Racism is still alive in Mississippi and a Baptist church is at the center of the controversy.

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson planned to get married at the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, a church they attend regularly (but aren’t members of), but at the last second, the church members said they couldn’t hold the ceremony in their building.

Why not?

They’re black.

There’s no nuance to that. There’s no additional information we don’t know about. It’s just racism, pure and simple. It’s especially weird when you consider Te’Andrea’s uncle works at the church and her dad is a member.

“The church congregation had decided no black could be married at that church, and that if he went on to marry her, then they would vote him out the church,” said Charles Wilson. … “He had people in the sanctuary that were pitching a fit about us being a black couple,” said Te’Andrea Wilson. “I didn’t like it at all, because I wasn’t brought up to be racist. I was brought up to love and care for everybody.”

The church’s pastor, who had no problem with a black couple marrying in the church, performed the ceremony for them at a different location:

“I didn’t want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn’t want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te’Andrea. I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a special day,” said Weatherford. … “I was prepared to go ahead and do the wedding here just like it was planned, and just like we agreed to,” said Weatherford. “I was just looking for an opportunity to be able to address a need within our congregation and at the same time minister to them.”

What good is a pastor who can’t tell members of his own congregation that they’re out of their minds? Why would anyone want to be a pastor of people that awful? Has this issue never come up before? Has the pastor ever spoken out against racism before? If so, it clearly didn’t work.

I’m just waiting for a congregation member to throw out some Bible verse in justification of the racism…

Let’s hope the Wilsons leave that church (and, ideally, the faith) altogether. They deserve better than that.

