UK Christian charity under fire for anti-gay sermon on ‘boys raping boys’
A Christian charity is under fire for a resurfaced sermon (stock image via Getty Images)
A UK-based Christian charity is facing backlash after resurfaced sermons linked homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality, while claiming boys “no longer rape girls” and instead “rape boys.”
The remarks were made in a 2022 sermon uploaded to YouTube by the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Daniel Centre Church in Slough, Berkshire. In the video, a preacher identified as “Pastor Praise” warned of the supposed “homosexualisation of children,” repeatedly associating gay men with child abuse and claiming LGBTQ+ visibility would have “deadly” consequences for young people.
In the video, ‘Pastor Praise’ says: “The problem of rape right now in the world of our children is the fact that boys no longer rape girls. More boys now rape boys.”
The church is registered with the Charity Commission under the category “advancement of religion,” which means it receives charitable status and public subsidy through UK tax exemptions.
“Taxpayer money should not be subsidising this repugnant rhetoric,” National Secular Society spokesperson Alejandro Sanchez said, adding that some religious charities are allowed to promote views “other kinds of charities would not be able to promote,” as reported by Metro.
Wider scrutiny of Mountain of Fire and Miracles
The controversy has also reignited scrutiny of the wider Mountain of Fire and Miracles network.
In 2017, one of the organisation’s Liverpool branches was reportedly found to have practised conversion therapy involving prayer and starvation. Another church leader, pastor Raphael Olushola Peters, for the church in Belfast, previously compared homosexuality to “offering children as sacrifices” in a 2022 Facebook post.
The Charity Commission says it is now assessing concerns via a spokesperson: “Concerns have been raised with us about video content linked to MFM Daniel Centre Church and we are assessing this to determine any role for the Commission as charity regulator.”
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