An unhoused woman in Kalamazoo, Michigan recently sought a safe place to rest for a short while in the parking lot of Second Reformed Church. What happened next was captured on TikTok and has since spread widely: instead of offering her compassion or even basic human decency, church members confronted her, filmed her, and forced her off their property.
For a place that claims to live by the words of Christ, this act of cruelty exposes a level of hypocrisy that deserves to be called out. Churches like this enjoy tax exemptions that are supposed to enable them to provide aid and comfort to their communities, not to attack and shame those in need.
The following is my letter that I sent to Second Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, to hold them accountable for their hypocrisy and moral failure.
Open Letter to Second Reformed Church
To the Leadership of Second Reformed Church
125 Walnut Street
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Subject: Formal Condemnation of Cruelty and Hypocrisy
To the pastors, elders, and members of Second Reformed Church,
I am writing in outrage after witnessing how your church treated an unhoused woman who asked for nothing more than a safe place to rest. Instead of compassion, she was met with aggression, humiliation, and removal from your property, while being filmed by people who claim to serve God. That behavior is shameful, cruel, and irreconcilable with the teachings of Christ.
On your website, you claim to believe that “the Bible testifies of God’s love for us, the full expression of which is found in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.” You declare that you live by His command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Yet when faced with a suffering neighbor, you chose rejection over mercy and pride over love.
Even as an atheist, I understand that what you did stands in complete opposition to both the spirit and the letter of Jesus’s teachings. You do not have to believe in Him to understand what He said. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). “Give to everyone who asks you” (Luke 6:30). “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices… but you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23).
He spoke directly to the kind of hypocrisy your church has displayed. He did not say to film the poor, to threaten them, or to drive them away. He said to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the stranger. Your behavior was the opposite of that. It was hatred disguised as righteousness.
Because churches receive tax-exempt status under the condition that they provide care and public benefit, I will be filing a formal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (EO Classification Unit, eoclass@irs.gov). The IRS defines this exemption clearly in its own guidance (source), requiring that churches serve the community in good faith and advance charitable works. You have failed to meet that standard.
Your church claims to “welcome each person who comes through our doors,” yet you rejected one of the most vulnerable people imaginable. That is not ministry; it is hypocrisy. Until you publicly acknowledge your wrongdoing, apologize to the woman you harmed, and take visible steps to live by the compassion your scriptures demand, you have no moral or spiritual authority to claim the name of Christ.
As Jesus said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew 15:8). Those words describe you now.
May your conscience trouble you until your actions match your scripture.
Why This Matters
Churches like Second Reformed benefit from public tax exemptions on the premise that they serve the public good. When they instead use their power to harm and shame the poor, they betray both their faith and their civic responsibility. If a church chooses to act without mercy, then it should not enjoy the privileges granted to those who serve their communities in good faith.
Call to Action
If this behavior offends your conscience as much as it does mine, take a moment to act.
- Contact Second Reformed Church directly and demand accountability:
📞 (269) 343-3197
✉️ office@2ndreformed.org - File a complaint with the IRS regarding misuse of tax-exempt status by churches that fail to serve the public good. Send your message to eoclass@irs.gov and reference the guidance on churches and charitable compliance.
- Share this story. Use your platforms to amplify compassion and demand better from institutions that claim moral authority while acting without it.
Silence in the face of cruelty is complicity. Let’s make sure the world knows what hypocrisy looks like when it hides behind a steeple.
Tommy Karr 