Baptist minister: 'We need hunt-a-homo week'

Yesterday, I talked about the hilarity of homophobia.

Today, I'm taking a different tone.

The following is not an easy video to listen to, but it's necessary not only to the lgbt community, but for those who claim that we are being too pushy, that we are trying to "redefine" American values, that we hate Christianity, etc.

The video is an audio sermon by Shenandoah Baptist Church Pastor Jeff Owens. According to Dan Savage:

Jeff Owens "is a man of great expression, compassion, and wisdom," who currently leads the Shenandoah Bible Baptist Church, "one of America's most exciting churches," a church located in a part of West Virginia that serves as a suburb of Washington D.C. Pastor Owens is "a soulwinner, fervent preacher, and takes an uncompromising stand against sin; but the hallmark quality of Dr. Owens is his genuine love and concern for people." In this sermon Pastor Owens lovingly and compassionately calls on his flock to terrorize and murder gays and lesbians:

Shenandoah Baptist Church's Pastor Jeff Owens: BURN AND SHOOT FAGS! from Joe Jervis on Vimeo.


Among the highlights of this "lovely sermon" is the following:

"We need to stop burning flags and start burning fags. We need hunt-a-homo week. We need to take 'em all out and shoot 'em with a scatter shotgun"

Now a video of Owens's sermon was featured on youtube. Naturally it was taken down after its message became public. But let's thank Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God for saving the sermon and making sure that no one forgets what Owens said.

There are no words which I can say that would properly convey my absolute disgust. But I think Savage says it best:

Now for all you moderate Christians offended by this sort of thing—by Owens' sermon, by my posting about it—if you want to tell anyone that Owens doesn't speak for all Christians, go tell Owens. I'm sick of hearing it,

In other words, don't get angry at the lgbt community for merely reacting when some fool advocates our destruction in the name of Christianity.

Seems to me that any anti-Christian comments made by the lgbt community isn't a proof that the community wants to destroy the religion. It simply shows that we have worries that some who claim to practice Christianity want to destroy us.

UPDATE - Owens sent out a message apologizing for the sermon. He claims that he preached the sermon 15 years ago and that he no longer feels that way about those in the "gay lifestyle."

While it is all well and good that Owens no longer believes in violence against the lgbt community, I still have a problem with his condescending tone.

Also, why in the world was this 15-year-old sermon saved to be placed on youtube anyway?