Story Archive

Hells Belles

A new church has opened in Spring, Texas: the Greater Church of Lucifer. “We have gatherings, but they’re not services,” says Michael W. Ford, church co-president. “We don’t preach. We don’t have something that we try to tell people this is reality.” They don’t sacrifice animals, he says, worship the devil, or try to convert Christians. Still, area Christians were outraged, and picketed the church in force. “We are all Christians here, together against this,” said protestor Christine Weick. “We ought to be filling up the whole street here that they have to pass through us to get into that church.” Ford was philosophical. “They have the right to do what they do,” he said. “And that’s cool with us. But we have a right to believe in what we do too.” That wasn’t good enough for Weick. “This is what we get when we have Freedom of Religion,” she complained. (RC/KTRK Houston) ...And thank the deity of your choice for that.