Pastors Praise Anti-Gay Massacre in Orlando, Prompting Outrage After the massacre in Orlando, Fla., American religious leaders spoke in a largely unified voice, condemning the killer and mourning the dead. But at some extreme conservative Christian churches, there was another message: good riddance. In the weeks since 49 people were slaughtered at a gay nightclub, remarks by pastors celebrating the deaths have brought attention to several outposts of anti-gay hostility across the country that until now had been operating mostly under the radar. “The tragedy is that more of them didn’t die,” Roger Jimenez, a Sacramento preacher,exhorted his congregants on June 12, the day of the assault. “The tragedy is — I’m kind of upset that he didn’t finish the job! Because these people are predators! They are abusers!” Mr. Jimenez’s sermon received widespread attention after a video of it appeared online, and then a torrent of denunciation from gay rights advocates, fellow pastors and pretty much everyone who saw it. But his sentiments were also echoed in at least a few other churches. Rebecca Barrett-Fox, a visiting assistant professor of sociology at Arkansas State University who has researched Christian extremists, said she had tracked about five churches — in California, Texas, Arizona and Tennessee — where preachers had endorsed the killings in Orlando. They are not as well known as the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., which has become infamous for demonstrations at military funerals. But their views about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and what should happen to them, can be just as troubling. Many of the preachers identify themselves as so-called independent Baptists, meaning that they are not a part of any of the denomination’s groupings, such as the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Barrett-Fox said the Baptist emphasis on church autonomy — recognizing no central authority — allowed pastors to interpret the Bible for themselves. “One of the consequences of that is you can get whole congregations that spin further and further away from the norm of what is accepted theology,” she said. The independent Baptist churches where anti-gay hatred has flourished tend to have small congregations, more likely to number in the dozens than the hundreds, experts said. Sermons posted online since the attack have been interspersed with dehumanizing labels for L.G.B.T. people reminiscent of those used by the perpetrators of historical genocides. The Orlando victims were “sodomites,” “reprobates,” “perverts” and “scum of the earth,” preachers have said.... http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pa...lando-prompting-outrage/ar-AAhGt74?li=BBnb7Kz
So it is a national outrage that a couple of Christian pastors with churches numbering a few dozen people in total have the same view of homosexuals as pretty much the entire muslim world?
A couple of Christian pastors? I would estimate that 20% of the Christian population has an extreme view LGBT. I estimate that another 40% tolerates it in public but secretly detests it. Maybe 40% of Christians are progressive. All religions are shit. Shining a light on Muslims or Christians isn't between choosing dog shit or horse shit, it is pointing out it is all caca.
Well, one is used to morally support mass murder by some of its followers. They are not the same. People should be allowed to believe whatever fits them and makes them happy.
You people don't get it. The average Muslim probably doesn't like Christians, but that is nothing new in either direction. 99% of those people want to live in peace. What is new is that ISIS wants to be at war with the world, and if it can incite a war with Christians, it will be happy. Your generalizations about the entire religion race is exactly the idea. It is the brainwashing that has been fed to you by Trump and who knows else. ISIS does not equal all Muslims. Fundamentalists are a virus on the human race. Jewish, Muslim, Christians, ad-infinitum.
Nitro you stated that 'all' religions are shit. I disagree. For many people, religion is very helpful at a personal level. That does not mean I accept religious dogma.