GRACE

Bible Study Resumes at Charleston Church

One week after shooting.

Just one week after nine people were gunned down at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal in Charleston, worshippers returned to the historic black church to pick up where the victims left off. On Wednesday, an estimated 150 people gathered to resume Bible study in the basement of Mother Emanuel. “This territory belongs to God,” interim Pastor Norvel Goff Sr. said. Earlier Wednesday, the Confederate flag continued to fly as the church’s slain pastor and State Senator Clementa Pinckney’s body went on public view inside the South Carolina statehouse. Thousands of mourners gathered to pay respect to Pinckney, who became the first black person since Reconstruction to rest in honor in the state’s rotunda.