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Controversial Riverside Church Pastor Resigns
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 30, 2009
Modified Jun 30, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 30, 2009
Modified Jun 30, 2009
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After fending off a legal battle from dissenting congregants who sought to block his installation, Riverside Church pastor Dr. Brad Braxton has decided to step down after all. His critics had objected to what they perceived as an extravagant $600,000 compensation package and worried that Braxton was moving the church away from its traditionally progressive agenda to a more conservative religious attitude. Braxton, a Baptist minister and former Rhodes scholar, had sought to style himself as "progressive evangelical," but in the end seemed unable to unite the congregation. In his resignation letter, obtained by the Times, he wrote that "the congregation has struggled publicly for decades about the kind of church that it should be and the kind of pastor who should be its voice. In recent months, these struggles have created a level of antagonism within the congregation that undermines the community’s efforts to embody harmony in the name of Jesus Christ. The consistent discord has made it virtually impossible to establish a fruitful covenant between the congregation and me."
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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