Religion
Graddye Mae Payne, a longtime matriarch of North Richmond Missionary Baptist Church, went by many names in her 97 years: Mrs. Payne, Dr. G.M. Payne and Auntie Graddye among them. But even though she had no children, she was known to most simply as Mother Payne. Scores of church members and Payne’s loved ones came together Tuesday to remember a woman marked by wisdom, a passion for teaching, and getting deep-down into her Bible. Payne, a former Berkeley resident and…
A group of women from local churches got together Saturday to cook a meal and mark the end of 12 weeks of classes called A Taste of Health that focused on exercise and nutrition. The group met every Saturday for the last few months—skipping a few here and there for holidays—to exercise, cook and learn together.
“Vacation Bible School” takes on new meaning when classes are held near Mayan temples and jaguar jungles. But for eight Richmond Baptist Church members, that’s exactly what they got during the last week in June when they visited the small and impoverished Central American country of Belize.
Activists, led by Barbara Becnel, gathered in Richmond to learn how to successfully advocate for the abolition of capital punishment. California leads the nation in awarding the death penalty, and Contra Costa County’s court system is among the state’s frequent users of the death sentence.
Pastor Sydney Keys has been granted more time to continue paying the mortgage on the building that housed Bible Way Community Church until late last March, when the building was foreclosed upon. Meanwhile, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office has opened an investigation to address Pastor Sydney Keys’s allegations of mortgage fraud.
Pastor Sydney Keys of the recently evicted Bible Way Community Church in Richmond joined community leaders Tuesday to denounce the church’s mortgage holder, Torrey Pines Bank, for foreclosing on the church last week, and asked the community for financial support.
Two days of civil disobedience to save the Bible Way Apostolic Church from foreclosure ended yesterday when Contra Costa sheriff’s deputies arrested Pastor Sydney Keys, his wife, mother and two other activists.
Pastor Sydney Keys and about 20 parishioners staged a sit-in at Bible Way Community Church to halt their scheduled eviction on Wednesday morning.
Police and religious leaders gathered to explore how to better work together.