Houston church ‘fires’ Jewish lesbian volunteer helping Hurricane Harvey victims
A woman who volunteered at a church to help families devastated by Hurricane Harvey has been “fired” after the church came to realise her religion and sexuality.
The Calvary Church in Friendswood, Texas, called for volunteers to help at the food bank at the church after the hurricane ripped through the homes of hundreds of people.
Carmen Hix decided to take a week off work and donate $500 worth of food to the church in order to help.
However, she was shocked after she was allegedly called in by the church’s pastor, Ron Hindt, and told that she could no longer help at the church because of her sexuality and religion.
“I thought they wanted to talk to me about further volunteer efforts,” Hix told OutSmart. “I was so unprepared for the conversation that ensued.”
In a Facebook post, Hix recounted how the pastor called her into his office to question why she said “Shalom” after prayers.
Related: This lesbian couple got divorced so they could ‘please’ God and return to church
When she told him that it was because she was Jewish, she was asked to leave and not return.
When she arrived home, she called the church to complain and was invited back in.
She accepted the invite, believing that she would be apologised to, but instead when she was returned the pastor began to question her over “rumours” about her sexual orientation.
Hix explained: “He informed me that it was thought or it was rumoured that I am a Lesbian, which is against their Christian beliefs.
“I told Pastor “Ron” that when they called me to volunteer, they didn’t bother to ask me to check or not check those boxes…Jewish and Lesbian.
She said that she told him that when she was needed, her identity was not an issue but since the efforts were “dwindling down” she was being disregarded.
The pastor then reportedly told Hix that he ‘can’t let you represent our church, as being a Lesbian is a sin’.
“I let him know he should be ashamed to call himself a Christian,” she added.
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The church have since released a statement about the incident and claimed that it occurred over miscommunication.
In the statement, they wrote that they invited Hix and her partner of 20 years to join a service.
It read: “For the last twenty-six years, our heart at Calvary Houston has been to reach out and share the love of Christ to all people, regardless of race, sexual orientation, religion, etc.”
However, Hix claimed that they invited her to come to the church and “show me the evil of my ways and would change my heart to realise that my 20 year relationship with my wife was a sin”.
