/ 10 September 2016

Homophobic US pastor ‘may spread hate here’ says regretful SA church group

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The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa (TEASA) said it regrets that US preacher Steven Anderson’s “hatred for LGBTs may be spread here” when he visits the country later this month.

TEASA’s Moss Ntlha in a statement said it condemned Anderson’s “gay hating attitude”.

“The constitution lays the basis on which South Africa’s many cultures agreed to live together. White-black, religious and secular, LGBT and straight, rich and poor, we all stand as one rainbow nation,” Ntlha said.

“As South Africans we accept that people with LGBT orientations have rights to dignity and freedom, as indeed all other South Africans.”

Ntlha said the alliance believed that Jesus Christ loves all people, and “wishes none to perish” as Anderson suggested following the Orlando shooting.

“The Jesus Anderson claims he comes to South Africa to preach, taught, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life’.”

SA visit
Anderson will be allowed to visit South Africa to preach on the condition that he “behaves”, the Department of Home Affairs said on Monday.

This followed a meeting earlier on Monday with the SA Human Rights Commission and members of the LGBTI community, which had collected almost 60 000 signatures to prevent the visit. SAHRC chairperson Lawrence Mushwana had also raised concerns about the pastor.

The department said it had carefully weighed its options, including studying sections of the Immigration Act, and listened to the concerns raised by the SAHRC and the LGBTI community.

Legislation and the implications for South Africa were considered, and the department’s earlier decision would stand: he can come, but if he breaks the law through his speeches, or pamphlets, action would be taken.

“If he contravenes our laws we will detain him, we will consider prosecution,” Home Affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete has said, News24 reported.

So far, Spur and Wimpy have made it clear that he is not welcome in their establishments after he advertised the restaurants as meeting venues for his pastoral work. — News24