Baptist Groups Call on Church to Reject Racism

Southern Baptist groups are calling on a Mississippi church that blocked a black couple from getting married under its roof to reject racism.

Leaders of the Mississippi Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention said Monday that preventing Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson from marrying at First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs was wrong. In keeping with Baptist tradition, they want the congregation to chart its own course.

The Rev. Stan Weatherford, pastor of the church, married the Wilsons earlier this month at a predominantly black church in Crystal Springs, a small town south of Jackson. The wedding was moved to the black church after some congregants at Weatherford's church told the pastor they opposed allowing black people to marry in the church.

Crystal Springs town officials plan a racial unity rally Monday evening.