In a series of increasingly disturbing statements in a sermon on Sunday, Christian hate-preacher Dillon Awes of Stedfast Baptist Church in Texas said all gay people in the United States should be charged with crimes, tried, and executed. (It’s not the first time this church has endorsed execution.) He also claimed they were all either pedophiles or pedophiles-in-waiting. And then, also without evidence, he accused them of committing school shootings and celebrating those tragedies.
… What does God say is the answer, is the solution, for the homosexual in 2022, here in the New Testament, here in the Book of Romans?
That they are worthy of death! These people should be put to death!
Every single homosexual in our country should be charged with the crime, the abomination of homosexuality, that they have. They should be convicted in a lawful trial. They should be sentenced with death. They should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head! That’s what God teaches. That’s what the Bible says.
You don’t like it? You don’t like God’s Word, because that is what God says…
Here’s the thing. Here’s why reprobates, here’s why homosexuals, are so dangerous to society: They’re not like other sinners in the sense that every single day that they are alive, they’re being filled with more and more and more unrighteousness.
That is a scary thing. You want to know why we say that all homosexuals are pedophiles? And let me make that very clear: All homosexuals are pedophiles.
And people say, “Well, what about all the straight people that molest children?” They’re f*gs!”
I don’t care what you call them. If a person is with a child, you’re a f*g. You’re a reprobate. You’re a sodomite. I don’t care what kind of classifications our government wants to give them. All homosexuals are pedophiles.
Now, here’s the thing. Here’s what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that every single homosexual that’s alive right now has committed that act with the child already. Because it could be that they haven’t had the opportunity yet, and they will at some point later in their life.
This is why we need to put these people to death, through the proper channels of the government, because the Bible says that they are being filled.
So here’s the thing: Yes, maybe not every single homosexual has been with a child yet, but what about tomorrow when they’re filled with a little more unrighteousness? What about in a week from now when they’re filled with a little more unrighteousness? What about 20 years from now? What are they gonna be like?
You look up the statistics on these sodomites that abuse children, they’re with so many children, it’ll make you throw up. Disgusting. These people are not normal. They’re not your average everyday sinners. They’re what the Bible calls reprobate. They’re rejected by God. They have no hope of salvation.
When sodomites, when wicked reprobate sodomites, go up and shoot up an elementary school, you know what the sodomites are doing? They’re rejoicing. They’re happy about that. Because [the Bible] says that they have pleasure in them that do all these things.
You know, while a normal person would look at a tragedy, or something really sad that happened—a child getting abused, you know, a school shooter, a murder, a rape, a really, just, sick crime, and our hearts would break over that. And we would be grieved for the sin and for the wickedness that’s gone on.
… They celebrate it. They’re happy about it. That’s the type of people sodomites are. That’s the type of people that America is celebrating today.
Needless to say, there’s literally no evidence for any of the claims he’s making about gay people. He doesn’t provide them because they don’t exist. And even though none exist, it doesn’t matter, because he’s not interested in facts. Awes just wants to rile up his congregation with unfiltered hate speech because what are his other options? Preaching about the love of Christ? No thank you.
New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist preachers like these always insist they’re not encouraging vigilantism. They insist they’re not asking anyone to pull a trigger themselves. They get mad when people say they’re calling for the murder of gay people. That’s not true, they claim. They’re just saying that, in a righteous world, the government would do their faith-based dirty work for them.
But when your Texas-based congregation happens to be full of gun-loving, gay-hating people who cheer on your calls of execution, plausible deniability isn’t much of a defense. Awes knows exactly what he’s doing because he’s preaching at a church that’s only known for spreading this kind of bigotry.
The main preacher at Stedfast (spelled the King James way) is Jonathan Shelley, who has repeatedly echoed the same sentiments. Last year, he celebrated the death of a gay man at a Pride parade. He has repeatedly wished for or called for the death of gay people. He doesn’t even limit his hate speech to the walls of his church. Two weeks ago, he appeared at an Arlington City Council meeting to push back against their acknowledgment of Pride Month by repeating the same calls for violence. (Awes spoke at the same meeting.)
What’s especially appalling is how YouTube continues to allow these New IFB sermons to livestream and then keep their videos up. That’s where their power comes from. Awes and Shelley don’t give a damn about reaching only the people in their congregations. They don’t care if only a handful of people sit in the pews. They want to reach impressionable bigots through social media. They want to spread hate under the guise of Christian love. And social media companies are helping them do it, in direct violation of their own terms of service.
***Update***: YouTube has removed the video for violating its terms of service. (I had downloaded a copy just in case.) The church’s channel itself, however, remains up.