Posted: June 9, 2022
In early June, Dillon Awes -- an extremist preacher at Stedfast Baptist Church in TX -- declared from the pulpit that God teaches that queer people "should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head."
Awes's sermon was a uniquely horrible and shocking threat to the LGBTQ community, but misusing Jesus's name to spread a message of hatred and violence isn't new for Stedfast Baptist Church. Its senior pastor, Jonathan Shelley, has also publicly called for LGBTQ executions this year. His predecessor praised the Pulse gay-nightclub mass shooting in Orlando.
Every single day of Pride, the church is posting hateful videos meant to antagonize and vilify LGBTQ people and their allies. In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center has already labeled the church a hate group -- which means that social media companies have no excuse for helping them continue to spread their deadly message.
YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have all come under fire for their lax moderation rules and algorithms that promote toxic, hateful content. They claim they take stopping violent speech seriously -- but the fact that Stedfast is still able to use their services to reach thousands of people shows otherwise.
Add your name and tell YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter that Christians want them to shut down Stedfast Baptist Church's hateful accounts immediately.
Sign the petition:
Love thy neighbor.