are, God loves you," declares the church's Web site, which features a discussion on the matter, stressing among other things Jesus' silence on the subject....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000697.html

[xchrom]

1. bwahahaha!!! -- it's part of our ''relentless'' gay agenda.

sometimes irony is like a big ol' bar of rich delicious chocolate.

yum.

[NMMNG]

2. Heh heh

"We don't talk much about gay stuff here," said Coy James, who has been attending the church for almost 30 years.

And that sets them apart from so many fundie churches.

[Ron Green]

3. I'll bet this church is in Oak Lawn -

the only interesting part of Dallas.