LGBTQ Activists Target Black-Led Church’s Sign
Dozens of rainbow-flag-waving protesters gathered outside New Hope Community Church on Friday evening, demanding the removal of messages on the congregation’s electronic sign that they called offensive during Pride Month.
The small, multi-cultural church led by Senior Pastor James Pittman Jr., a Black pastor who has long urged his community toward biblical truth, displayed seasonal postings including “We love you enough to tell you the truth” and “Ditch pride… embrace humility.” Pittman has told local reporters the messages simply mark the calendar like those for Christmas or Easter. June, he noted, happens to be Pride Month.
Protesters, many from pro-LGBTQ groups, lined the sidewalk along East Palatine Road and accused the church of spreading hate. Some carried signs and chanted as passing drivers slowed to look. The demonstration spilled into broader calls for the Village of Palatine, Illinois to fly a Pride flag at City Hall, a request repeatedly turned back by local ordinances.
Pittman, who has faced similar pushback before for pointing cultural issues toward scripture, has stood firm. “They give us the chance to share God’s truth,” Pittman told ABC7 Chicago. “I wish they’d come every day so we can have a conversation.”
In past defenses of the church’s popular signage, he’s emphasized that New Hope’s focus remains Jesus Christ, not politics. The pastor, who took over a struggling congregation years ago and built it into a discipleship-centered ministry, sees the protests as an opportunity rather than a threat. His approach echoes years of community engagement, including addressing local school boards on family issues.
Sign reflects biblical message
“We are simply putting up what we believe the Bible says,” Pittman told the Daily Herald before the protest. He also said the church was not singling out the LGBTQ community, adding, “Sex outside of marriage is a sin, and I say that every Sunday.”
Residents supporting the church quietly voiced frustration that a private congregation faces public pressure over religious expression. One longtime attendee described the scene as troubling: a group targeting a Black pastor’s flock for posting what amounts to standard Christian teaching on humility and truth-telling.
After the protest, Pittman answered claims that the church’s message was hateful toward transgender young people, saying the church’s message is that each child is made by God. “You were born beautiful,” he said in a video cited by ChurchLeaders.
The clash arrives amid ongoing debates about where religious liberty ends and public accommodation begins. Can the government or a vocal mob force religious institutions to change their views to support a permissive society? Pittman has not backed down. His church doors remain open, he has said in earlier statements, but the message from the pulpit and the sign won’t soften to fit the calendar or the mob.
For a congregation that survived near-closure to serve its neighborhood, the Friday protest tested that resilience once again. As night fell and the sign glowed with its next rotation, the disagreement showed little sign of fading. For the pastor and church, Jesus reigns supreme: Sunday’s coming.
–Metro Voice
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