Should we be surprised that just such hypocrites target a church that dares speak the truth from its pulpit?
When there was a righteous movement to dismantle Jim Crow, Dr Martin Luther King Jr preached from its pulpit, and marches began from its steps.
And in doing so, it perhaps provided a fitting last tribute to the cardinal who had worshiped from its altar, railed against injustices from its pulpit, and enjoyed a good laugh within its walls.
In 1991 the church had a letter read out from its pulpits condemning anti-Semitism.
That reasoning became the defining logic of the fundamentalist movement, and prompted an effort by the Church's national body to force the New York Presbytery to affirm the fundamentals of the faith from its pulpits.
The phrase and the agenda that grew out of it caught on, and from 9/11 onward, the administration used its pulpit to propagate several new premises.
Its pulpit is of bog oak shaped like a fossilised tree.
The church echoes with the greatness of its past: 16th-century Protestant reformer Martin Luther once preached at its pulpit, and the baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach gave regular performances here during his time as organist at the ducal court, from 1708 to 1718.
President Theodore Roosevelt spoke when its cornerstone was laid, and Martin Luther King, Jr., preached his last Sunday sermon from one of its pulpits.
From its opening in 2002 until June of this year.
