Florida Church Threatened With Eviction Over Stance on Homosexuality
A church in Florida that rents space in a public school is being threatened with eviction after the preacher spoke about the sin of homosexuality.
The head of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, recently released a statement in which he claimed that the church's teaching "appears to be contrary to school board policy as well as the basic principles of humanity."
"I have asked for immediate legal review to seek the termination of the contract that is involved," Carvalho told Local10.com, adding, "I am making this decision not on the basis of policy or politics but as a rejection of prejudice and intolerance."
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The controversy involves Impact Miami, a Southern Baptist church that has been renting space inside North Miami High School for its Sunday worship services. The church pays almost $1,500 a month to rent the space for their services.
After President Obama announced that he supported gay marriage, Pastor Jack Hakimian used his pulpit to explain the biblical position of homosexuality.
Hakimian explained that members of Impact Miami have been unfairly judged and labeled as homophobes and bigots, but insists that is unfair solely because he was just teaching what the Bible considers a sin.
"I never thought I would be penalized for teaching on Christian marriage and sexual ethics from the Bible- the very Bible that presidents swear on," Hakimian said. "As taxpayers we have the right to assemble in public spaces."
Impact Miami is part of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination. The SBC president explained that we are living in a backward time right now with many lacking sound values and morals.
"We're living in a day and time when people are calling wrong right and they're calling right wrong," SBC President Fred Luter told Fox. "Any time a man of God stands up for the Words of God, I think we should expect opposition- simply because of the fact that God's ways are not man's ways," he added.
