NationStates

Pat Robertson calls gay rights activists 'terrorists'
By Dylan Stableford
October 23, 2014 12:12 PM
Yahoo News
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A day after his controversial comments about AIDS were obliterated by Anderson Cooper, televangelist Pat Robertson called gay rights activists “terrorists."

On his Christian Broadcasting Network show on Wednesday, Robertson blasted Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who is gay, for issuing subpoenas to five prominent pastors who had opposed a new anti-discrimination law.

“These people are terrorists, they're radicals, and they're extremists,” Robertson told "700 Club" viewers. “No Christian in his right mind would ever try to enforce somebody against their belief or else suffer jail. Now they did that during the Inquisition. It was horrible. It was a black mark on our history, but it isn't being done now. There's no Christian group I know of anywhere in the world that would force somebody to do something contrary to their deep-held religious beliefs or else face criminal penalties, but that's what the homosexuals are trying to do here in America and I think it's time pastors stand up and fight this monstrous thing."

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union slammed the subpoenas, saying they violated the pastors' civil rights.

"The government should never engage in fishing expeditions into the inner workings of a church," the ACLU said in a statement. "And any request for information must be carefully tailored to seek only what is relevant to the dispute.”

In response, Parker said the city would clarify the subpoenas, admitting they were “too broad.”

"If the gays want to go out and do their gay sex, that’s one thing," Robertson continued. "But if they want to force you to accept it and solemnify it by marriage, then that’s a different matter and it’s an infringement on people’s religious belief. What’s being done in Houston is a gay — the woman they elected is a homosexual, she’s a lesbian, and she’s trying to force pastors to conform to her beliefs. It’s wrong."

Earlier this month, Robertson was asked by a "700 Club" viewer if he should be concerned about traveling to Kenya in light of the Ebola outbreak. The 84-year-old televangelist replied that there was no need to worry about Ebola in Kenya. But he added: "You have to be careful about AIDS. The towels could have AIDS."

On Tuesday, Cooper dedicated his "Ridiculist" segment to respond to Robertson.

"If, Pat Robertson, you somehow missed all the research and the depth and information, you cannot get HIV if you share towels," the CNN host said.

Cooper mocked Robertson's advice, telling American travelers to remain in the United States. "Except steer clear of San Francisco [because] that is, of course, where all the gay people live, and Pat Robertson thinks they have a way of giving you 'the stuff.'"