A Swiss Catholic Bishop was charged with “inciting people to crimes,” after he delivered a hate filled sermon of Leviticus at a German debate on marriage and family on July 31.
Swiss Bishop Vitus Huonder cited the go-to anti-gay passage of Leviticus 20:13 that if a man lies with a man as he lies with a woman…they shall surely be put to death, with Huonder adding “suffice to clarify unambiguously the church's position on homosexuality,” implying that the Catholic Church condones violence toward LGBT people.
As Newsweek reports, Bishop Huonder's sermon caused a stir in both Switzerland and Germany, gaining the attention of the Pink Cross, the Swiss Gay Federation. The group filed a criminal complaint against Hounder after concerns that his sermon would legitimize and inspire followers to commit violence against LGBT people.
Bishop Huonder faces three years in prison if convicted. Hounder issued an apology although he mistakenly listed the wrong date of his speech in his statement:
“I am sorry if my 50 minute lecture in Fulda on 2 August 2015, which dealt with the biblical basis for marriage and family, was understood as diminishing homosexual people.
“This was not my intention. During the lecture I quoted several uncomfortable passages from the Old Testament to do with marriage, sexuality and family. I want to clarify that I… would in no way wish to diminish homosexual people.”
Huonder's anti-gay views run contrary to popular opinion in his home nation of Switzerland where over 50 percent of the nation's population supports gay marriage as of February 2015.
