Via today’s Irish News (unavailable online)
NI First Minister Peter Robinson has voiced support for the Belfast preacher whose firebrand sermon is at the centre of a hate crime investigation.
The DUP leader said that in the past he had joined the congregation of Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle to listen to Pastor James McConnell (above) preach and that he intended to go back to the church in the future.
He described the preacher as “somebody who has lived his life for Christ”. The first minister said it was “the duty of any Christian preacher to denounce false doctrine”. “That’s a duty – so he’s perfectly entitled to do that – it’s an appropriate thing for a minister to do”, he said.
The DUP leader also said he did not trust Muslims who had been involved in “terrorist activities” or those who were “fully devoted to Sharia Law”. But he did say he would “trust them to go down the shops for me” and undertake other day-to-day tasks.
Right so.
No word from the First Minister about the homophobic sermons then?
Peter Robinson under fire for backing Pastor James McConnell’s Islamic remarks (BBC News)
