Nothing Says “Love Thy Neighbor” Like Advocating Genocide

A lot of people, because of the things I’ve written (and probably because of my taste in music), assume that I am against religion. I’m not. In fact I believe most religions offer a lot of great things. Christianity, the religion I was raise under, preaches that we should love one another, help each other out, and generally avoid being dicks. Those are all great ideas. But there’s always some asshole who can take something good and turn it into something horrible. Unfortunately these assholes are usually very loud. Take Steven Anderson, a pastor in Arizona, who has decided to build a reputation on being a complete cunt. While claiming to being a Christian he advocates genocide:

In the sermon, which was uploaded to YouTube on Monday from Faithful Word Baptist Church, Pastor Steven Anderson said that God has ordered in the scriptures that gays should be killed, and that if humanity wants to have an “AIDS-free world by Christmas,” he said, that’s what should be done.

[…]

“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them,” Anderson read aloud.

“And that, my friend, is the cure for AIDS,” he said. “It was right there in the Bible all along — and they’re out spending billions of dollars in research and testing. It’s curable — right there. Because if you executed the homos like God recommends, you wouldn’t have all this AIDS running rampant.”

I’m a pretty peaceful guy so I won’t go so far as to say Mr. Anderson should be killed but I will say that the world would be a far better place if he wasn’t in it (or was at least stranded on a desert island from which no escape were possible).

I don’t understand the rampant hatred some Christians seem to have for homosexuals. If you look at Jesus, who Christians are supposed to do their damnedest to mimic, he hung out with a bunch of unsavory people. He didn’t spend his time hanging out with saints (since saints didn’t exist at that point) but spent his time hanging out with sinners (who, in general, are way cooler people to hang out with). Furthermore he made it a point that people shouldn’t judge others. So I’m always confused when self-proclaimed Christians advocate for violence.