Madness Is All In The Mind

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/

Well, frumps, sometimes people just plain do the “right thing” and today I have a follow-up on a story I (and about a million others) did a while back on Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Az. When he’s not out baiting cops and border patrol agents, Pastor Steve preaches the gospel of “Hate Thy President,” with a few other cross-sections of the population thrown in for good measure (i.e., the dread Homosexuals and anyone who is even remotely Pro-Choice).

As you’ll recall, Pastor Steve was trudging this earthly coil in relative anonymity until one of his “flock” decided to show up carrying a semi-automatic rifle and a sidearm at a presidential event in Phoenix, last month. At that point, some folks started to pay a little more attention to what was going on at Faithful Word. Since Pastor Steve is determined to leave his entire oeuvre on his YouTube channel, for future generations of hatemongers, just about anyone can go and listen to the various ways that Pastor Steve would like to see President Obama die.

Those include “melting like a snail in salt, developing a brain tumor like Ted Kennedy” and “having all of his teeth fall out.” Pastor Steve stresses that the best death for Obama would be “natural causes,” otherwise he might become a martyr and “we don’t need another holiday.” I guess he’s referring to Martin Luther King’s Birthday, there, because last time I checked we don’t have any presidential assassination holidays. Guess Pastor Steve still hasn’t gotten over MLK having his own day . . .

Steve Anderson’s 15 Minutes

Pastor Steve is anonymous no more, though, due to the combined efforts of a lot of different people who registered their feelings using the same free speech rights that Pastor Anderson claims every Sunday. There has been such a groundswell of outrage regarding the teachings of Pastor Steve that I’m sure my little round-up will leave someone out – and I really hate to do that. The good news is that we all, in our way, contributed. Every blogger, every interviewer, everyone who raised their voice in protest took a righteous stand to shine a light on dark corners and reaffirm the values our better selves live by. We all made enough noise that the media finally had to come around and realize that something was terribly wrong in Tempe.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard

Major kudos to the good people of Tempe who got themselves out on a long weekend Sunday morning to picket Faithful Word Church and let Pastor Anderson know that his behavior is reprehensible, unacceptable and far from Christian – face-to-face. These folks are organized and promise to be there weekly. Arizona’s ABC15 covered this week’s protest:

Nearly 100 demonstrators lined the streets outside a Tempe church Sunday to protest what they consider hate speech. Last month Pastor Steven Anderson delivered a sermon at the Faithful Word Baptist Church, near 48th Street and Southern Avenue, entitled “Why I hate Barack Obama.”

In response to that sermon and several subsequent controversial comments by Anderson, the People Against Clergy Who Preach Hate held a Love Rally Sunday outside Anderson’s church.

“It’s hard to believe we could have someone of a religious nature wishing our president was dead,” said protester William Crumb.

“I’m just disgusted with this man who claims to be a minister of the Lord preaching hate toward the president,” added protester Larry Crane.

This past Sunday Stephen Lemons, who has been following the Anderson story in his Feathered Bastard blog for the Phoenix New Times, showed up and tried to interview Pastor Anderson after his evening service. Pastor Steve is always drawn to rolling cameras so an ABC15 cameraman was able to capture Stephen Lemons trying to question Steven Anderson’s tax exempt status among other things. You can see that film here . . .

Way to go, Feathered Bastard!

Then,yesterday, lo and behold, Lyndon posted this little nugget on Pam’s House Blend regarding Steven Anderson’s “Separation of Church and Work” crisis. Pastor Steve’s day job is selling security equipment which, it seems, he might have been doing out of his church and a website called andyfire.com. Here’s what Lyndon discovered:

“Earlier this afternoon I did a quick posting . . . about a breaking story about the good Pastor selling smoke alarms via a site andyfire.com.”

“At the time I just presumed this story was all over . . . and as I was busy working . . . I didn’t go on any of my regular favorites . . . all day.”

“As I’m just now getting back online, I was going to do a cross-post to my story and as I pulled up the posting on my blog …. OMG … what happened !?! De Pastor has gone up in smoke !!!”

“The video has been taken down, not only that one, but all of the videos that were at YouTube under andyfire.com and the account is closed. And the website andyfire.com is ka-put too!”

“Guess CNN and Sanchez was on to something when it was suggested he was running this “day job” operation from his church, therein questioning tax relief as a religious organization.”

“Well boys and girls, as they say, if you can’t stand the heat …. stay out of Hell !”

Saving the Best for Last

Pastor Steve is quite the celebrity these days and I have From the Left
to thank for capturing this absolutely fabulous performance in which Sirius XM radio host Michelangelo Signorile “came out” to Anderson on the air – Priceless! Here’s a snip and a vid to go with it:

MS: You want all gay people to be executed, correct?
SA: That is correct. It is what the Bible teaches.
MS: If somebody were to go out with a machine gun and spray down a crowd of gay and lesbian people, would you think that was okay?
SA: I would not think it’s okay because I believe in due process.
MS: Would that person be a murderer?
SA: No, I would not judge them as a murderer, no.

Toward the end of the interview, Signorile told Pastor Anderson he’s gay and the pastor went on blast:

MS: You know, I’m gay..I’m gay, and I don’t molest any children. What do you think of that?
SA: Well, I’d say you’re lying.
MS: You think I must be molesting children, right?
SA: Exactly, right.
MS: Do you pray that I’ll die tonight?
SA: If you’re a homosexual, I hope you get brain cancer like Ted Kennedy.

Here’s the longer interview in all its glory: