A ZIMBABWEAN man has been banned from a church in the United States because he is BLACK.
Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church in Pike County, Kentucky, recently voted to ban interracial couples.
And when American national Stella Harville – who attended the church her whole life before moving to college – turned up with her fiancé, Ticha Chikuni, she felt “unwelcome”.
She has described the church’s ban on interracial marriages “the work of the devil”.
“Unfortunately, these convictions will remain in our society, but they crossed the line in revoking my fiancé and I's right to worship in a public place,” Harville said.
"I think part of me is still in shock and trying to process what's been going on the past few days. I really hope they overturn this."
The vote by members last Sunday was 9-6. It was taken after the service, which about 35 to 40 people attended. Harville said many people left or declined to vote.
Harville, a 24-year-old graduate student at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, called the vote "hurtful."
Her dad, Dean Harville, is a deacon at the church.
He told how Melvin Thompson, a church member, crafted the resolution excluding black people from the church’s functions.
"If he's not racist, what is this?" Harville said of Thompson.
Thompson, who stood down as a pastor in the church earlier this year, said he is not racist and called the matter an "internal affair."
He added: "I am not racist. I will tell you that. I am not prejudiced against any race of people, have never in my lifetime spoke evil about a race. That's what this is being portrayed as, but it is not."
The Harville's, who live in Pike County, say if the decision is not reversed, then they will move churches.
The church's pastor, Stacy Stepp, said Wednesday that he was against the resolution. Stepp said the denomination's regional conference will begin working on resolving the issue this weekend.