HAZEL GREEN, Ala. — UPDATE 07/08/2021: We reached out to Pastor Jim Weaver of Carter's Grove Baptist Church and he stands by the decision to put the sign up. Weaver says he wanted discourage people from living 'an unhealthy lifestyle' according to the Bible.
"I believe, scripturally speaking, promoting a lifestyle that the bible calls sinful will bring a country down. It's not bigotry, its actually loving a person to tell them that things are not right in their life," Pastor Weaver explained.
Pastor Weaver put up the sign in June in response to Pride month because he does not believe there should be a month-long celebration of what the church says is an 'unscriptural lifestyle'.
A Reddit user made a post in the /r/HuntsvilleAlabama subreddit about the message on the welcome sign of Carters Grove Baptist Church in Hazel Green.
The sign reads, "Pride month sounds about right." Then it includes a scripture from Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goeth before destruction."
A member of the board of directors for Rocket City Pride, David Cleland, said, "I can definitely see both sides. So, the way I first read it was honestly, thinking that they were in support of pride."
The user who made the initial post on Reddit highlighted how this could offend members of the LQBT+ community, specifically those who are hesitant about coming out.
One user commented, "Look at it from another perspective. At least you know what to expect from that congregation, and you can make a decision based on the advertising they provide on the marquee.
I had a hard time staying in the denomination I grew up in for the same reason, but none of the churches I attended were as blatant about their stance."
Others think there isn't anything wrong with the sign.
"It makes me feel like the community is coming together and people are seeing different points of view from everybody else, and I feel like the church is being very supportive towards the pride and LQBTQ+ community,"
Cleland encourages those who are looking for support with their journey to visit the Rocket City Rainbow Pages to find LGBT+ friendly resources.