A Michigan pastor is set to go to trial next year for persecuting LGBT people abroad, a crime against humanity, according to international law. Charisma News reports Rev. Scott Lively, a Pentecostal pastor from Springfield, has been accused of conspiring with religious and political leaders in Uganda and Russia to reduce the rights of gay people in those nations.
If convicted, the pastor faces fines.
The lawsuit was brought against Lively by Sexual Minorities Uganda, a LGBT advocacy group. According to Pam Spees, an attorney representing the group, Lively has actively worked “to silence LGBT people and eradicate them politically” since 2002.
Sexual Minorities claims that Lively work in Uganda influenced a 2013 law that imprisoned people that engage in homosexual relationships. The law was overturned in August 2014.
Lively is also credited with influencing a Russian law that criminalized support of homosexuality. The law that banned the spreading of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" to minors was passed in June 2013.
The pastor is represented by Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal group. He says that he "rejects the things that do not comport with the Bible and the kingdom of God."
"I'm not allowing anyone to stop me from defending biblical truth," Lively said. "I'll stand for the truth of God if it costs me my life."
Publication date: October 6, 2015
