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LGBT Spiritual Group Wants To Buy Bigoted Preacher's Harlem Church
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 31, 2016
Modified Jan 31, 2016
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 31, 2016
Modified Jan 31, 2016
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The ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church, which was established in Harlem back in 1957, has long served as NYC's closest equivalent to the Westboro Baptist Church. For those blessedly unfamiliar with Atlah, it's mainly served as a mouthpiece for raging bigot Dr. James David Manning, who has spent much of the last decade railing against President Obama and homosexuality.
This week, DNAInfo reported that the church, located at W. 123rd Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, will be sold at a public foreclosure auction after Manning failed to pay creditors more than $1 million. And the cherry on top: an LGBT spiritual group is trying to raise money to purchase it.
First, so you are under no illusions about Manning and his beliefs, here are some highlights:
The Rivers of Living Water (ROLW) spiritual group, which was established in Harlem in 2007, launched a GoFundMe campaign a day after the foreclosure auction was announced. "ROLW is a church built on the Christian message of radical inclusion with a unique focus on ministering to the needs of the LGBT community, while casting a net wide enough to be a home to ALL seeking the liberating power of the Gospel," they write on the page. "Now that the hate spewing anti-LGBT ATLAH church is going up for auction, we believe it would be divine justice to replace that church with our “radically inclusive and open and affirming” ministry."
DNAInfo previously reported that there are "nine federal tax liens against [Manning] totaling more than $355,000 from as far back as 2002. He also owes New York State more than $28,000 and other creditors more than $30,000, public records show." Manning blamed his money woes on "a water bill and a tax that can’t be levied against this church...I think it’s a land grab quite frankly."
Manning has at least $194,000 in outstanding water bills, according to the city's Department of Environmental Protection.
ROLW has raised over $16K so far, but their goal is the full $1.2 million. You can learn more about the group at their website. Or you could watch a video from last week of Manning saying Jesus would have endorsed Donald Trump, because sometimes all one can do is laugh in the face of chaos.
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atlah
atlah world missionary church
church
harlem
homophobic
lgbt
rivers of living waters
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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