Fox News host’s anti-gay rant: ‘Chick-fil-A is the official chicken of Jesus’
A Fox News radio host has gone on a spectacular anti-gay rant, saying Chick-fil-A restaurants are “the official chicken of Jesus.”
Todd Starnes made the comments in a sermon at the Abilene Baptist Church in Augusta on Sunday. As well as saying he supported Chick-fil-A, he took aim at Miley Cyrus and claimed that the US government would criminalise Christianity.
“I believe that the reason that God blessed America is because we know how to smoke a pork butt,” he said.
Continuing, he condemned the recent US Supreme Court ruling in favour of same-sex marriage, saying: “There is a war on religious liberty!”
“And this war is not targeting people of the Muslim faith or the Jewish faith or the Hindu faith. This war on religious liberty is targeting people of the Christian faith.”
Going on, Starnes took aim at singer Miley Cyrus, saying she committed “an incident involving twerking… Miley Cyrus committing this act of public debauchery.”
“And it was about that time Phil Robertson, one of my heroes of the faith from Duck Dynasty, did an interview with GQ magazine, and in that interview, Phil Robertson defended traditional marriage,” the Fox host observed.
“Miley Cyrus, celebrated for her act of debauchery, but Phil Robertson castigated for for standing up for the Bible.”
According to Starnes, the US government will criminalise Christian views in “just a few short years.”
“God hasn’t redefined anything!” he said, turning back to same-sex marriage, before saying he is outraged that gender identity is taught in classrooms in Oregon.
“That there’s no such thing as male or female,” he said.
“That you may wake up feeling like a boy, but by third period you might start feeling like a girl!”
Finally, he called for Christians to “stand together with one voice!”
“They may demand to know the content of our prayers, they may try to shut down our bakeries, they may try to silence our voices, but we will not be silenced! We will not be intimidated!”
Chick-fil-A boss Dan Cathy said last year that he regrets getting the company entangled into a controversy over anti-gay marriage donations: “By recognising the mistakes that you make, [you] learn from those mistakes. If not, you’re just a fool. I’m thankful that I lived through it and I learned a lot from it.”
However, he made clear his views on same-sex couples have not changed, saying: “I think the time of truths and principles are captured and codified in God’s word and I’m just personally committed to that.”
Back in 2012 it emerged that the fried chicken company had donated millions of dollars to anti-gay groups including the Family Research Council, Exodus International and Focus on the Family, after Cathy said the business supports ‘Biblical families’.
The business has faced several boycotts since the anti-gay donations came to light, with a number of stores blocked or removed.
