Mon 8 Dec 2014 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Content warning: this article contains hate speech from Logan Robertson which we have published only to lay bare his extreme views. An extremist West Auckland pastor who freely admits he prayed for a gay author to kill himself believes gay people should be put to death, saying “if we had a righteous government, that’s what we’d be doing”. Logan Robertson In an interview during which he voices rhetoric in the vein of the viciously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in the USA, Westcity Bible Baptist Church pastor Logan Robertson says he stands by an email he sent to writer and community advocate Jim Marjoram calling him a “filthy child molesting fag”. “I don’t have a problem with it. If people have a problem with it they can do what they like, I don’t care … I’ll call them whatever I want to call them.” Marjoram had emailed churches across Auckland seeking support for his initiative Silent Gays, which offers support to people "trapped and silently suffering" in churches and religious systems. He was left shocked by Robertson's response. Read Jim Marjoram’s response to the email here Asked whether he can see that some people would be concerned by a pastor telling someone to commit suicide, Robertson says “you’re changing what I said. I didn’t tell him to commit suicide. I said I’d pray for him that he will commit suicide … I didn’t tell him to go and do it … and I did pray that prayer when I writ [sic] it.” He explains he’d have been a hypocrite if he didn’t. “So after I emailed him I prayed that he’d commit suicide.” The pastor, who runs his small church out of his West Harbour home, says he sent the email because he doesn’t agree with “the homosexual lifestyle and so I thought I’d send him an email back with my piece of mind about it”. When asked whether he would say such things to Marjoram in person, Robertson says “I wouldn’t talk to him in person.” Robertson says the Bible says gay people should be put to death. “And if we had a righteous government, that’s what we’d be doing. Instead of letting them go out and pretend to get married when they’re not. The Bible doesn’t even say anything about these fags getting married. They should just be stoned to death instead. That’s what the Bible says. And I hope they all die.” He claims in “all the stories about homosexuals in the Bible, all of them are predators and all child molesters”. He therefore believes all gay people are such and should be put to death to keep his children safe. There has been angry and mocking backlash on the church’s Facebook page. Robertson says people posting “disgusting” things “need to pick up their Bible and read it.” The pastor says his church is a new one, which only started a couple of months ago, and attendance varies. He denies the email was an attempt at publicity. He says he trained to become a pastor “by reading the Bible, and another Baptist pastor sent me out to start a church. We don’t believe in Bible College, cause it’s not found in the Bible.” Plans for a peaceful protest against the pastor's extreme views are in the early stages. If this story raises issues for you there is plenty of help available: Silent Gays OUTLine: 0800 OUTLINE Rainbow Youth on (09) 376 4155 After hours you can call the 24 hour Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 There are also a number of supportive and welcoming churches in Auckland, such as St Matthew-in-the-City and St Lukes in Remuera, and in Wellington there is St Andrews On The Terrace.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 8th December 2014 - 9:43am