Rev.
Dennis
Meredith
still
preaches
to
a
full
house
twice
each
Sunday,
but
the
faces
largely
don’t
belong
to
the
same
people
who
filled
the
pews
when
he
arrived
in
1994.
Since
1917,
Tabernacle
Baptist
Church
had
served
a
historically
African-American
population
in
the
Old
Fourth
Ward,
but
shortly
after
the
turn
of
the
century
the
church
began
to
change.
Families
who
worshiped
at
the
church
for
generations,
veteran
donors,
left
the
church
because
it
was
becoming
a
“gay
church.”
“I
used
to
preach
all
over
the
country.
I’d
be
gone
once
or
twice
a
month
preaching,
that’s
a
lot.
When
I
started
preaching
love
and
acceptance,
people
stopped
calling
because
suddenly
I’m
the
gay
pastor,
I’m
the
pastor
of
the
gay
church,”
said
Meredith,
who
is
straight.
In
2001,
after
Meredith’s
son
told
the
pastor
he
was
gay,
Meredith
changed
the
messages
he
preached
every
Sunday
and
Wednesday
night.
“I
just
refuse
to
use
the
pulpit
to
condemn
people,
to
hurt
people,
to
speak
in
a
way
that
is
discriminating,
that
uses
prejudices,”
Meredith
said.
“I
just
refuse
to
do
that.
I
see
God
in
a
loving
context.
For
me,
if
there
is
an
ideal
God,
he
is
a
God
of
love…
God
is
not
against
you.”
‘YOU HAVE A
HOME HERE’
Meredith
went
beyond
preaching
and
invited
gays,
lesbians
and
transgender
people
to
take
active
roles
in
the
church,
telling
one
transgender
woman,
“Bring
every
friend
you
have,
I’m
not
going
to
treat
you
any
different,
you
have
a
home
here.”
As
the
message
changed
so
did
the
congregation.
Close
to
350
members
left
Tabernacle,
many
citing
Meredith’s
acceptance
of
homosexuality.
Weekly
giving
dropped
from
$16,000
to
$6,000
at
one
point,
but
the
church
struggled
and
made
it
through.
Meredith’s
dedication
to
gay
acceptance
was
rewarded
when
he
was
honored
at
the
Atlanta
Human
Rights
Campaign
dinner
with
the
Dan
Bradley
Humanitarian
Award.
Over
the
past
six
years
Tabernacle
transitioned
from
being
almost
entirely
heterosexual
to
80
percent
gay,
lesbian
and
transgender.
As
members
left
Tabernacle,
many
found
churches
with
a
more
traditional
theology
that
agreed
with
their
own
—
a
theology
rooted
in
the
social
structure
of
the
African-American
community,
said
Dr.
Kenneth
L.
Samuel
of
Victory
for
the
World
Church
in
Stone
Mountain.
Samuel
faced
the
same
criticism
and
drop
in
church
membership
when
he
preached
openly
about
accepting
gay
people.
Rev.
Dennis
Meredith
of
Tabernacle
Baptist
Church
said
church
membership
dropped
dramatically
when
he
began
preaching
acceptance
of
gay
people.
(Photo
by
Matt
Schafer)
“Initially,
historically,
traditionally,
I
would
say
that
African-American
churches
have
been
even
more
homophobic
than
the
churches
from
the
European
culture,”
Samuel
said.
“I
think
the
reason
for
that
is
that
people
still
view
homosexuality
as
a
threat
to
the
family.
Since
you
have
so
many
single
parent
families,
particularly
single
mother
families,
there
is
going
to
be
a
reaction
to
anything
that
is
perceived
to
be
a
threat
to
the
family.”
Samuel
said
African-American
men
find
themselves
on
the
wrong
end
of
several
social
issues.
“Black
men
have
been
systematically
castrated
by
poverty,
slavery,
the
influx
on
drugs
into
the
community,
the
war
on
drugs…
the
criminal
industrial
complex,
the
three
strikes
you’re
out,
the
inability
of
judges
to
discern
an
appropriate
sentence,
all
these
things
really
contribute
to
a
systemic
castration
of
black
men,”
he
said.
A
disproportionate
number
of
black
men
in
jail
fuels
communal
fears
of
losing
successful
black
men
to
homosexuality
instead
of
what
some
stable,
nuclear
families
believe
heterosexuality
provides,
Samuel
said.
“Then
the
issue
becomes
why
are
you
so
anti-gay?
There
becomes
a
real
fear
that
there
is
a
lack
of
employed,
educated
black
men
to
go
around,
and
so
the
homosexuals
became
a
quick
reason
as
to
why,”
he
said.
The
Bible
does
not
condone
divorce,
or
remarriage
after
divorce.
Blending
two
fabrics
together
is
considered
an
abomination.
There
are
biblical
mandates
for
women
wearing
hats
in
church
while
not
leading
service.
“If
you
address
the
biblical
issues
about
homosexuality,
I
think
it
is
very
easy
to
see
an
inconsistency
about
holding
people
accountable
about
men
sleeping
with
men,
with
eating
pork,
mixing
fabric,
women
staying
silent
in
the
church,”
Samuel
said.
“There
are
a
whole
lot
of
things
that
we
reinterpret
when
it
comes
to
biblical
mandates,
and
to
say
that
this
is
the
...
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