Mississippi Baptist Church refuses to marry couple because they were black

Mississippi, July 30 (ANI): A church in the American state of Mississippi refused to allow a couple to marry because they were black.Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson had planned to get married at the First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, but the pastor of the church said the ceremony could not be conducted.Pastor Stan Weatherford told ABC News that there had never been a wedding for blacks at the church since it was opened in 1883.

He said some of the white congregation were so virulently opposed the wedding of the black couple, that they threatened to have him fired, news.com.au reports.

Weatherford, a white pastor offered to wed the Wilsons down the road at a mostly black church, he told the network.

Charles Wilson, who had been a regular attendee at the church, expressed disappointment over the pastor's decision.

"My 9-year-old was going to the church with us. How would you say to your 9-year-old daughter, 'We cannot get married here because, guess what sweetie, we're black,'" he told ABC's affiliate WAPT-TV. (ANI)