Gay rights foe Lou Engle has called for
the 'conversion' of talk show host Ellen DeGeneres,
RightWingWatch.org
first reported.
Engle is a senior leader at the Kansas
City-based International House of Prayer and is the founder of The
Call, a Christian power-pray. He actively supported passage of
California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.
Preaching last month at an event called
the Winter Ramp held at the Chattanooga Convention Center in
Tennessee, Engle urged participants to pray for DeGeneres'
“conversion.”
“In revivals, God wants to bring
forth notable and conspicuous conversions,” Engle told the crowd.
“That's how he changes the minds of the masses. Come on, Ellen
DeGeneres, let her get converted.”
The 52-year-old DeGeneres came out gay
in a 1997 cover of Time and married actress Portia de Rossi in
2008 before voters approved Proposition 8.
“So many of your generation are
falling to the lie [that] homosexuality is OK, should be legalized,
marriage seems right,” Engle added. “Seems right until you
understand that the throne of the Lord is built on righteousness and
justice. Suddenly, we realize this is not a civil rights issue
because the Lord is very clear on the issue of homosexuality.”
(The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
CORRECTION: This version corrects the
error that Engle helms Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa,
California.