Former Westboro Baptist Church Member Shoots "NOH8" Portrait

Lauren Drain was a member of the homophobic Church and an active picketer for seven years. But then when she questioned some of their beliefs, she was cast out and cut off from her family.

Scores of celebrities have joined The NOH8 cause, which has now become a national LGBT rights movement. Even Cindy McCain has shot a portrait.

Drain became a member of the Church at the age of 15 when her father moved the family to Kansas to live in their compound. She's now selling a memoir of the story (written with Lisa Pulitzer): Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church.

Read her NOH8 statement here.

Via: osocio.org

St. Luke's: The Oldest Standing Church of England Building in America

 










During a recent trip to the Virginia penninsula we took advantage of the opportunity to travel back to North Carolina via the historic town of Smithfield, Virginia. We picked up geocaches along the way. As we approached Smithfield we stopped to see St. Luke's Church. This building is the oldest church of England church building in the New World. It is also the oldest example of Gothic architecture in America. It was built in 1632 and was previously called "The Old Brick Church" until taking on its current name in 1820. It served as the meeting location in County Isle of Wight for the General Court of the Colony. Contemporary to the settlements around Smithfield and the Old Brick Church was the historic Jamestown settlement. People like Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, John Rolfe and Powhatan would have been well-known to the settlers who met at the church.

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