Pastor Who Said He’d Set Himself On Fire Over Same-Sex Marriage Now Saying He Loves The Gays

Pastor Rick Scarborough wants gay people to know he doesn’t hate them, he loves them. This should be interesting…

Pastor Rick Scarborough recently said he would set himself on fire if the Supreme Court found a right for same-sex couples to marry. “We will burn,” he promised. “The preachers need to get out front, the leaders need to get out front, out front of these ordinary citizens and say, ‘Shoot me first,'” Scarborough added.

Only, he didn’t really mean it, he explained, hours after the Supreme Court did rule in favor of marriage equality.

Now, amazingly, Scarborough is back, with an op-ed published today in Variety, claiming that he doesn’t hate gay people, in fact, he loves them. He loves gay people so much he feels “compelled” to tell them if they keep being gay they’ll go to hell. 

Now, that’s “real love,” amiright?

“I believe that most homosexuals in America are like most Christians; they simply want to live and let live, and have no desire to impose their beliefs on others,” Scarborough, whose full-time job is to impose his beliefs on others, writes. “But fringe groups on both sides of the debate over marriage are forcing a dangerous polarization in our culture.”

Scarborough is the founder of two fringe groups: Vision America and Tea Party Unity, and heads another fringe group, the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration. He also likes to pal around with Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson.

“We who believe that homosexuality is wrong,” Scarborough continues at Variety, “are compelled by our love for homosexuals to express that belief, based on biblical revelation, but that does not mean we hate those who embrace homosexuality. In fact, we believe that we are expressing the purist form of love. We love them enough to face their rejection and at times their ridicule, in order to offer God’s redemption and freedom.”

Are you feeling the love yet?

“We do not hate homosexuals and we are not out to hurt them,”Scarborough claims in his op-ed. “We love them, and we love God, His Word, and His truth.”

“We want homosexuals to know we love them enough to tell the truth and forthrightly state our support of God’s definition of marriage.”

GLAAD reports Dr. Scarborough says “the AIDS epidemic is God’s ‘judgement as a result of an immoral act,’“ and “calls it ‘a homosexual disease.” 

They also report Scarborough “says laws sending gays to prison were ‘based on the Bible.’“

Of course, then there was the time Pastor Scarborough called for a class action lawsuit against homosexuality.

In Variety, Scarborough asks, “when was the last time a movie or sitcom produced in Hollywood depicted a pastor as caring, loving and selfless?,” and laments, “the typical portrayal of a pastor in a movie is that of an unstable or bigoted hypocrite.”

What Pastor Scarborough should realize is how Hollywood portrays some pastors – as hatefilled bigots and hyocrites – is exactly because of people like him. It’s time to look deep into the mirror, pastor, and apologize, to your fellow pastors, and to the LGBT community, both of whom you’ve harmed, Pastor.

 

Image: Screenshot via YouTube