Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta is the Georgia capital's oldest Black Baptist congregation, and one of the most influential churches in the South.
Unfortunately, though, 151 years of history aren't stopping Atlanta from requesting that the church relocate?in order to make way for a new football stadium.
Atlanta's mayor, Kasim Reed, is up for re-election this fall, so he says building a new stadium for the Falcons is a priority. He wants the land currently owned by Friendship Baptist, as well as Mount Vernon Baptist Church, and the city has offered "about $10 million, or about 10 times the appraised market value of the church and its land," NBC reports.
Mount Vernon leaders have declined to discuss the state of any negotiations. And in spite of some parishioners who say the church shouldn't have to move, leaders for Friendship Baptist say they're open to negotiations. Their main condition is that the city help the church relocate within the neighborhood where it has been since 1880, and not into the suburbs.
The New York Times also reports that "church members have to agree [to the move]. After a recent service, many said they were resigned to the fact that the church would move. A church, they said, is made up of its people and not a building."
Reed has said he isn't forcing the churches off their land and that there is an alternative site nearby if they decide not to move.
"I'm going to use all of my power as mayor to make sure that Friendship Baptist Church locates just a short distance from where we are today," Reed told NBC. "And they will be a stronger church, a stronger organization that is much more capable because of the millions of dollars that we are going to pay for that church."
Farrah Abraham Sex Tape Met gala Charles Ramsey Shakira JA Happ Ray Harryhausen Mark Sanford
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.