Steven L. Anderson, pastor at Faithful
Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, has acknowledged he hates gay
people.
Anderson made headlines last week when
he told his congregation that an AIDS-free world is possible by
Christmas. “[I]f you execute the homos like God recommends, you
wouldn't have all this AIDS running rampant,” he said.
In various interviews he added that the
Bible commands the government to execute gays.
“Well, it's not my job or the job of
Christians to kill homosexuals,” Anderson told Telemundo Arizona.
“But according to the Bible it is the job of the government to
execute criminals and according to the Bible they are criminals. And
it's the job of the government to execute killers, murderers and also
homosexuals, according to the Bible.”
In an interview with Phoenix TV station
KPNX anchor Mark Curtis, Anderson acknowledged that he hates gay
people and would reject his child if he or she turned out to be gay.
“You hate gay people …,” Curtis
started.
“Yes,” Anderson
replied.
“... I'm Jewish. How do you feel
about Jews?”
“Oh, I don't hate Jews. I mean,
that's just a straw man to try to compare me to [Adolf] Hitler. I
don't hate Jews whatsoever.”
Anderson made a second reference to
Hitler when asked how he would feel if his son or daughter turned out
to be gay.
“Well, that's just a fallacy that it
just turns out that certain people are gay. That's just a lie,
because it's not random. It's not something that's just gonna
accidentally happen to one of my children,” Anderson said,
explaining that people become gay when they reject God.
“It's not going to happen,” he
insisted. “If it did, I'd have nothing to do with them. That's
like saying, what if your daughter, you know, grew up to be an ax
murderer? What if your son grew up to be like Adolf Hitler? I mean,
it's just a silly question.”
When Curtis noted the comparisons
between Anderson and Hitler, the pastor rejected the suggestion.
“Absolutely not. I'm preaching the
Bible, something Adolf Hitler rejected,” he said.
Meanwhile, a
crowdfunding campaign to send Anderson lumps of coal on Christmas
Eve has nearly doubled its initial $10,000 goal.
(Related: Campaign:
Pastor who calls for the execution of gays on Santa's “naughty
list.”)