Jonathan Shelley is the pastor of Stedfast Baptist Church in Hurst, Texas (near Fort Worth).
It’s one of those New Independent Fundamental Baptist churches that are offshoots of Steven Anderson‘s church, and Shelley previously made headlines in 2019 when he said rebellious children should be executed.
Yesterday, he went even further than that. Rather than talk about theoretical deaths, he flat-out celebrated the actual deaths of LGBTQ people — including one person who was accidentally hit by a truck at a Pride parade in Fort Lauderdale, Florida — and told his congregation he hoped all LGBTQ people were killed.
The clip begins after a brief recitation of Romans 1:29, which lists the characteristics of sinful people.
Yesterday, a Christian hate-preacher from Texas celebrated a gay man's death at a Pride parade.
"It's great when trucks accidentally go through those… parades… We can hope for more in the future… I think it's great! I hope they all die!"
(Warning: The language gets worse) pic.twitter.com/3VsYC8KmjA
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) June 21, 2021
… It is going beyond just saying you do all this wicked stuff. It’s saying you enjoy it. You enjoy murder. You enjoy malignity. You enjoy hating God.
Look, there’s only one group that enjoys that: It’s the Pride parades going up and down the street. And, you know, it’s great when trucks accidentally go through those, you know, parades… I think only one person died. So hopefully we can hope for more in the future.
You say, “Well, that’s mean.” Yeah, but the Bible says that they’re worthy of death! You say, “Are you sad when f*gs die?” No, I think it’s great! I hope they all die! I would love it if every f*g would die right now. And you say, “Well, I don’t think that’s what you really mean.” That’s exactly what I mean. I really mean it!
There’s no hate quite like Christian love…
My fear is not that Shelley himself will bring a weapon to some future Pride parade; it’s that one of his followers will. One of them could snap after listening to him. Because while Shelley is celebrating murder, he’s also handing his congregation a metaphorical loaded gun. If someone eventually uses a literal one to follow through on what they believe to be God’s orders, they know Shelley will be proud of them — even as he tells the world he had absolutely nothing to do with it.
On a side note, why is his church’s YouTube channel still online? He’s been saying this sort of stuff for years with no consequences on social media.