At times, I’ve been confronted by people who argue that Muslims are barbaric and Islam is an evil religion that preaches violence and war, as compared to Christianity in America, where we are a nation of enlightened Christians dedicated to peace and justice and love. Well, I do not claim that there are no Muslims who use their faith to justify atrocities and the slaughter of innocent people. But is America, a country that so many claim is a Christian nation, founded on Judeo-Christian principles, really any better? Are we really a land of enlightened believers who hold the moral high ground when it comes to Islamic countries?

Well, if the Senate torture report didn’t reveal major problem with that viewpoint, perhaps this will. I give you another in a long line of hateful, violence preaching Christian leaders: Pastor Donnie Romero of Ft. Worth, Texas, who preaches the only good homosexual is a dead homosexual.

Pastor Donnie Romero, founder of Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, carried on the violent message of his mentor, Pastor Steven L. Anderson – who recently called for gays to be executed to promote an “AIDS-free Christmas.” […]

In a sermon on Sunday, reported Right Wing Watch, Romero read from portions of Leviticus, which prescribes capital punishment for a variety of sins – including homosexuality.

“I love that part of the Bible, and I’m going to preach that part of the Bible until the day I die, and if I ever stop preaching that part of the Bible, I hope my kids tell me, ‘Dad, you’re going soft on sin. You need to get up there and rip on these queers because it’s only getting worse and worse,’” Romero said as congregants muttered “amen.” “I’m not going to stop doing it. I’m going to preach it all the time because, again, amen to what Pastor Anderson said.”

“I’m not going to let any of these dirty f*ggots inside my church,” Romero continued. “They are all pedophiles. Look in the Bible. Every time it shows the sodomites, in Genesis 19 and Judges 19, they’re always trying to rape and hurt other people. They’re relentless. They are relentless. They are predators and given an opportunity to snatch one of your children, they would do it in a heartbeat.”

Romero draws laughs from his congregation as he recalls several times he harassed strangers he perceived as homosexual — including a transgender woman in line behind him at Walmart, a “bull dyke” with a “Bart Simpson haircut,” and two teenage boys at an amusement park.

Yes, America, Land of the Free, Home of the “Let’s kill all the Queers because the Bible tells us to.” Pastor Donny Romero isn’t the first to express this virulent form of hatred and calls for the death penalty for anyone he hates, based on his enlightened Christian interpretation of the Bible.

I wonder if Pastor Donny and his Leviticus obsessed Brethren also love to preach these teachings of Jesus, the person whom I am certain Pastor Donny believes, like all good Christians do, is the Savior of the World and the Redeemer of humankind. These sayings attributed to Jesus can be found in the same Bible that Pastor Donny uses to justify his call for the death of LGBT people:

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you … Matthew 5:44

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12: 28-31

Perhaps, just perhaps, Pastor Donny is a more enlightened theologian than Jesus of Nazareth. I doubt it, though.

I know their are many Christians in America who practice their faith and try to live up to the teachings of Jesus, who spoke for the downtrodden and oppressed, and preached love and forgiveness, not hate, violence and bigotry. I know many of them, and I am grateful for the good work they do.

Sadly, there does not appear to be enough of them in our country. Certainly not in the higher levels of our government, armed forces and intelligence services, for though they declared they were devout Christians, they authorized illegal wars and war crimes such as the use of torture. Supposedly devout Christians authorized the use of missile carrying drones that strike down the innocent as much, if not more than, those our government claims are terrorists. I do not find these the actions of enlightened people.

Every Sunday many, many priests, ministers and pastors preach hatred against their fellow human beings. Many of them call for the death of those who they claim the Bible requires must die. Many of them pray for the death of people they hate, including prominent political figures such as the President.

These are not the actions of spiritually enlightened human beings. Certainly, they are not people who practice the teachings of a man known as Jesus of Nazareth. Far, far from it.