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Support GayOKC.com! Donate here!		Soulforce mediation fails - Village Baptist vigils to proceed as planned

The following are emails from Paul Barby and Karen Weldin
(Posted 12-22-01)

On Sunday, January 6, 2002, you can help us stop the spiritual violence
direct against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) people by
supporting us in a nonviolent vigil outside Village Baptist Church in
Oklahoma City. This is not about religious teachings. It is about
discrimination using religious weapons in a civil society.

This vigil has been organized by a group brought together by Soulforce in
Oklahoma. There is a "holy war" being waged against homosexuality and
homosexuals by religious forces that has caused much suffering, often
leading to death, for individuals in our society. A majority of
fundamentalist and mainstream Protestant and Catholic leadership provide
tacit support to this "holy war" if not taking aggressive action towards
GLBT's. We need support from you as a leader in the faith community, as a
parent or friend in PFLAG, as a community leader, or as another GLBT person
yourself, whatever -- there are many of you, a great diversity, receiving
this message from me. You are a person who can help us by your presence in
this vigil to expose the "holy war" waged against innocent people judged
guilty and persecuted by those who use their religion as a weapon.

Soulforce is an interfaith movement committed to ending spiritual violence
perpetuated by religious politics and teachings against GLBT persons. To
learn more about Soulforce, go to www.soulforce.org and learn about the
principles used by Gandhi and King adopted by Soulforce to end
discrimination, not just towards GLBT's, but towards anyone. Those
principles urge negotiations to enter into discussion so that we learn from
each other in an exchange between those who persecute and those who are
persecuted. When negotiations fail, then direct actions, nonviolent actions
are necessary. Gandhi said, "No physical, verbal or psychological
violence." "No violence of the fist, the tongue, or the heart," were King's
words. Read the 4-steps presented at www.soulforce.org to better understand
nonviolent actions.

There have been attempts to negotiate with the Village Baptist Church over
the past year by Soulforce individuals, hoping to enter into dialogue and
following the Biblical teaching that if one has a problem with another
person, go to them, take a witness, and enter into discussion. Those
attempts to enter into discussion with Village Baptist Church have been
rebuffed. Hence, the direct action of a nonviolent vigil has been scheduled
beginning January 6. To learn more about this vigil and to read the
exchange of communications with Rev. Ted Kersh over the past months, go to
www.soulforceinoklahoma.org/loc-act.htm . There are links to letters on the
right side of that screen to the letters of interest. Those letters are
most interesting.

This vigil will be preceded by a required training in nonviolent action on
January 5, 2 - 6:15 p.m. at Gushers Restaurant, 2200 NW 39th Expressway,
Oklahoma City. You must attend that training to participate in the vigil on
January 6 and subsequent vigils if they are warranted. Contact Soulforce
Oklahoma at Soul4sok@cwis.net or directly to Karen Weldin, karen@cwsi.net or
918 452-2761, for more information. You are encouraged to be familiar with
the 4-Step Journey to Justice found at www.soulforce.org . That site is a
great resource for information about this "holy war" and also about GLBT's
from a number of perspectives, Biblical, spiritually, scientific. Check it
out. There are many links to very revealing information, even about the
mythical "gay agenda!!!!"

Please lend your support in the vigil on January 6. The morning vigil will
be divided into 45-minute segments. You can come, participate briefly and
go on. There is a donut shop nearby for warming up -- permission has been
obtained with sustenance available. (:~)

As a footnote, this direct action vigil will not occur IF the Village
Baptist Church engages in dialogue with those representing us through
Soulforce before January 6. There was hope that this was coming about just
yesterday (Thursday, 12/20/01), but that attempt failed when Rev. Kersh
cancelled a scheduled meeting for yesterday through a mediator to engage in
dialogue. Read those letters to better understand events leading up to now
and see Karen's report below regarding yesterday's cancelled meeting.

I personally hope that you will participate in this direct action to express
your support for equal justice for all persons regardless of who we are, not
what we are mistakenly perceived to "do." Learn about this effort by
checking out the links shown above. And learn more about GLBT persons by
exploring the many links found at www.soulforce.org .

Thank you. This is not about religious beliefs. It is about injustice and
discrimination. We need you with us.

Paul (Barby)
Woodward, OK

-----Original Message-----
From: Karen Weldin [mailto:karen@cwis.net]
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2001 1:04 PM
To: Karen Weldin*
Subject: Re: Update on Soulforce In Oklahoma Journey to Village Baptist
Church, OKC

Dear Friends,

It is with much sadness that I write this email to you.
Rev. Ted Kersh cancelled the meeting we had scheduled for this morning.
There has been negotiation attempts being made during the last three
days through a professional mediator, Mr. Jim Stovall in Oklahoma City.
Yesterday Rev. Kersh made some conditional requests that Ken and I could
not agree with. Rev. Kersh first wanted a commitment from us to cancel
the vigil if he agreed to meet with us one time. We communicated through
Mr. Stovall
we could not agree to that condition. Rev. Kersh then offered for us to
meet
with a psychologist from his congregation. He offered to meet one time with
us.
When we communicated that we wanted him to be involved in the dialogue
beyond the
first meeting, he cancelled the meeting.

Ken and I will be sending our regrets to Rev. Kersh today in a letter. We
will
again ask him to sit down and meet with us to try and find a third position
that
we could all be happy with. We will wait to hear from him.

We want to express our great appreciate to Jim Stovall for being
so generous with his time, energy, and expertise this week trying to help us
find a workable plan with Rev. Kersh for dialogue. We truly are grateful
for his
efforts and belief in what we are doing. Thank you Jim!

I want to ask all of you to continue to pray that the Spirit of Justice will
continue
to stir all of our hearts, Rev. Kersh's, and all our sisters and brothers at
Village Baptist.
It is not January 6th yet. There is still plenty of time for a commitment
to dialogue and
negotiation to happen. Remember, our goal IS dialogue and negotiation that
leads to
reconciliation.

In the meantime, we will continue to move forward with our plans for the
vigil on January 6th
I hope you will continue to recruit your friends to come and stand in
solidarity with us.
As of today, there are 50 people signed up for the vigil! What a powerful,
reverent presence
we will be. Bless all of you for your support.

In love and peace,

Karen Weldin
Soulforce In Oklahoma
www.SoulforceInOklahoma.org
www.soulforce.org

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