A Buckhead pastor will give the benediction at President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony on Jan. 21, but liberal activists are lashing out at the choice because of the pastor’s views on homosexuality.
The Presidential Inauguration Committee announced Jan. 8 that Rev. Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church in Buckhead, will deliver the closing prayer. Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Civil Rights icon Medgar Evers will deliver the invocation. Medgar Evers was assassinated in 1963 and the trial of the man convicted of the murder became the basis for the film “Ghosts of Mississippi.”
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Giglio’s conferences draw tens of thousands of people to the Atlanta area. The AJC reports Giglio gathered 72,000 signatures for a petition urging President Obama and the federal government to do more to fight human trafficking.
To see the AJC story, click here.
In a statement to the Washington Post, President Obama said the speakers “reflect the ideals that the Vice President and I continue to pursue for all Americans – justice, equality and opportunity.”
“During these days it is essential for our nation to stand together as one,” Giglio said in a statement to the Post. “And, as always, it is the right time to humble ourselves before our Maker.”
To see the full Washington Post article, click here.
The liberal activist group Think Progress blasted the choice, calling Giglio’s past statements on homosexuality “disturbing.”
“In a mid-1990s sermon identified as Giglio’s, available online on a Christian training website, he preached rabidly anti-LGBT views,” Think Progress said in an article about the pastor. “The 54-minute sermon, entitled ‘In Search of a Standard – Christian Response to Homosexuality,’ advocates for dangerous ‘ex-gay’ therapy for gay and lesbian people, references a biblical passage often interpreted to require gay people be executed, and impels Christians to ‘firmly respond to the aggressive agenda’ and prevent the ‘homosexual lifestyle’ from becoming accepted in society.”
Read the full Think Progress article by clicking here.
To learn more about Passion City Church, click here.