Free Republic

The reason for her ouster is far more stimulating than any sermon this pastor could have delivered. The Rev. Dr. Amy Butler, the first woman to lead Manhattan’s famed Riverside Church, lost her lofty post amid complaints that she brought ministers and a congregant on a sex toy shopping spree and then gave one of them an unwanted vibrator as a birthday gift, The Post has learned. On May 15, Butler allegedly took two Riverside assistant ministers and a female congregant to a sex shop in Minneapolis called the Smitten Kitten, during a religious conference, according to sources familiar with...

Riverside, a liberal Protestant church known for its history of social-justice advocacy, has hosted world leaders such as Nelson Mandela,Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu and Bill Clinton. “I know that this church is begging for new life,” said Dr. Butler, 45 years old. “That process of resurrection involves some dying. This is what we believe in our Christian tradition.” One-on-one, Dr. Butler is witty and self-deprecating, and her sermons tend to be about 10 minutes shorter than those of her predecessors, congregants say.