Texas pastor claims world is ‘a better place with 49 less sodomites’, prays for God to ‘finish the job’

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

A Texas preacher has made some of the most repugnant comments yet about the Orlando massacre.

It’s been a crowded field in terms of the most screwed-up response to the horrific hate crime, with anti-LGBT voices apparently jockeying to say the most offensive thing.

Is it Sacramento Baptist pastor Roger Jimenez comparing the crime to the killings of 50 paedophiles? Is it Donald Trump claiming that gays would face mass slaughter under Hillary Clinton?

Well, they have competition from Texas evangelical  Donnie Romero of Stedfast Baptist Church.

In a sermon, Romero claimed the world was a “better place” without the dead “perverts and paedophiles”.

The Fort Worth pastor said: “These 50 sodomites are all perverts and paedophiles, and they are the scum of the earth, and the earth is a little bit better place now.

“And I’ll take it a step further, because I heard on the news today, that there are still several dozen of these queers in ICU and intensive care.

“And I will pray to God like I did this morning, I will do it tonight, I’ll pray that God will finish the job that that man started, and he will end their life.

“By tomorrow morning they will all be burning in hell, just like the rest of them, so that they don’t get any more opportunity to go out and hurt little children.”

Last week, President Obama delivered a speech after visiting survivors of the mass shooting in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub.

He said: “Here in Orlando, we are reminded not only of our obligations as a country to be resolute against terrorists, we are reminded not only of the need for us to implement smarter policies to prevent mass shootings, we’re also reminded of what unites us as Americans, and that what unites us is far stronger than the hate and the terror of those who target us.

“For so many people here who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, the Pulse Nightclub has always been a safe haven, a place to sing and dance, and most importantly, to be who you truly are — including for so many people whose families are originally from Puerto Rico. Sunday morning, that sanctuary was violated in the worst way imaginable.

“So whatever the motivations of the killer, whatever influences led him down the path of violence and terror, whatever propaganda he was consuming from ISIL and al Qaeda, this was an act of terrorism but it was also an act of hate.

“This was an attack on the LGBT community. Americans were targeted because we’re a country that has learned to welcome everyone, no matter who you are or who you love.

“And hatred towards people because of sexual orientation, regardless of where it comes from, is a betrayal of what’s best in us.”