Church Removes Pastor for Sign Declaring Homesexuality a Sin, Bruce Jenner a Man

A Presbyterian pastor who posted a sign calling homosexuality a sin and Bruce Jenner a man has been forced out of his California church.

Justin Hoke of Trinity Bible Presbyterian Church in Weed, Calif., said most members of the small congregation had promised to leave if he stayed. 

“It was determined that it would be in the best interest of the local body for us (TBPC and the Hoke family) to part ways,” Hoke wrote on his Facebook page Saturday. “I would like to add this, I did not want to leave, I did not quit, and I was willing to stay.”

Hoke had posted a sign in front of the church that read: “Bruce Jenner is still a man. Homosexuality is still sin. The culture may change. The Bible does not.”

It drew protests outside the church building and sparked coverage in local media, too, including a story in The San Francisco Chronicle and The Sacramento Bee. About two dozen people protested outside the church Jan. 6. The church is located about four and a half hours north of San Francisco.

“We’ve really had to refine our message to be one strictly of love and support for anyone who feels like they are the target of the sign,” protester Amelia Mallory told The Chronicle. “Debating religion is unproductive, for one, and we also don’t want anyone to feel like we are against Christianity as a whole. People are welcome to their own…