A North Carolina pastor says he “had to” share the biblical truth with public school seniors at a graduation event during which he was invited to speak.
North Carolina Pastor Scott Carpenter says he “had to” tell Kings Mountain High School graduating seniors that if they are gay they are going to hell. Carpenter was invited to speak at the school’s on-campus annual baccalaureate service, an evening event to celebrate and honor seniors’ accomplishments but one which students are not required to attend.
“Nobody got bashed or anything. All I did was simply speak biblical truth,” Carpenter, an interim pastor at Temple Baptist Church told WBTV. “The number one audience that I have to please is God.”
Carpenter says he has no regrets, and stressed that parents and students merely “reacted” to his message.
“Do I hate anybody? Absolutely not. I just love them too much not to tell them the truth,” Carpenter said. “Was I trying to be mean spirited? Absolutely not. Was I trying to hurt somebody’s feelings? Absolutely not. I was simply had to do what I had to do as a Christian minister.”
Parents and students feel quite differently, and are angered with the spreading of anti-gay hate during the event.
“This is bullying. Bullying doesn’t have to happen from the back hallway of a school or a back parking lot. It can happen from the pulpit, it can happen from the stage,” Chuck Wilson, a parent of a graduating senior who attended the baccalaureate service, said. “It’s a public school. There are children here. I think there should be some level of responsibility of the speaker coming in to not take advantage of a captive audience,” Wilson added.
WBTV reports Cleveland County Schools, a public school district of 29 schools, says “they had no part in the selection of speakers, which was left up to religious leaders in the community.”
Kings Mountain High School seniors will graduate on Saturday.Â
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Image: Screenshot via WBTV/Fox Carolina