Rev. Dr. Amy Butler has been ousted from her $250,000-a-year job at Manhattan’s famed Riverside Church after pressuring a group of people under her leadership to accompany her into a sex shop.
The sex toy shopping spree happened on May 15 while Butler, known as “Pastor Amy” by congregants, was in Minneapolis for a religious conference with two assistant ministers and a congregant from Riverside Church.
During a break from the conference, Pastor Amy suggested they check out the Smitten Kitten, a local sex shop. When one of the assistant ministers, a gay man in a committed relationship, said he was uncomfortable with that idea, Pastor Amy insisted.
Feeling “pressured,” the man agreed to tag along with the women. Inside the store, Pastor Amy offered to buy him a sex toy. He politely declined her offer.
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Then Pastor Amy offered to buy a $200 vibrator for another assistant minister, a single mother of two. The woman accepted the sex toy but later said she really didn’t want it and had only taken it because she feared professional retaliation.
At the register, Pastor Amy allegedly said, “Is this a church business expense?” then whipped out her church credit card.
Upon returning to New York, the two assistant ministers filed a formal harassment claim, prompting the church to hire a third-party investigator who interviewed both of them and substantiated the claims.
In response, Pastor Amy and church officials agreed it was time for her to go. A joint statement from Butler and Church Council chairwoman Marilyn Mitchell reads:
Rev. Dr. Amy Butler and the Riverside Church Council are announcing that after five years of leadership, Pastor Amy will not be renewing her contract as Senior Minister. The Council thanks Pastor Amy for her leadership and asks all congregants to pray for her continued ministry as a leader in the progressive Christian world.
Ironically, just last year Pastor Amy published an essay on Baptist News Global titled “From #MeToo to #ChurchToo to #NeverAtChurch” accusing a male “lay leader” from Riverside of acting “inappropriately” toward her and other female staffers.
JaredMacBride
I thought only men were guilty of sexual harassment.
robertrpm1
If You Seek Amy.
JaredMacBride
And she got $600,000 golden parachute, not to be confused with a golden shower.
Milton
Oh come on they are adults say “no i don’t want to go to a sex shop” FFS.
Pastor Amy would appear to be an idiot for suggesting the excursion too , this appears to be a case of the dumb leading the dumber.
curiobi
What the actual phuck is this even about? This literally makes no sense, and why should we care? @Milton is right, these are idiots, shepherding idiots and using their church donations to foist vibrators on the unwilling.. who are also idiots? Is that what you’re telling me? Sorry, but no, there are real things going on and this not it. I’m out!
DawnTrans
I read this article in one of NYs papers and it said nothing about a gay minister being asked to accompany her to the sex shop. Why do people feel they are being pressured when they can simply say not my thing but thank you for the offer?
There were other issues with the Rev that sparked her contract not being renewed. Quewty is not a news org and articles they post are part of the online telephone game where the original story is mucked up by the time they report it.
jjose712
It seems pretty clear that at least one of them said she feared retaliation at work.
Anyway, she is wasting her Church money on sex toys so it’s obvious she should be fired.
But i don’t see sexual harassment anywhere. Maybe mobbing if she really put pressure on them to go with her (which seems absurd but she doesn’t seem very bright)
DawnTrans
@JJose not bright is right she was being paid 200K a year plus perks including health and a housing stipend…One reason for not renewing was her demand of another 100K a year.
As I said before this article doesnt even tell half the story just the sensation parts, which to me are rather boring.
niles
Religion is totally ridiculous.
NateOcean
Religion is a form of mental illness.
Heywood Jablowme
To be fair, they were New Yorkers who were visiting Minneapolis (a.k.a. Mini Noplace).
After you look at the giant spoon with a cherry on it at the Walker Art Center, and see the statue of Mary Tyler Moore downtown, there’s really absolutely nothing to do in Minneapolis. So you may as well go to a sex toy shop!
whateverokok
Wrong on all accounts. You could check out a show at famed First Avenue, tour the rich musical history of Minneapolis, or take in a baseball game. There’s lots to do. More so than New York. I’ll take Minneapolis anyday over New York.
NateOcean
Yes, the bigger crime here is that a reverend is paid $250,000 a year.
…and the flock is willing to pay that.