A little reminder that evangelicalism [Fundamentalism, not evangelicalism. We HOPE this is not representative of evangelicalism - Editorial Bear] in America can be deeply scary. I can understand conservatives not liking the concept of same-sex marriage. I don't like it, but I can understand it. But this?These are the words of Pastor Steven Anderson, of the Faithful Word Baptist Church (which proudly warns: "Don't expect anything contemporary or liberal here!")
"The biggest hypocrite in the world is the person who believes in the death penalty for murderers and not for homosexuals. The same God who instituted the death penalty for murderers is the same God who instituted the death penalty for rapists and for homosexuals - sodomites, queers! God commanded they should be taken out and killed."This is a pastor saying this. Somebody who stands up in front of a crowd and supposedly teaches them what's 'moral.' And he's advocating the killing of gay people.
Perhaps you can understand why I have such intense problems with the evangelical [fundamental, not evangelical - Editorial Bear] movement over here.
(Thanks to Right Wing Watch for this link.)
Out of respect for Susanne, and after some gentle prodding from Tom, I have changed the term 'evangelicalism' to 'fundamentalism' as I reluctantly concede that it is more accurate.
6 comments:
Dang! This guy is about a thirtieth as crazy as the guy that our current President turns to for spiritual help and guidance, which means he should be locked up along with his entire flock.
A little reminder that Englishmen in the United Kingdom can be deeply scary. I can understand conservatives not liking the concept of same-sex marriage. I don't like it, but I can understand it. But this?
These are the words of Mark Collett, former chairmain of the youth division of the British National Party. On Russell Brand's 2002 TV show RE:Brand, Mark Collett described homosexuals as "AIDS Monkeys", "bum bandits" and "faggots". As seen on the documentary, Young, Nazi and Proud, Collett said that he considered AIDS a “friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it."
This is party leader saying this. Somebody who stands up in front of a crowd and supposedly teaches them what's 'moral.' And he's advocating the killing of gay people.
Perhaps you can understand why I have such intense problems with Englishmen over here.
(Seriously, if you're reading sites like Right Wing Watch, it's no wonder you have such a warped view of reality.)
Interesting post. Thanks for keeping me informed about "my" people. ;)
*ahem*
Tom! Touche, but a very poor example. I get your point - you can't judge the ENTIRE evangelical movement based on the words of one church (like the Westboro Baptist church) but the BNP comparison is pretty limp.
The British Nationalist Party is a white-supremacist, fascist movement that arose from the Nazi sympathizers of WWII. The Faithful Word Baptist Church is a CHRISTIAN CHURCH allegedly teaching the WORD OF CHRIST and no, Christ never advocated the death penalty for ANYBODY. (John 8:7)
So you can see that there's very clear hypocrisy in what the Pastor's saying, whereas Mark Collett is toeing the official BNP party line. He's a vile, murderous little weasel, but he's not hypocritical about it.
(And, scarily, the BNP is winning votes in Britain.)
But duly noted - the word 'evangelical' should perhaps be replaced with 'fundamentalist.'
And Susanne - that is my response to your comment as well. I shouldn't try and categorize the evangelical movement with such broad strokes (there are 80 million of 'you') but this guy demonstrates, in my mind, a cancer that's eating away at the evangelical movement. It's a pity he really isn't one of 'your' people, because maybe you could knock some sense into him.
This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 8/22/2009, at The Unreligious Right
The Faithful Word Baptist Church is less representative of fundamentalists than the BNP is representative of Englishmen.
The FWBC runs out of a mini-mall.
After all, the BNP got 943,000 votes and 2 MEPs in the last Euro-election. If anything, its far more scary that someone can say those things and be towing a major party's line, as opposed to being regarded as a nutter by all.
I don't believe that the FWBC and Steven Anderson's is an accurate depiction of even the views of Fundamentalist Christians. (For one thing, the fact that the lib-blogs make a big deal over this one guy in a mini-mall makes me think that this is far from widespread.)
You know, it's funny the way you can condem Fundamentalist Christians for having a tiny element that impotently threatens to kill gays, but you don't condem the well-accepted sects of Islam for... actually killing gays.
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