About 100 people held a peaceful demonstration outside Steven Anderson's Faithful Word Baptist Church yesterday morning to protest the “Christian” pastor's announcement earlier this week that the only way to cure HIV/AIDS is to stone all gay people to death
About 100 people held a peaceful demonstration outside Steven Anderson's Faithful Word Baptist Church yesterday morning to protest the “Christian” pastor's announcement earlier this week that the only way to cure HIV/AIDS is to stone all gay people to death, reports AZ Central.
Earlier today we reported that when Anderson was taken to task for his comments by Phoenix TV station KPNX anchor Mark Curtis, the pastor compared gay people to ax murderers and Adolf Hitler, said that homosexuality is a “fallacy” and admitted he would reject his children if they were gay.
The protesters gathered before Anderson's Sunday morning sermon carrying signs with messages including “Teach love not hate,” “Jesus loves everybody”, “Honk if you support love” and “AIDS is not a gay disease.”
While Reverend Jeffrey Dirrim gave communion to protesters, Rabbi Dean Shapiro of Temple Emanuel of Tempe read a prepared statement to the crowd:
“We deplore this pastor's hate speech and calls for violence, especially when these statements come from a man who purports to be a faith leader in our community and especially during this season when we long for peace, justice and reconciliation.”
Watching the demonstrators with members of his congregation, Anderson – who like many a wingnut before him appears to be revelling in the attention – said:
“A lot of businesses pay to have sign-wavers. I'm just glad people know we're here. I'm not ashamed of what I believe, I'll preach it from the housetops. And anybody who wants to read it can go to the Dollar Tree and pick up a Bible.”
He added that although he does not condone violence, he strongly believes that homosexuality should be banned.
Watch a video of the protest, AFTER THE JUMP…
