Mississippi reverend prompts backlash after denying child baptism because parents aren’t married

Kamri McLendon said she was “shocked” by the church’s refusal to baptise her infant daughter Presleigh because she was “living in sin”

A reverend in Mississippi refused to baptise a baby girl because her parents aren’t married, the infant’s mother says.

Kamri Mclendon, 18, and her boyfriend of two years, Tristan McPhail, wanted to have their baby daughter Presleigh baptised at the Hickory Grove United Methodist Church in the small town of Sumrall, the Biloxi Sun Herald reported.

After agreeing to perform the christening, Ms Mclendon received a letter on 15 September from the church pastor, reverend Dewayne Warren, stating that he could not go ahead with it because he had learned that she and her partner were “living in sin”.

In the letter, which Ms Mclendon shared on Facebook, Mr Warren wrote that her grandmother was also “living in sin” with a man and the couple had not been in “regular faithful attendance” at the church.

Mr Warren said that it would set a bad example for other young churchgoers if he was to perform the blessing.

“I say all of this in Christian love. I know that is harsh but it is the truth.  I was trying to wait for the Holy Spirit of God to convict you on this, but we were running out of time,” Mr Warren wrote.

In her Facebook post, Ms Mclendon said the refusal showed why young people were “scared to go to church”.

Kamri McLendon and partner Tristan Mcphail with their baby girl Presleigh (Kamri McLendon / Facebook)

In an interview, Ms Mclendon told WLBT that she was “shocked” and hurt by the letter.

She told the news site her family had been attending the Methodist church for generations and had been baptised there.

Since Presleigh was born in May, the couple had been attending fewer services due to the demands of being new parents, she added.

Reverend Dewayne Warren wrote that he could not baptise baby Presleigh because her parents were ‘living in sin' (Kamri Mclendon / Facebook)

The reverend had even announced the baptism to the entire congregation and sent out material to the couple before his change of heart.

She had shared the letter to bring attention to the hurt that the church was causing, she told WLBT.

After the post was widely shared on Facebook, Ms Mclendon told WLBT that the church’s regional superintendent, Reverend Larry Hilliard, had apologised for the way the situation was handled.

Ms Mclendon told the news site she was looking for an alternative church “that truly welcomes us with open arms” to have Presleigh baptised.

The Independent has approached Ms Mclendon and Mr Warren for comment.