Black megachurch sued by female senior pastor candidate for gender discrimination

Violet Crown City Church Pastor Jay Cooper said that using AI to conduct a service at his church did not capture the essential elements required for Christian worship. A prominent Black megachurch in New York City is being accused of discriminating against a woman who lost her bid to become its senior pastor. Yale Divinity School Professor Eboni Marshall Turman filed a lawsuit against Abyssinian Baptist Church alleging she was rejected from the final round of candidates applying to lead the church after the death of Rev. Calvin O. Butts III in 2022. Marshall Turman previously served as the late reverend's assistant and was the church's youngest female Assistant Minister from 2002-2012. In her Dec. 29 lawsuit, she accuses the church and search committee chair Valerie S. Grant of acting inappropriately by "pressing issues not broached with [Marshall Turman's] male counterparts" during the interview process, the Associated Press reported.