Influential US Pastor Who Praised Uganda For Kill The Gays Bill Walks It Back

David Dykes, an influential and well-connected U.S. pastor who has been praising Uganda for its “Kill The Gays” bill, is now walking his comments back and feigning ignorance. Dykes has been in Uganda and was filmed in an interview telling citizens there, “I hope that you will continue to stand strong on what the Bible defines as the definition of a real marriage,” adding, “We hope to stand alongside the believers of Uganda during this time of crisis.”

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Dykes is also attacking the U.S. State Department for its role in attempting to get the Ugandan government to drop the Kill The Gays bill.

“I’m extremely upset that our state department is putting pressure on Uganda to recognize homosexual behavior, Dykes says in the video, below. “And I’m praying that Uganda will say, “We don’t want your money, America. It is blood money. It is sin money.”

Jim Burrroway at Box Turtle Bulletin writes:

Dykes’s Green Acres Baptist Church (Facebook page here), which is a member of the Southern Baptist conference, is one of the sponsors of Pastoral Care Ministries (Facebook page here). It appears that Dykes was in Uganda as part of a Pastoral Care Ministries effort.

But here’s where it gets even more interesting.

“Dykes isn’t just some random Southern Baptist preacher,” Burroway notes. “Jeff Sharlet, author of C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy, sends this update:

 

Following his prayer, Dykes was praised by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) for his “evident burden to reach out to help others.”

Burroway also adds:

Rep. Gohmert not only attends Dykes’s Green Acres Baptist Church, he is also a former Deacon and teaches Sunday school there.

That’s Rep. Louie “Terror Babies” Gohmert, mind you. More from Sharlet:

 

In a new post today, Burroway writes that now Dykes “is now telling a local television station in Texas that he he doesn’t support the bill, but is angry the U.S. is getting involved. He told Tyler, Texas’s KYTX television.”

“I’ve never read the bill. I don’t know what the bill says. My whole point was that I think it’s not right for our government to put pressure on any government about their moral decisions,” Dykes said.

“This is about as disingenuous as it gets,” Burroway says. “I feel pretty confident that if Uganda was making a moral decision about rounding up Christians to throw them in jail for the rest of their lives, Dykes would be singing a very different tune.” Here’s the video of Dykes in Uganda, on the Kill The Gays bill. Note he claims that Canadian pastors are being arrested for saying same-sex marriage is an abomination. That’s false, and I dare Pastor Dykes to prove it.  

Here’s Pastor Dykes walking his comments back. Note the Texas TV station cleverly edits out the rest of Dykes comments. And note the Texas TV station is mistaken about the Kill The Gays bill — which still calls for the death penalty of gay people. Now, he wants you to believe he’s just a laissez faire statesman:KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports

Shame on KYTX, the Texas TV station for airing this ludicrous piece of “journalism,” and shame on Pastor Dykes for his support of Uganda, and, by extension, if not directly, their Kill The Gays bill.

 

For more, head back to Burroway’s “American Pastor David Dykes Wants To Kill Gay Ugandans,” and read towards the end his “examination of the bill’s nineteen clauses.”

Frightening.

Burroway has done a great deal of work, and excellent reporting, on Uganda.