{UAH} Botswana deports U.S. pastor who told radio listeners Orlando shooting victims were worthy of death

Botswana deports U.S. pastor who told radio listeners Orlando shooting victims were worthy of death

Max Bearak, Washington Post | September 21, 2016 12:15 PM ET
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AFP / Getty ImagesSteven Anderson leaves the Botswana Department of immigration after being issued a deportation order by Botswana authorities, on September 20, 2016, in Gaborone

A pastor from Tempe, Arizona, has been trying to spread his fervently anti-gay message in Africa. Steven Anderson's message is conveyed in his church's doctrinal statement, which says that "homosexuality is a sin and an abomination which God punishes with the death penalty."

Most African countries have laws against homosexuality. Perhaps Anderson thought he would be welcomed in Botswana with open arms.

And he managed to enter the southern African country, and get on the radio there. On the air, he said the people killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, this summer were "disgusting homosexuals who the Bible says were worthy of death."

AFP / Getty ImagesThe anti-gay pastor said he went to Africa on a 'soul-winning marathon'

Police then arrived at the radio station and initiated a deportation procedure.

"He was picked up at the radio station. I said they should pick him up and show him out of the country," Botswana's president, Ian Khama, said in an interview with Reuters. "We don't want hate speech in this country. Let him do it in his own country."

Ironically, Botswana criminalizes homosexuality. Although the law is seldom enforced, homosexual acts can be punished with a large fine or up to seven years of imprisonment.

Anderson leads the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona. He gained notoriety after the Orlando attack in June for saying that the shootings meant "there's 50 less pedophiles in this world." He has said that his planned Africa tour is a "soul-winning marathon" and is not focused on demonizing gays and lesbians.

Anderson reportedly also used the radio appearance in Botswana to call for pedophiles and adulterers to be killed and to say that the Bible barred women from preaching in church. He also claimed that he had reached Botswana by way of Ethiopia.

According to the Reuters report, Anderson denied that he was being deported. On his church's Facebook page, he said his brief visit to Botswana was a success.

Gwokto La'Kitgum

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