Country United States Previous denomination Baptist Architectural type Nightclub Materials Brick, Terracotta | Denomination Independent Address New York, NY 10027, USA Architect Lamb and Rich | |
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Location 38 West 123rd Street
Harlem, New York, NY, 10027 Membership 600 (2007)
100 (2011) estimated Former name(s) Bethelite Community Baptist Church Architectural style Queen Anne style architecture Similar Mt Olivet Baptist Church, Memorial Baptist Church, Metropolit Baptist Church, St Luke Baptist Church, The Abyssinian Baptist C Profiles | ||
ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church (formerly Bethelite Missionary Baptist Church) is a highly controversial Christian church and ministry located in Harlem, New York. James David Manning is the chief pastor. The church campus is the site of the unaccredited ATLAH Theological Seminary, where classes are offered on preaching and prophecy. The church also has a studio that Manning uses for his Internet radio program The Manning Report.
Contents
History
The church was founded and organized in Harlem on June 6, 1957, by Reverend Millard Alexander Stanley as the Bethelite Community Baptist Church.
In early June, just a few days before the first worship service was held, Pastor Stanley was sitting in front of a storefront on 8th Avenue in Harlem. A local heroin addict spoke to him and said, "If y’all gonna be a church, you better 'Be-The-Lite.'" Thus, the mission was formed and named Bethelite.
In 1981, Pastor James David Manning replaced Stanley as chief pastor. Under Manning's leadership, the church name changed to ATLAH ("All The Land Anointed Holy"), and ministries were established.
Newest Ministries – The Temple Hour of Prayer 29 May 2008; and The Manning Report 25 August 2008.
This building was erected in the 1890s as the Harlem Social Club. Father Divine (c.1876-1965) and his International Peace Mission Movement were located here during the 1930s.
Controversy and finances
The messages on the church letter board used anti-gay epithets and stated a Christian imperative to kill gay people by stoning. They gained notice on several websites, including some that promote gay rights and oppose hate speech.
In early 2014, the church posted a series of messages on its letter board sign that asserted that Barack Obama is a Muslim and that he is not legally president. Example messages that were documented on the websites include:
In March 2014, Local Lesbian and Transgender Activist Jennifer Louise Lopez knocked on the church door to ask for her stoning
In August 2014, Manning promised that President Vladimir Putin of Russia would release information collected by the KGB that would prove that President Obama is homosexual.
In November 2014, Manning claimed in a video presentation that Starbucks was "Ground Zero" for Ebola. He warned people to stay away from Starbucks if they did not want to get Ebola. In a follow-up broadcast, he claimed that what "Starbucks was doing, is they were taking specimens of male semen, and they were putting it in the blends of their lattes. Now, this is the absolute truth." He based this on an article in The Inquisitor.
On November 5, Manning claimed that in "a few days' time," there would be no homosexuals in Harlem and Starbucks would close.
In January 2016, a state judge ordered Atlah Worldwide Church to be sold at a public foreclosure auction after failing to pay creditors more than $1.02 million, court records show. The Church maintains they are afforded tax exempt status by the New York Supreme Court and are not liable for the fines citing the Court's ruling in December 2004. The Ali Forney Center announced their interest in acquiring it for the purposes of an LGBT youth homeless services center, and raised $200,000 in two weeks from a fund-raiser to achieve that goal. A temporary stay on the sale was granted pending a full hearing on 21, April 2016. Carl Siciliano of the Ali Forney Center planned to use the time to research the property. In September the judgment of foreclosure was vacated.