Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, days after Pastor Roger Jimenez’s homophobic sermon went viral.
During his Sunday sermon, Jimenez said Christians shouldn’t mourn the deaths of the 49 people killed during the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., because he believes the Bible teaches homosexuality is a sin punishable by death.
“People say, like: ‘Well, aren’t you sad that 50 sodomites died?’ Here’s the problem with that. It’s like the equivalent of asking me — what if you asked me: ‘Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today,’” said Jimenez. “The tragedy is that more of them didn’t die. The tragedy is — I’m kind of upset that he didn’t finish the job.”
Days after his sermon went viral, a Change.org petition was created calling on Jimenez to be removed from the church.
WATCH: Pastor sparks outrage with hateful sermon following Orlando shooting
On Wednesday, protesters held up signs reading “Love is love” and chanted “Shame on you” as worshippers entered the church.
“You do not get to steal my Jesus. You do not get to steal my faith,” shouted one protester.
“If we don’t stop hating each other, we aren’t going to have a planet left,” said one women through tears.
In an interview with NBC affiliate KCRA 3, Jimenez stood by his sermon and said he believes there are passages in the Bible that teach that homosexuality is a sin punishable by death.
“The point that I was making is if God puts the death penalty on it, God says they deserve to die, and they die, this is not something that we, as Christians, need to be mourning,” he told KCRA 3.
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