Protest held against pastor who said gay people should be killed to stop spread of AIDS
Nearly 100 people gathered outside Faithful Word Baptist Church on Sunday morning to stage a peaceful demonstration against Pastor Steven Anderson.
Anderson delivered an anti-homosexual sermon on November 30, just a day before World AIDS Day, in which he reportedly said homosexuals would never be allowed in his church as long as he is pastor.
He added that killing gays was God's sanctioned way of ridding the world of AIDS.
A video of the sermon was posted on YouTube and has already garnered over 100,000 views.
In the video, Anderson read Leviticus 20:13 and preached, "It was right there in the Bible all along—and they're out spending billions of dollars in research and testing. It's curable, right there. Because if you executed the homos like God recommends, you wouldn't have all this AIDS running rampant."
The pastor went further. In the same sermon, he said, "All homos are paedophiles. There, I said it, they're all paedophiles."
The protesters held their demonstration before Anderson's Sunday morning sermon. They held signs with messages like "Teach love, not hate" and "AIDS is not a gay disease." Many of them fear that Anderson's words will inspire gay killings, reports ABC 15.
Pastor Jeffrey Dirrim of Rebel and Divine United Church said, "There are people who may not be of sound mind who hear this message and may feel motivated to hurt someone."
At one point, the demonstrators confronted the pastor, but both sides remained peaceful.
Anderson remains unapologetic for his anti-gay remarks. He continued with his service, surrounded by parishioners many of whom were openly carrying guns.
The demonstrators said that they will not stop protesting against Anderson as long as he continues advocating hate and violence against gay people.