A pastor in the Chicago suburbs is standing by his church’s digital sign promoting biblical views on sexuality and marriage after an LGBT activist group founded by a Democratic state official organized a protest outside the congregation last Friday.
The demonstration took place at New Hope Community Church in Palatine, where the church used its electronic sign throughout June to display messages including “God invented marriage,” “Sex is objective reality” and “Ditch pride, embrace humility.”
Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the church, including participants connected to the Northwest Suburban Pride Network, also known as NWS Pride, according to local ABC affiliate WLS-TV. The group had previously promoted the protest through a flyer posted on social media.
The flyer described the event as open to “all ages” and carried the headline “Real hope includes everyone,” while accusing New Hope Church of posting “messages of division, confusion and hate” on its electronic display.
A Facebook post promoting the protest from a reported NWS Pride member accused the church of displaying “hateful messages on their electronic sign in front of the church,” claiming the signs were “targeting the [LGBT] community and the celebration of Pride Month.”
Pastor James Pittman Jr. said New Hope Community Church had been affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention until 2021, when it became a non-denominational Evangelical congregation.
Pittman told The Christian Post that he believes protesters “had a problem with several of our signs” during June, a month widely observed by LGBT activists as Pride Month.
“We use our sign to challenge the culture to think about eternity and hopefully get people to repent and turn to the Savior,” the pastor said. “The external groups think that they are free to say whatever they want but somehow churches should remain silent on issues in the culture. We disagree.”
NWS Pride was founded by Austin Mejdrich, who announced the creation of the Northwest Suburban Pride Action Fund in 2021 as a “non-partisan political action committee” focused on “elevating the civic voices” of LGBT-identified residents.
Pittman said the same organization had previously “attacked” New Hope earlier this year by approaching the mayor and “asked him to force” the church to remove its sign.
“Credit to the mayor,” Pittman added. “He said we had a legal sign and that our sign is a First Amendment issue.”
Although last Friday’s protest remained outside the church and did not enter the sanctuary, Pittman said he intends to keep preaching Scripture regardless of public reaction.
“Our message to the LGBT community is ‘We love you enough to tell you the truth. Please repent and turn to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins’,” he urged.
