MP complains over anti-gay preacher’s UK visit

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/07/07/mp-complains-over-anti-gay-preachers-uk-visit/

Law · Religion · UK
MP complains over anti-gay preacher’s UK visit
John Hagee blamed gay Pride for Hurricane Katrina


An MP has asked Home Secretary Theresa May why an anti-gay US preacher is being allowed into the UK.

Labour MP Richard Burden told the Birmingham Mail that people would question why Pastor John Hagee is allowed into the country while other hate preachers, such as Muslim speaker Sheikh Raed Salah, are banned.

Mr Burden was due to speak at an event with Mr Salah but the latter was arrested after arriving in the UK. He was supposed to have been banned from entering the UK after claims of anti-Semitism.

Mr Hagee, who calls himself a Christion-Zionist, has said in the past that the Holocaust was part of God’s plan to force Jews to return to Israel and that Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment for a gay Pride march.

He is due to speak at Birmingham Symphony Hall on August 19th, with two seminars the following day.

Mr Burden said: “It’s hard to understand why Raed Salah is banned from the UK while Pastor Hagee is welcomed despite his repulsive and bigoted views.