An Anglican priest on the Caribbean island of Barbados has been strongly condemned for attacking the Bible as “silly.”
At a gay pride march last week, Father Clifford Hall told marchers that nothing can stop their movement, “…legions of Pharisees won’t stop it… the roaring lion won’t stop it. And some silly words written in a book thousands of years ago won’t stop it.”
Though he was not specific, the priest may have been referring to Romans 1:26, 27 and numerous other Bible verses that discuss sexuality. Romans 1:26, 27 states: “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (NIV)
His criticism of the Bible was met by loud applause from parade attendees. Hall also told them God is willing to give them the Kingdom. He did not base that promise on repentance, forgiveness or acceptance of Christ as one’s personal savior.
In a separate opinion piece for the Barbados Daily Nation, entitled “Time to Live free from Shame,” Hall encouraged the local LGBT group to “assert yourselves unapologetically. Write your letters…hold public Christian services…don’t be afraid. There are those who will support you – in the name of Jesus.”
“I denounce him in the name of Jesus,” responded another local pastor, the Reverend Vincent Wood during his Sunday sermon at Emmanuel Baptist Church. “(Hall) has no authority to call God’s infallible, inherent word ‘silly,’ ” Wood said.
Rev. Wood, a former vice president of the Baptist World Alliance and former president of the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship, told the NATION newspaper that Anglican leaders should condemn Hall’s words.