#Alabama lawmaker who celebrated KKK leader resigns as church pastor

An Alabama lawmaker who came under fire for appearing at a celebration for a Confederate Army general and former Ku Klux Klan leader has resigned his post as pastor of a church, officials said.

Rep. Will Dismukes, R-Prattville, stepped down from his role at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Wednesday following a meeting with church officials, The Alabama Baptist reports.

Mel Johnson of the Alabama Baptist Association told the newspaper that Dismukes, who faced calls to resign as a state legislator, met with church officials Tuesday prior to stepping down.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have met with the church’s leadership for prayer and encouragement as many, through no fault of their own, have found themselves caught in the midst of this issue that has drawn national attention,” Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson told the Washington Post it was a “tough decision” accepting Dismukes’ resignation.

The lawmaker told Johnson his decision to attend a July 25 annual birthday bash at Fort Dixie in Selma for Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest as ceremonies for late civil rights leader John Lewis were happening in Alabama was a “lapse in judgment,” the newspaper reports.

In a since-deleted Facebook post on Sunday, Dismukes said he had a “great time” at the event, where he was photographed standing in front of several Confederate flags.

“Perception is reality in the minds of many people,” Johnson told the Washington Post. “We work to shun the very appearance of evil. I’m not saying he had evil intent.”

A message seeking comment from Dismukes early Friday was not immediately returned. But Dismukes addressed the controversy on his Facebook page early Thursday, WSFA reports.

“After a conversation with the association, I resigned from Pleasant Hill Baptist Church not at the request of the church but by choice because I did not want to see the [Southern Baptist Convention] vote Pleasant Hill out of fellowship,” Dismukes wrote in the post, which was no longer up as of Friday. “The Lord will lead me to a church at His timing and direction.”

Dismukes said in a lengthy Facebook post Monday that his post “was in no way related to disrespecting” Lewis, who died earlier this month from pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.

Johnson, meanwhile, declined to comment on the appropriateness of Dismukes’ attendance at the event, while acknowledging that some critics viewed his actions as racist.

“Others think it was an innocent mistake,” Johnson said. “That’s not for me to judge. Regardless of which side of the fence you fall on, I’m going to point everyone to Jesus.”

Dismukes has said he has no plans to resign from the Alabama House of Representatives amid calls from Democrats in the state, as well as a Republican state senator, the Montgomery Advertiser reports.