Preachers stoke anti-gay sentiment
Normally, one wouldn't think of Christian ministers as advocates of hatred, but then the Rev. Franklin Raddish is hardly your average, everyday, garden-variety minister. He IS, however, your average, everyday, garden-variety ignorant hate-monger.
Eight preachers, spurred by anti-gay rights organizer the Rev. Frank Raddish of Washington, D.C., heaped fire and brimstone on ''homosexuals and sodomites'' during a five-hour preaching marathon yesterday beneath the century oaks of the historic Rhea County Courthouse....
"The pedophiles will be here tomorrow. The men who dress like women will be here. They're not going to bring decency to Rhea County.... The world wants to educate our children to be tolerant of homosexuals. The homosexuals can't grow in number unless they recruit. How do they recruit? They sodomize. That's the only way."
Regardless of how you feel about homosexuality, this sort of hatred and filth spewing out of the mouth of someone who passes himself off as a "man of God" cannot be condoned by reasonable people. I may not be a Christian, but I attended enough Sunday School classes to know that the hatred and vitriol that Raddish preaches is no more about Christianity than the murder of Nicholas Berg is about Islam. The only difference between Islamofascists and "Christians" of Raddish's ilk is that Raddish and his cohorts haven't beheaded anyone. Their Christianity is a knowing and open bastardization of the Scripture they profess to preach. They are so blinded by their hatred that they have long since lost track of the meaning of Christian charity.
In the final analysis, the Rev. Franklin Raddish will likely end up with a private room in Hell- right next to the Rev. Fred Phelps, Osama bin Laden and the reprobates who murdered Nicholas Berg.