I'd Be Ashamed

If I were a regular, church-going Christian, I'd be ashamed.  Hell, I'm not a regular, church-going Christian, and I'm still ashamed.  I'm ashamed and appalled.  I'm ashamed that there are people like this Arizona "pastor", Steven Anderson, representing himself as a religious leader while spewing pure, absolute hatred.  Bitter hatred.  Violence-laden hatred.
[for the record, let me say that whereas I'm not a "regular, church-going Christian", I do strongly and fully believe in God.]

This video surfaced today on the facebook blog page and is a must-see.  It's a must-see for anyone who wonders why so many of my recent posts have been about the far-right "religious" faction, in particular.  It's important that I reiterate that nothing I say herein is meant as an attack on true Christians or on Republicans.  In fact, I had an opportunity to exchange thoughts with one who did take offense to what I was saying, and it turned out that his philosophy really isn't that different than my own.  Let's say we're on opposite sides of the aisle, perhaps, but we're both occupying close enough to the aisle that we can see and speak to each other.  What I am trying to get get across, however, and will continue to try to get across, is the amount of pure hatred, vile intolerance, and in some cases, suggestions of violence is coming from that far-right extremist faction who disguise themselves as Christians to mask their bitter hatred.  Watching the video will say more than I can ever say here.

This guy, Steven Anderson, is no stranger to the national spotlight.  As soon as I saw the name, I knew who he was.  As is evident in this video, I think it's fair to say that Mr. Anderson spends more time "preaching" hate than he does spreading the word of God.  And, forget about him spreading love.  Thanks not on his agenda.  In 2009, he had this to say:

The same God who instituted the death penalty for murders is the same god who instituted the death penalty for rapists and for homosexuals, sodomites and queers!

That's what it was instituted for, okay? That's God, he hasn't changed. Oh, God doesn't feel that way in the New Testament ... God never "felt" anything about it, he commanded it and said they should be taken out and killed.
You know why God wanted the sodomites in the Old Testament to be killed? You know why every good king of Israel, the Bible says they got rid of the sodomites in the land? You know, the good kings that came after the bad kings who had allowed the sodomites to infest their land, they had infiltrated ... King Asa got the sodomites out of the land, Jehoshaphat exterminated the sodomites that were left from the days of his father, Asa. Why? Because the sodomites are infectious, that's why. Because they're not reproducers, that goes without saying, they're recruiters.
How are they multiplying? Do you not see that they're multiplying? Are you that blind? Have you noticed that there's more than there were last year and the year before, and the year before that? How are they multiplying? They're reproducing right? No, here's a biology lesson: they're not reproducers, they're recruiters! And you know who they're after? Your children. Remember you dropped off your kids last week? That's who they're after. You drop them off at some daycare, you drop them off at some school somewhere, you don't know where they're at. I'll tell you where they're at: they're being recruited by the sodomites. They're being molested by the sodomites. I can tell you so many stories about people that I know being molested and recruited by the sodomites.
They recruit through rape. They recruit through molestation. They recruit through violation. They are infecting our society. They are spreading their disease. It's not a physical disease, it's a sin disease, it's a wicked, filthy sin disease and it's spreading on a rampage. Can't you see that it's spreading on a rampage? I mean, can you not see that? Can you not see that it's just exploding in growth? Why? Because each sodomite recruits far more than one other sodomite because his whole life is about recruiting other sodomites, his whole life is about violating and hurting people and molesting 'em.

You read that right:  this man, this "pastor" was advocating the murder of members of the LGBT community.  How is that even legal!?  Hate speech should never, ever be confused with free speech.  And, what comes through in the video, and in the malicious diatribe from 2009 is pure hate speech.

Bitter, violence-laden hate speak.  The kind that's leading to many of the LGBT teen suicides.

Bitter, violence-laden hate speak.  The kind that leads the mindless to have ideations of shooting  the leader of our country.

The punchline: the guy who is advocating the wholesale slaughter of homosexuals also says Obama is just like Adolf Hitler. You can't make this stuff up; no one would believe it. And by the way, the guy who showed up at an Obama rally with an assault rifle? This is his pastor.

Get the picture?  People of this mentality are dangerous.  Plain and simple.  And, understanding that "they" are the driving force behind the opposition of equal rights is a somber, sobering reality.  I mean, even good ol' Fred isn't this bad.  He's just...simple.