Kentucky church votes to ban interracial couples
A statue symbolizing the Christ carrying his cross is seen on a grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
A church in rural Kentucky has voted to ban interracial couples from joining its congregation, the Associated Press reported.
Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Kentucky voted for the resolution after their Sunday service. The resolution states that the church "doesn't condone interracial marriage."
Melvin Thompson, the church member who crafted the resolution, claims that he is not racist and that the matter is an internal affair.
"I am not racist. I will tell you that. I am not prejudiced against any race of people, have never in my lifetime spoke evil about a race," said Thompson, the church's former pastor who stepped down earlier this year.
"That's what this is being portrayed as, but it is not."
However, Dean Harville, the church secretary, disagrees.
"If he's not racist, what is this?" Harville said.
Harville believes the resolution came after his daughter visited the church with her boyfriend, who is from Africa.
Stella Harville, and Ticha Chikuni, now her fiance, visited the church in June.
The vote by members was 9-6, the Daily Mail reported. While between 35 to 40 people had attended the sevice, many left or declined to vote.
Keith Burden, executive secretary of the National Associate of Free Will Baptists in Tennessee, said that the organization has no official stance on interracial marriage, and the association can move to strip the local church of its affiliation.
"Hopefully it is corrected quickly," Burden said.
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