I’m not exactly sure who or what God is, but what I can say is that I’d stake my life on what God isn’t and that’s hate, which is exactly what I believe a preacher is spewing from his pulpit in Phoenix.
Quite reminiscent of now deceased Pastor Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church is Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church, who recently led an anti-homosexual sermon that said killing gays is the way to an AIDS-free world.
During his homily Leviticus 20:13 was cited as justification, which says, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.” Anderson fully supported this passage by stating, “And that, my friend, is the cure for AIDS, it was right there in the Bible all along. Because if you executed the homos, like God recommends, you wouldn’t have all the AIDS running rampant.” He also went on to say that “all homos are pedophiles” and that “no queers or homos are allowed the church, and never will be as long as he’s pastor.”
What outright saddens me first and foremost is how his words have now made its way into nationwide news. I only happened to learn of this when I noticed a hatred-filled headline in USA Today that read, “Pastor calls for killing gays to end AIDS”, while looking for the latest movie reviews. Because of all the previous rejections I’ve received in the past to joining several churches due to my sexuality, I read the article in its entirety. And although I’m sure there will be plenty of people who end up feeling the same pain I did after reading it, there will sadly probably be just as many who will end up applauding and supporting Anderson’s beliefs as well.
Both Phelps and Anderson have stood for something that I can only compare to hate. Wishing, hoping, or calling for the death to all gay people is something I don’t believe God would ever advocate. So many pastors, preachers, and the like have cited this passage in Leviticus as a way to justify their hate.
“It’s in the Bible, so it’s coming from God and it must be true.” This is often what has been presented to me by several pastors and very opinionated religious people I’ve met over time. I remember this passage specifically being pointed out to me by a pastor back in Massachusetts when I sat at a table with him inquiring about joining his church.
It truly is no wonder why so many gays and lesbians get turned off to finding and developing a closer relationship to God when people like Phelps or Anderson are making nationwide news citing passages like this to support their claim that God hates gays. But the image I hold onto these days with who God is sits exactly on the opposite side of this spectrum. To me God is nothing but unconditional love.
I refuse to believe that God would want to have anyone be killed given that all religions seem to believe that God was also the one to create each of us in God’s image. So if that were the case, why would God create someone only to want him or her killed? If God created me just as I am, as a gay man with an open heart who’s here solely to bring equality, unconditional love, and hope for this entire planet, why would God also want me to be killed given I’m only doing what I feel God brought me here to do?
Ironically, each of the passages in the Bible that continue to be used by pastors such as Anderson to denounce my sexuality in some way always seem to overlook the other passages that condemn just about every single person on this planet. In the same area in Leviticus that Anderson uses for his AIDS argument, it speaks of banishing all men who have had sex with women during their period, or putting to death all men and women who commit adultery, or killing all people who curse their parents, and so on and so forth.
And although the statistics I read on AIDS.GOV shows the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the United States to be originating from a large percentage of unprotected sex between men, there is also just as much of a large percentage coming from heterosexual sex and needle use as well. This changes even more drastically on a global level, especially in poorer countries such as Africa, where the higher percentages of people with HIV OR AIDS are not coming from homosexuality at all.
Knowing all this I choose to look at Anderson’s preaching as just one man’s hateful rants and yet I still have compassion for him. Why? Because I know God would want me to, especially given that I know of plenty of men who were molested by an adult male at a very young age and grew up spewing hatred towards homosexuals because of it. In fact, I was once one of them.
So whatever Anderson’s inner demons are that drive him to preach in the name of God about killing millions of people I truly don’t know. But what I do know is that I really would stake my life on the sole existence of an unconditionally loving God who cares about all of us equally, regardless of sexual orientation, or any other trait that makes up our identity, because weren’t all of them just made in God’s image anyway?
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson