Steven L. Anderson, pastor at Faithful
Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, reacted angrily to activists
pressuring online services to close his church's accounts over his
homophobic rhetoric.
Anderson cheered the deaths of 49
people at an Orlando gay nightclub, saying in a video that the only
downside was that more people did not die.
“These homosexuals are a bunch of
perverts and pedophiles, that’s who was a victim here, a bunch of
disgusting homosexuals at a gay bar,” Anderson
said in a video posted after the Orlando shooting. “The good
news is that at least fifty of these pedophiles are not going to be
harming children anymore. The bad news is that a lot of the homos in
the bar are still alive, so they’re going to continue to molest
children and recruit people into their filthy homosexual lifestyle.”
Anderson lashed out at the activists
who have gone after his church's accounts over his anti-gay rhetoric
and those of other pastors with similar anti-LGBT views.
“It's war,” he
told his congregation. “You know what the filthy sodomites
have done toward our church and us and our friends and our fellow
pastors that actually have the guts to say what needs to be said?
Here's what they've done in the last few weeks. They got our PayPal
account shut down so that we can't take anymore online donations. We
set up with another company, GivLet, they got that shut down. Qgiv,
they got that shut down. BitPay, they got that shut down. They shut
down our iTunes podcast. They shut down Brother Jimenez’s PayPal
account. They shut down Brother Romero’s PayPal account… The
landlord of Pastor Jimenez is saying, ‘Hey we’re not going to
renew your lease.'”
(Related: Pastor
who celebrated Orlando mass shooting asked to move church.)
“These people are researching.
They're finding out where we bank. They're finding out who we do
business with. They're trying to get us shut down on all fronts,”
he yelled.
Jumping on his podium, he added that
he's “sick of it.”
“If you're not gonna back us up then
get out of here. We don't need your help. … I don't want to hang
around with a bunch of fag hags and a bunch of queer baits and a
bunch of effeminates. Get out. … And if you ever say the word
'LGBT community' to me, you might as well just walk up to me and just
say, 'You know what, I'm a brainwashed idiot.' I don't read the
Bible. I don't love God. … LGBT. They're sodomites. They're
dogs. That's what the Bible calls them. Dogs. Dogs!”