http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/margaret-court-voice-of-a-pulpit-defends-opposition-to-same-sex-marriage/ar-BBC8ils?li=AA4RE4&ocid=spartandhp
–------------------------------------
Now the lady is speaking in tongues - stay tuned
----------------------------------------------
© Vincent Thian/Associated Press Margaret Court in 2015 at a ceremony in Melbourne for the remodeled arena named after her. Her remarks about homosexuality and same-sex marriage reignited calls to rename the arena.
At the Victory Life Center, Margaret Court’s church in the Perth suburb of Osborne Park, a crowd was gathering for the second morning service on Sunday.
As Ms. Court, a tennis superstar who holds the record for the most singles titles in the sport, took the pulpit, she set aside her prepared message, saying she had “a word from the Spirit.” She led the audience in speaking in tongues — what she calls a language only God understands — for several minutes.
“It is like picking up the phone to God,” she told the congregants at the Pentecostal church. “The Devil doesn’t understand it, man doesn’t understand it, but God understands it.”
Ms. Court, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has generated controversy recently with a series of inflammatory comments about gays and same-sex marriage. On Sunday, she told her congregation that she had received more than 1,000 emails from across Australia last week supporting her stance.
Sign Up For the Morning Briefing: Asia and Australia Newsletter
For those who attend Victory Life Center, a contemporary Christian church complete with catchy music and bright lights, Ms. Court’s oratory is strong, and the sincerity of her beliefs undeniable. She steadfastly presents a vision of the world in which there is good and evil, and little ambiguity.
She defended her opposition to same-sex marriage, notably in joining the Queensland businessman Stuart Ballantyne in criticizing Qantas over the airline’s support for marriage equality. But her tone was not entirely defiant; she expressed regret over some comments.
In those comments, made to a Christian radio broadcaster, Ms. Court called homosexuality “a lust for the flesh” that would lead young people to “destroy their lives.”
“I was 90 to 95 percent in the Spirit, but some of what I said was in the flesh, and I repented that,” she said on Sunday.
Supporters of gays and lesbians in Australia and around the world have reacted with outrage. The tennis great Martina Navratilova wrote an open letter to Ms. Court on The Sydney Morning Herald’s website condemning her comments, which have reignited calls to rename Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne. “We should not be celebrating this kind of behavior, this kind of philosophy,” Ms. Navratilova wrote.
During the service on Sunday, the crowd was emphatic in applause for Ms. Court. Congregants were aware of the controversy but seemingly unperturbed by it as speakers declared the church would continue to fight for the truth it says can be found in the Bible.
Victory Life Center was founded in 1995 and is growing. Plans have been drafted to expand the auditorium so it can accommodate 1,800 people.
Michael Greaves, the executive pastor, defended the message of the church, highlighting its outreach in schools and universities on issues like drugs and alcohol.
“We have a few people from the L.G.B.T.I. community in our church,” he said, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. “They are not kicked out. They are involved. We are not homophobic, and Pastor Margaret is not homophobic.”
In her recent radio comments, Ms. Court also said that the numerous polls showing majority support in Australia for same-sex marriage were wrong.
“They want us to think they’ve got the majority,” she said. “We know it is wrong, but they’re after our young ones.”
The campaign to rename the arena that bears Ms. Court’s name, one of the most prominent stadiums in the country, is not new. It began in earnest in 2012, after earlier statements she made about homosexuality.
Then last month, Ms. Court doubled down, saying that “tennis is full of lesbians” and criticizing programs like Safe Schools, which is designed to combat homophobia, and the acceptance of transgender youth as “all the Devil.”
“That’s what Hitler did and what Communism did: got the minds of the children,” she said. “And it’s a whole plot in our nation and in the nations of the world to get the minds of the children.”
Richard Pengelley, the Anglican dean of Perth and an Olympic water polo player, has known Ms. Court for years.
Mr. Pengelley said they “ended up parting ways over doctrine,” but he recalled Ms. Court spoke a number of times at a sport and spirituality course he ran at the University of Western Australia.
“Margaret would come and tell her story, and it’s powerful,” he said. “The juxtaposition of her incredible focus, determination and skill on the tennis court — with her faith.”
“In the late 1970s she went to a Pentecostal church in the United States with a friend and had a healing experience, a heart condition healed,” he added. “She turned from a mildly lapsed Catholic to a born-again Pentecostal Christian who ultimately started the Victory Life Center.”
“What is really fascinating to me is the very contemporary presentation,” he said. “Big screens, lots of music, combined with a very conservative doctrine.”
Mr. Pengelley noted that Anglicanism, by comparison, combines a traditional outward appearance with a “teaching that is quite socially progressive.”
“We affirm same-sex relationships,” he said. “Same-sex marriage is not legal so we can’t do it, but we have no problem with unions or blessings.”
In 1960, when Ms. Court was 17, she won the first of seven consecutive singles titles at the Australian Open, part of a career in which she ultimately collected 64 major titles.
In 1970, Ms. Court became the first woman during the Open era to win the singles Grand Slam. That year, South Africa refused to grant a visa to the black tennis star Arthur Ashe and was expelled from the Davis Cup competition. Ms. Court was reported to have denied that apartheid was “entirely faulty,” saying: “South Africans have this thing better organized than any other country, particularly America.”
Ms. Navratilova raised those comments in May while pressing for the name of Margaret Court Arena to be changed, describing Ms. Court as racist and homophobic.
At her church on Sunday, Ms. Court described the accusation of racism as “ridiculous.”
“We have people from 10 different African nations at our church,” she said.
Mr. Pengelley said that Ms. Court’s reputation as an athlete was beyond doubt despite the controversy.
“There would be a general feeling that her sports career and remarkable achievements remain,” he said. “There have been many sports stars who have said and done things that upset people.”
Still, the backlash does not show signs of subsiding. Phil Shanahan, Ms. Court’s nephew, has said the Margaret Court Tennis Academy, based in Albury-Wodonga, which he oversees, has been targeted for abuse, including strongly worded criticism online. His aunt is entitled to her views on same-sex marriage, he said, but he understood why her comments were divisive.
“I spoke to Margaret. I think if she had a chance to take those remarks back she probably would,” he said. “It’s upset people, and it’s upset us.”
On Sunday, Ms. Court told her congregation: “This isn’t about the Margaret Court Arena. This is about the truth.”
