Arizona pastor blames Paris attacks on ‘sinful nation of France’

An Arizona pastor, in his sermon Sunday, blamed the Paris attacks on the “sinful nation of France” and said all those who were massacred at the Eagles of Death Metal (EODM) concert brought it on themselves because they were devil worshipers.

“There’s something about when you go to a concert of death metal, somebody might get killed! You know, you’re worshiping death! And then, all of a sudden, people start dying!” pastor Steve Anderson, of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, said in Sunday’s service.

“Well, you love death so much, you bought the ticket, you love worshiping Satan! Well, let’s have some of Satan’s religion come in and shoot you!” Anderson said, while congregants can be heard murmuring their approval in the background.

“I mean, that’s what these people should think about before they go into such a wicked concert,” he said.

Watch the complete sermon in the video below.

The band lost their merchandise manager, Nick Alexander, in the co-ordinated attacks on Friday evening that left at least 129 dead and more than 350 injured.

Anderson took shots at Islam but his real target is band front-man Jesse Hughes.

“And look, I’m not condoning what these Islamic murderers did — they’re wicked. They’re murders.

“But you know what? Nobody should be at a concert worshiping Satan with this drug-pushing hillbilly f****t. And that’s what he is. I mean, all you have to do is just Google this band. Somebody told me, somebody emailed me and told me ‘Just hit Google Images, Eagles Of Death Metal’ — and these guys are just total sodomite-looking freaks. You know, but nobody thinks about that. It’s just, ‘Oh no, let’s side, let’s stand with France.’”

He goes on to explain why France is a “sinful, wicked nation” that deserved what it got.

“We’re supposed to be mourning today about the 120-some people who died in France, but we’re not supposed to give a rip about the 500 babies that France aborted today,” Anderson said before citing some “statistics.”

“(In France) more than 50 per cent of the babies are murdered. Less than half of them are NOT aborted.”

In Canada, he said, 46.4 per cent of babies are “murdered.”

The sermon has not yet attracted a lot of attention online. On YouTube the video had been viewed a little more than 100,000 times by Wednesday. The church’s Facebook page did elicit some strong reactions.

User Hella Hanus picked up on the fact that the pastor mistook the band’s name for its genre.

“Maybe you should check your facts before you spew your hatred,” she wrote. “Did you not think it strange that the people in the concert included teenagers and their parents? That would not happen at a death metal concert. So I checked. Maybe that would be a better idea then telling your congregation lies.”

The post received 92 “likes” and there were supporters among the commenters, but the majority chastised Anderson.

“How dare you, Pastor? How dare you blame them for being a victim because they were in a musical venue?” wrote user Venni Martinez, of Atlanta, pointing to past shootings that were connected to Christians and Christian schools.

“You shouldn’t represent the Lord when you are going to spew such cynical and ignorant crap and use Christianity to cover up your own made up version of what is ‘godly’ and what is not.”

Calgarian Teily Roth summed it up this way: “You are by far the most angry, hateful and unchristian person I have ever seen.”