The Southern Poverty Law Center has dubbed a Texas baptist church an “anti-LGBT hate group” after a pastor stated gay people should be “lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head.”
During a Sunday morning sermon titled “Why We Won’t Shut Up,” Pastor Dillon Awes of Stedfast Baptist Church in Watauga, a suburb of Fort Worth, made the comments and other contentious remarks.
“I’m angry this morning because our entire country is celebrating the worse sin in the Bible,” Awes said, referring to Pride Month.
“You know, a lot of pastors have this stupid idea where it’s just like, ‘oh, you know God loves everyone. And God hates the sin but loves the sinner.’ But people have taken this to such an extreme where they’re saying celebrate the sin, not just tolerate it, celebrate it,” he continued. “Let me show what the Bible says about these people.”
He then condemned homosexuality as a sin, adding that gay people “are dangerous to society” and that “all gays are pedophiles.”
“I’m not saying that every single homosexual that’s alive right now has committed that act with a child already because it could be they haven’t had the opportunity yet, and they will at some point later in their life,” he said. “This is why we need to put these people to death through the proper channels of the government. … These people are not normal. They’re not your average everyday sinners. … They have no hope of salvation.”
People in the audience could be heard cheering in agreement at various points during the sermon. The death penalty, according to Awes, is the “solution for the homosexual in 2022.”
“These people should be put to death. Every single homosexual in our country should be charged with a crime. The abomination of homosexuality that they have, they should be convicted in a lawful trial. They should be sentenced to death. They should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head,” he said.
Many others criticized the pastor’s remarks on social media, calling him a violent threat to the community.
