South Africa has banned an American pastor from the country as a result of his statements about gay people.
Ryan Van Velzer – Anderson addresses demonstrators protesting his sermon outside Faithful Word Baptist Church on Sunday 7 December.
Steven Anderson has become notorious for his outlandish comments on homosexuality – which include describing the massacre of 50 people in an Orlando nightclub as “good news”.
Anderson’s potential visit had stirred a great deal of criticism in South Africa and now the Home Affairs minister says he won’t be granted a visa. Hate spech is banned in South Africa and this has been cited as the reason.
Christian Today previously reported the adverse reaction from Christians in the country to the prospect of a visit from the Arizona fundamentalist.
In a statement, the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa warned Anderson’s “hatred for LGBTs may be spread here”. General secretary Moss Ntlha said:
“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.”
He continued: “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 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’.”
The Baptist Union of Southern Africa also distanced itself from Anderson and his Faithful Word Baptist Church, saying it was an “independent fundamentalist church”.
In a post on his Facebook page, Anderson said: “I feel sorry for people who live in South Africa, but thank God we still have a wide open door in Botswana”.
