Peter J. Peters
From RationalWiki
Peter J. "Pete" Peters is a Christian preacher from Laporte, Colorado.
Contents |
[edit] Hate
He would probably be much better known than he is, except he has been upstaged in the extreme anti-gay hate department by Fred Phelps. If not for Fred Phelps it is likely that Pete Peters would be the public face of extreme religious homophobia. He is the pastor of the Laporte Church of Christ and the author of the booklet Death Penalty for Homosexuals. This is a centerpiece of his "ministry" - calling for all homosexuals to be put to death. Not to be accused of homophobia alone, he stakes out an equal opportunity hatred by also calling for the death penalty for heterosexual adulterers, and puts his radio callers who agree with him about gays on the spot by grilling them on whether they would also put adulterers to death.
[edit] Lizards
It gets weirder. He also apparently believes in David Icke's shape-shifting lizard-men "theory", and ties it to biblical stories and parables involving reptiles (such as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the claim that believers shall "take up serpents", and Jesus calling the Pharisees vipers and snakes).
Peters believes in shadowy New World Order conspiracies and has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism. A 1992 camp meeting initiated by Peters is believed to be the birthplace of the modern militia movement.
[edit] Theology
He also holds the same beliefs as Christian Identity regarding the identity of the biblical nation of Israel, but rejects and distances himself from the Christian Identity label even though he shares their beliefs. He also believes in baptismal regeneration as necessary for "salvation", and so spends a lot of time denouncing other Christian evangelists for preaching that one can be "saved" through belief only, without being baptized.
[edit] On the air
If you must, his radio show is called Scriptures For America and can be heard on some AM radio stations where he buys airtime, but mostly on shortwave radio station WWCR where he has bought large blocks of airtime. Be warned, listening to Pete Peters is like getting a crash course in just-how-far-can-you-take-this-Biblical-literalism thing. If you are on the fence about Christianity he may well push you off the fence into not wanting to have anything to do with it at all. Come to think of it, Fred Phelps tends to have the same effect.
