A man Time magazine once called one of America's most influential evangelicals has claimed that people who disagree with homosexuality are in danger of being "ostracized" like the Ku Klux Klan.
During a recent interview with the Heritage Foundation's "Istook Live" radio program, Southern Baptist leader Richard Land bemoaned the fate of those who dared to disagree with LGBT activists.
Speaking about the Boy Scouts' decision to continue (at least for the moment) its ban on gays and lesbians, Land said that while he doesn't treat members of the LGBT community differently, many LGBT activists do not afford others like him the same courtesy.
“They do not believe in a live and let live philosophy,” the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission told host Ernest Istook. “Let’s be very clear about what their agenda is, their agenda is to have the homosexual lifestyle affirmed by society as healthy and normal and as a perfectly acceptable to young people and to have those who disagree with that ostracized to the level of being Ku Klux Klansmen.”
Incidentally, Land is a strong supporter of the Boy Scouts gay ban -- a position that led to a contentious exchange between Land and CNN host Brooke Baldwin earlier this month.
In the segment that aired Feb. 5, Land suggested that allowing gay scout leaders would lead to "boys and men who are going to end up in relationships that are going to be tragic."
Right Wing Watch notes that in 2011 Land also claimed the LGBT community was "recruiting down in the grade school levels" for "homosexual clubs," which was tantamount to "child abuse."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Land has made other controversial statements in the past.
In June, Land was reprimanded by his colleagues after making racially charged comments about the Trayvon Martin case.
At the time, Baptist Press, the denomination's official media outlet, published a statement from the ERLC trustee executive committee explaining the reprimands.
"We are particularly disappointed in Dr. Land's words because they do not accurately reflect the body of his work over a long career at the ERLC toward racial reconciliation in the Southern Baptist Convention and American life," the statement read. "We must now redouble our efforts to regain lost ground, to heal re-opened wounds, and to realize the dream of a Southern Baptist Convention that is just as diverse as the population of our great Nation."