40,000 sign “stop Pastor Anderson” petitions as he vows to come to SA

Advertorial
Pastor Steven L Anderson

Pastor Steven L Anderson

Two petitions calling on the government to block gay hate pastor Steven Anderson’s trip to South Africa have been signed by almost 40,000 people.

It’s an astonishing response to the American preacher’s planned “soul winning” expedition to spread his twisted version of Christianity in Johannesburg on 18 September.

In an interview with Ivor Blumenthal on Radio Today on Thursday, Anderson vowed that he would go ahead with the trip, despite his hotel cancelling his reservation and a number of other venues refusing to host him and his followers in South Africa.

“There’s plenty of fish in the sea,” he said. “We’ll simply find another venue. I’m sure that plenty of people will take our money. This event is not cancelled and this event will never be cancelled. This event will happen no matter what!” he insisted.

Anderson, who is also a Holocaust denier, claimed that his expedition was not aimed at targeting the gay community. “We are coming to preach the gospel – this event has nothing to do with homosexuality. The fact that I’m coming there has inflamed the homo population and the Jewish population in South Africa.”

He nevertheless, went on to attack the gay community and once again call for their execution.

“The Bible is crystal clear that these people are an abomination, that they are filthy, vile and dangerous, violent people. The Bible says that they are worthy of death,” Anderson ranted.

The Department of Home Affairs has come under fire for not committing to block his visit. Spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete told Power FM’s Thabiso Tema that it “would be a challenge” to stop someone from a country, such as the US, who doesn’t require a visa and hasn’t been convicted of a crime.

He noted that South Africa has “within reason some means to prevent people [it] perceives as undesirable… and that’s our intention and our will… but it has to be based on legal merit and so we have to speak to our lawyers and see how we can achieve that”.

Tshwete, who described Anderson as “problematic and a deplorable person,” said the Minister of Home Affairs still intends to meet with the LGBT community and to engage with the SA Human rights commission to work out how to prevent the visit.

GaySA Radio Station Manager Hendrik Baird, who initiated the South African campaign against Anderson, said he next plans to lobby the airline that is set to fly the preacher into the country to not let him aboard.

Failing that, Baird said, “if he is still coming to the country he’s going to get the biggest, warmest, pink, rainbow welcome he has ever seen in his life”.

You can sign the two petitions against the pastor’s visit here and here.

Get the Mamba Newsletter

Latest Comments
  1. Rev Oscar Peter Bougardt
    Reply -
    • Sharon Cox
      Reply -
  2. paula key
    Reply -
  3. paula key
    Reply -

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend