Students At Harlem's Anti-Gay Atlah Church Endured Abuse: Report

HARLEM, NY — Students who attended the private schools run by Harlem's Atlah World Missionary Church were subject to abuses such as strict punishments, manual labor and being estranged from their parents for decades under the order of the church's controversial pastor, a Huffington Post investigation revealed.

The Huffington Post spoke with more than 20 people connected with the two schools — called the Great Tomorrow’s USA Elementary/Middle and Atlah High School — including former students and teachers who provided glimpses into what attending the school is like. Students were harshly disciplined by Atlah's pastor James Manning, who used the school to indoctrinate students to the church's anti-gay agenda, the Huffington Post reported.

One former student told the Huffington Post that he was locked in the basement of the church building — located on the corner of West 123rd Street and Malcolm X Boulevard — for the entirety of the school day as punishment for having a sexual relationship with another student. The student said his parents, ardent followers of Manning, were convinced by the pastor to kick him out of the family home when he failed to show up to some church services.

Students were also used by Manning to perform manual labor, the Huffington Post reported. Students cleaned the church and would hand out flyers for Manning's campaigns. Sometimes the tasks were as bizarre as defecating in a bag to leave in front of a gay-owned business, the Huffington Post reported.

Because Atlah's schools are private and receive no public funds they do not require state certifications. The school remains of the backlog of private schools registering with the state and is able to award New York State-approved regents diplomas, according to the report.

Manning posted numerous videos to Atlah's website in the days since the Huffington Post published its investigation that label the article as an "LGBTQ hit job."

Read the Huffington Post's full investigation here.