Preaching Hate

Now, Religion in the News: a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from the LifeSiteNews, July 5, 2004 with a headline, “Pastor Gets Prison For Sermon, Stockholm, Sweden—Ake Green, the pastor of a Swedish Pentecostal Church in Kalmar, Sweden, has been sentenced to one month in prison by a Swedish court for inciting hatred against homosexuals. Green was prosecuted in January for ‘hate speech against homosexuals’ for a sermon he preached last summer, citing biblical references to homosexuality. During his sermon in 2003, Green described homosexuality as ‘abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society.’ Sweden passed an equivalent to Canada’s bill C-250 last year, a hate crimes law that forbids criticism of homosexuality. In a WorldNetDaily article, the author quotes from the church newspaper, Kyrkans Tidning in which the prosecutor in the case, Kjell Yngvesson, justifies the arrest of Pastor Green: ‘One may have whatever religion one wishes, but this is an attack on all fronts against homosexuals. Collecting Bible cites on this topic as he, Pastor Green, does, makes this hate speech.’

Tom: You have to wonder…this is Sweden. We had a case, I think about a month ago, where the actress, you would know, Dave, because we talked about your…

Dave: Yeah.

Tom: Brigitte Bardot. Anyway…

Dave: Brigitte Bardot! (French accent)

Tom: Well, you pronounce it correctly. (Chuckles) But, she had to pay a fine for saying a few things about Islam and Muslims in a book that she wrote, so she was fined for that. We have the problem here in Canada and so on, but it seems to me this was a sermon and he was just quoting from the Scripture, with regard to what the Bible says about homosexuality!

Dave: Well, Tom, even forgetting that, how is it that the homosexuals have to be protected? Are they sacred?

Tom: It’s a sexual preference. Isn’t this a matter of their rights, and…

Dave: Can’t we discuss politics?

Tom: …aren’t they a minority?

Dave: Can’t we discuss Democrats and Republicans or whatever? I can tell you that evangelicals are not sacred; they love to damn them, to criticize them for everything! How is it that they are up for—anybody can shoot at them, but not the homosexuals? Furthermore, Tom, is a person not entitled to his opinion? Look, if I think homosexuality is wrong, I have a right to express myself. Now, when I have the Bible that tells me that it’s wrong, I certainly have the right to elaborate upon what I believe the Bible says. We’ve been talking about something even more important than a so-called lifestyle—we’ve been talking about heaven and hell! Soon, Tom, it will be wrong. They will prosecute you if you dare to say that there is any religion that’s wrong. So we’re back to Dr. Bloom’s book, The Closing of the American Mind. You can’t say that anything is wrong because you might offend someone. Now soon, Tom, just imagine this: a university professor can’t dare say that you gave a wrong answer on an exam! He might offend you! Everybody has an opinion; don’t you dare say that some opinion is wrong. So pretty soon, truth doesn’t matter. There is no truth, and that’s pretty much where we are.

Tom: Dave, I don’t want to offend you, but a couple of programs back, you offended me.

Dave: Ohhhh.

Tom: You implied that I was a narrow-minded fundamentalist. Now…

Dave: Well, you are, Tom! I hope you are! (Laughter)

Tom: Yeah, but if you offended me, how does this play out? Everybody—no one can offend anybody else? Certainly, if I’m offended—now, now I’m kidding you about what you said—but you did say it, by the way—but, the point I’m trying to make is that you said evangelicals are called this and called that and you know, and so on—why can’t they have a position here that’s likened to the homosexuals?

Dave: Well, Tom, it’s really incredible. I think part of it goes back to psychology because we have been brainwashed now. You know, you don’t want to knock anybody’s fragile self-esteem down. We must be positive, always be positive, build up your child’s self-esteem, don’t correct them, don’t tell them they’re wrong. It’s become a crime if you dare to spank your child; don’t try to do it in public, they’ll take the child away from you and put you in jail! So, it’s all part of this, this whole process, and we quoted last week, I think, Solomon said, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Now, how would you dare say that? You would offend someone!

If I’m heading down a road, 60 miles an hour, and the bridge just collapsed, you know, like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge once blew down in the wind, and here I’m heading for that bridge—shouldn’t you get out there with a red flag, a flare, or whatever and try to wave me down and stop me? And if we really believe that something is wrong, if I’m a doctor and I’ve got a pill that is a “sure cure” for a disease that’s ravaging the world and the whole world population is dying from it, am I going to be put in jail because I try to say, “Guys, you’ve got a fatal disease, and this would cure it”? But we’re talking about eternity, and Tom, this just—it gets worse and worse.

Tom: Dave, it’s not just a matter of getting worse—it’s confusing. Where is the consistency here? You were talking about self-esteem, where there’s some times when something offends somebody, but there’s another time in which, oh, I don’t worry about offending this group over here or that group over here, it’s this group I’m really directing this at. I mean, it’s not consistent. Homosexuals? Evangelicals? Which group are you not going to offend? How do you apply this with any sense of justice or fairness? You can’t do it!

Dave: Tom, let’s just be very blunt about it. What is homosexuality? Well, they don’t have children. If everyone adopted this lifestyle, as we’ve said a number of times—it’s just simple logic—it would be the end of the human race. We’re going to protect this? And they’re in our schools, trying to persuade more and more people to adopt this lifestyle. I think that is wrong. That should be stopped, because that would be the end of the human race! Just on that basis alone, forgetting morals and what the Bible says.