A pastor from Colorado known for his outrageous condemnations of homosexuality has said that any other pastor whose children are gay should resign, repent and recognise that 'there may be something very, very wrong with the pastor himself'.
In comments highlighted by the website Right Wing Watch, Kevin Swanson, an Orthodox Presbyterian pastor and broadcaster, declared on his radio show last month that a pastor who has gay offspring should realise 'that there is something terribly wrong with our family' and 'that there is something terribly wrong in me'.
Swanson was responding in typically controversialist style to an old article written by a former pastor who said that if his children are gay, he would love them and 'pray for God to protect them from the ignorance and hatred and violence that the world will throw at them, simply because of who they are'.
Swanson, who infamously declared that if his own son were gay, he'd cover himself in cow manure and wail lamentations, said the proper response to having gay children 'is sackcloth and ashes, tearing of the clothes, crying out to God for mercy'.
He added that having a gay child is a sign that 'there may be something very, very wrong with the pastor himself,' and expressed disbelief that 'a man who thinks there is a possibility his kids could come out gay [would not] then not turn to himself and see there to be something of a problem with himself'.
He continued: 'As a pastor, if your children turn out to be sinners...if it turns out they abandoned the faith while they are in the household, accused of riot and unruly debauchery, et cetera, within the household, you need to resign as a pastor.'
In 2015, Swanson said: 'There are families, we're talking Christian families, pastors' families, elders' families from good, godly churches, whose sons are rebelling, hanging out with homosexuals and getting married and the parents are invited. What would you do if that was the case? Here is what I would do: sackcloth and ashes at the entrance to the church and I'd sit in cow manure and I'd spread it all over my body. That is what I would do and I'm not kidding, I'm not laughing.'
