Politics - News Analysis

Texas Pastor Tells Arlington City Counsel that ‘Gays Should Be Executed’ and ‘Pride is an Abomination’

As if there was not enough killing in Texas.

At some point, maybe two to three generations down the road, if this country is lucky, Americans will look back to this period of time, the early 21st Century, as one of the most insane and dangerous times in American history. Yes, things were crueler before the Civil Rights movement, yes it was worse before that. But we have our answers now. It is supposed to be easier now. We are supposed to be making even more inroads.

Instead, it looks like we’re going backward. From Newsweek:

A week after saying that he wouldn’t apologize for using homophobic slurs in sermons, Texas pastor Jonathan Shelley, the leader of the anti-gay Stedfast Baptist Church, said in a city council meeting that Pride Month is an “abomination” that shouldn’t be promoted. Shelley addressed the Arlington City Council, where a meeting was being held about acknowledging Pride month, telling them that he’s “horrified and ashamed” that the city decided to “promote and solicit Pride.”

“I don’t understand why we celebrate what used to be a crime not long ago. God has already ruled that murder, adultery, witchcraft, rape, bestiality and homosexuality are crimes worthy of capital punishment.” In March, Shelley’s church got evicted from its building after the pastor said gay people were “worthy of death,” which violated the terms of the lease that said the church should not promote or threaten violence.

What two people do behind closed doors is something “worthy of death.” How about we stop worrying about who we can kill next and start looking around at each other as part of greater humanity.

There is no other way to get through any of this.

WATCH:

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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