The
multi-campus Elevation Church in North Carolina pastored by Steven Furtick has
responded to a controversy that arose Sunday after a church member
posted a comment on social media saying she was told to leave during service
because she was breastfeeding her baby in public.
On
Sunday night, a mother from South Carolina who attends services at an
Elevation Church campus in the Ballantyne neighborhood of Charlotte took to
Facebook to air her grievances after she was told that she had to go to the
ladies room to breastfeed her child rather than doing it in the sanctuary
during service.
"I
just got kicked out of church for breastfeeding with a cover on and directed to
the bathroom. Shame on you Elevation," mother Amanda Zilliken wrote in
her Facebook post, which included a photo of
the church's bathroom.
According
to local news station WSOC-TV, Zilliken drives about an hour to
attend the church service every Sunday and never had a problem
breastfeeding her child there before.
It
didn't take long after Zilliken's Facebook post for the outrage to ensue on
social media. In fact, a "nurse-in" has been scheduled by
protesters for Aug. 20 at the Ballantyne campus.
Additionally,
a GoFundMe campaign has been launched
to help Zilliken pay for a lawyer so that she can file a lawsuit against the church.
As of Wednesday afternoon, $1,400 had been donated.
According
to North Carolina law, a woman may breastfeed
in "any public or private location where she is otherwise authorized to
be."
Elevation
Church released a statement to WSOC-TV explaining that the church allows
breastfeeding mothers to attend its services and even has several designated
areas for breastfeeding mothers should they choose to use them. The statement
added that it was a church volunteer who spoke with Zilliken about the matter.
The
Elevation Church statement reads:
"We
do not have a policy that nursing mothers can't be in the sanctuary.
A
volunteer had a conversation and felt both parties arrived at the same
conclusion to exit mutually. We are sorry that this in any way offended anyone.
We welcome everyone and anyone to attend Elevation church.
We
have several designated areas for nursing moms at Ballantyne specifically — one
private to allow pumping and it's close to the auditorium for convenience and
the other in the actual baby area with a TV to allow mothers to still be part
of the worship experience."
Zilliken
told the news station that her goal in raising awareness about this issue is
not to "bash" the church that she attends every Sunday.
"I do, however, think that everything was handled wrong," she was quoted as saying.
According
to WSOC-TV, the Aug. 20 "nurse-in" was organized by a
breastfeeding advocate from New Jersey named Ariel Tauro.
"You
can see here we have this nursing mother's room. We have a video set up. We
have this. We have that. But that's it. That's where it stops," Tauro said,
speaking about the facilities provided by Elevation Church, which she
insinuates are lacking.
While
some on social media are calling for the church to be "shut down," others are coming to the
church's defense.
Leanna
Jones Stroup, a North Carolina elementary school music teacher, warned against
the idea of shaming a whole church based on the actions of a volunteer.
"I
am sorry that this happened but I do not believe that the church should be
condemned for one person's actions. Would you condemn the whole church for the
actions of one person if a man murdered someone?" Stroup asked in a Facebook post.
"No! We would not condemn the church the murderer went to in that
instance. It would be the choice of the murderer not the actions of the church.
(I know this example seems to be extreme). I believe this is an attack on the
church for sure!
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