After being fired for using church funds to buy adult novelty products, the liberal congregation of an anti-Trump ‘pastor’ in New York is demanding she return to her office.
Pulpit & Pen first reported on Amy Butler, an anti-Trump activist ‘pastor’ who had a 375 thousand dollar salary and benefits package and yet used a church credit card to purchase ‘marital aids’ for her clergy friends. After offering to buy a so-called ‘sex toy’ for a homosexual clergy member, and being reported to her church for sexual harassment, Butler was fired from her position. This amidst her request for an additional 100k dollars in salary. News of her firing – and the peculiar use of church funds – made its way into the Washington Post and other brick-and-mortar press outlets. And yet today, the congregation is demanding that she return to the pulpit.
Butler’s firing came with a proverbial “golden parachute” of at least $500k in a generous severance package. That amount of cash can buy a lot of sex toys at the Smitten Kitten Sex Shop, where she had previously used the church funds as a “business expense.”
The Riverside Congregation, a church of more than 1,750 members, has provided a severance package that will cover at least six months housing allowance, three years of retirement contributions, a $100k “separation payment,” $10k in lawyers’ fees and additional unused vacation pay.
Butler has indicated that she will continue to advocate against President Trump for his greed and lack of compassion for the poor and downtrodden.
Riverside Church, which has hosted non-Christians like Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, takes a “non-exclusive” approach to Christianity, embracing Hindus, Buddhists, homosexuals, and others who reject the Bible’s teachings on essential Christian doctrines.
However, many members of the congregation are clamoring to reinstate Butler, and some have started a petition from within the church to demand that the minister be returned to the pulpit. Eleven members co-authored the petition on the grounds that the congregation was “vibrant and growing.”
One of her supporters claimed in the New York Times that her firing was retaliation for Butler’s own accusations of sexual harassment after a church council member left her a bottle of wine on her desk with a T-shirt that said, “Sweet B**#%.”
Dr. Brad Braxton was lead pastor of the congregation prior to Butler, but resigned after only a year after conflict developed when he began to preach the exclusivity of Christ, that salvation was found through Jesus Christ alone.
