100 Protest Against Unrepentant Pastor Who Wants Gays Dead To End AIDS By Christmas

On Sunday nearly 100 people protested at the Arizona church whose pastor says all gays should be killed to end AIDS.

Almost 100 people came out Sunday morning to protest the hate speech of Pastor Steven Anderson, the man who told his congregation last Sunday that the bible has the “cure” for AIDS. All gay people should be killed, Anderson preached, and killed soon so America can have an AIDS-free Christmas. 

The Tempe, Arizona pastor runs the Faithful Word Baptist Church, which appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of active anti-gay hate groups. 

The protestors say they’ll continue to protest as long as Pastor Anderson continues to spew his hate.

LOOK: Want To Help Santa Put Coal In Pastor Anderson’s Christmas Stocking?

“There are people who may not be of sound mind who hear this message and may feel motivated to hurt someone, that is not what faith is about,” Pastor Jeffrey Dirrim, who denounced Anderson last week, told ABC 15.

He councils Valley youth, and says they’re terrified by what they’re hearing.

“They’re calling me saying, ‘Is what that pastor says true? Do people really want to kill us?’”

Kristin Gwinn also showed up to protest. “I know the pain that these children face. And it’s not fair that they have to grow up in a world where people can say ‘You have no value, you should be put to death to make the world better’.”

Meanwhile, Pastor Anderson posted this interview to his church’s Facebook page.

In it, Anderson acknowledges that he hates gay people and that he is a “religious zealot.” He also says AIDS is the judgment of god, and it’s impossible that any children of his could ever be gay.

LOOK: Some Religious Leaders Denounce Pastor Who Wants To Ends AIDS By Killing Gays

“That’s like saying, what if your daughter, you know, grew up to be an ax murderer?” Anderson told a News 12 reporter. “What if your son grew up to be like Adolf Hitler?”

Jeremy Hooper at Good As You writes, “let me be the first to say to Steven Anderson: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE KEEP SPEAKING. I can literally hear the clicking of the lightbulbs going on over the heads of newly enlightened Arizonans who hadn’t realized how ugly the anti-gay movement can and does get.”

 

Image via ABC 15