Atlanta pastor drops out of Obama inauguration over anti-gay comments (Update)

• Wikimedia Commons/jesario
• The Rev. Louie Giglio

That was quick.

The pastor of a Buckhead church and founder of the Passion Conferences that that have attracted thousands of young Christians has dropped out of President Barack Obama’s inauguration after anti-gay comments he made came under scrutiny.

The Rev. Louie Giglio of Passion City Church near Lindbergh City Center was selected on Tuesday to deliver the benediction at the president’s second inauguration. Last night, however, Think Progress, a liberal blog affiliated with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, pointed to a sermon Giglio delivered in the mid-1990s that “advocates for dangerous ‘ex-gay’ therapy for gay and lesbian people, references a biblical passage often interpreted to require gay people be executed, and impels Christians to ‘firmly respond to the aggressive agenda’ and prevent the ‘homosexual lifestyle’ from becoming accepted in society.” One of the comments attributed to Giglio on the sermon reported by TP:

(2:40) We must not just sit quietly by and stick our heads in the sand and let whatever happens happen in our country. We’ve got to respond to the world that we live in. That is the mandate that comes to us as people of God. And this issue is coming more and more to the forefront every day.
(31:45) We must lovingly but firmly respond to the aggressive agenda of not all, but of many in the homosexual community. ... Underneath this issue is a very powerful and aggressive moment. That movement is not a benevolent movement, it is a movement to seize by any means necessary the feeling and the mood of the day, to the point where the homosexual lifestyle becomes accepted as a norm in our society and is given full standing as any other lifestyle, as it relates to family.

Think Progress reported last night that Giglio’s spokesperson was unable to say whether the influential pastor still held those views. No word yet from Giglio on his Twitter feed or the church’s Facebook page or website.

UPDATE, 2:50 p.m. In a blog post titled “Change of plans,” Giglio writes:

Though I was invited by the President of the United States to pray at his upcoming inauguration, after conversations between our team and the White House I am no longer serving in that role. I sent the following statement to the White House today:

Read the rest after the jump.