A Newquay Councillor has written to Home Secretary Priti Patel asking for an Australian-born Pastor to be “thrown out of the country” for holding to a Christian view of sexuality.
According to a local news outlet, Councillor Stephen Hick called for the community to boycott and shun Newquay Baptist Church Pastor Josh Williamson, along with the congregation, after the church became subject to targetted attacks from LGBTQ activists.
“I call on every individual and business within Newquay to deny him and his church the ability to spread their odious message,” Hick said.
“Do not interact with them, do not allow them to use your premises, do not accept their message.”
The LGBT mob set their sights on Pastor Williamson after the 34-year-old responded to news that the Cornwall Gay Pride parade had been cancelled. Posting in the comments section of a local news outlet’s Facebook page, Pastor Williamson simply said: “Wonderful news!”
According to Christian Concern, organisers of Cornwall Pride then searched Pastor Williamson’s personal Facebook page, took screenshots of posts, tagged Newquay Baptist Church, and shared the images to social media.
Users then threatened to burn down the building, to perform mass sexual orgies on the grounds, and violently assault anyone distributing church leaflets.
Another user downloaded Pastor Williamson’s family photos and then Photoshopped his head onto gay pornographic images which were then shared online.
However, when Pastor Williamson reported the threats to Devon and Cornwall Police, sponsors of Cornwall Pride, the authorities told the Pastor it was a ‘complex’ situation and said they didn’t believe the threats would materialise.
Police then warned Pastor Williamson to keep his views in a ‘safe environment’ and not to risk breaking the law by offending people in the LGBT community.
“It’s becoming worryingly common in the UK to see threats and calls for violence against Christians for voicing their simple opposition to LGBT Pride,” Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre said.
“Police forces should show Christians they take this seriously by protecting their free speech against mob threats rather than by seeking to keep Christians quiet,” she said.
Pastor Williamson asked in a post on Facebook: “Is it tolerant to call for a Pastor to be removed from the country and have his visa revoked?”
“Is it tolerant to call on ‘every individual and business within Newquay to deny him [me] and his church the ability to spread their odious message’?
“Is it tolerant to tell business and members of the public to ‘not interact with them [the church], do not allow them to use your premises, do not accept their message’?”
Pastor Williamson went on to say he has no intention of changing the Christian message to accommodate bullies.
“We will not bow to his anti-Christian hatred and his racism. He can bully all he wants, but bullies should not be surrendered to,” he said.
“By God’s grace we will keep proclaiming Christ even though this man engages in hate speech.”
