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Wednesday November 9, 2005
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Swedish Pastor Defends Sermon on Homosexuality before Supreme Court
By John-Henry Westen
STOCKHOLM, November 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Swedish Pastor Ake Green appeared before the Swedish Supreme Court today defending himself from "hate crime" charges which were based on a 2003 sermon on homosexuality. He told reporters prior to entering the courthouse that should he be sentenced he would go to prison to demonstrate the insanity of the situation.
Green was convicted of a hate crime and sentenced by a district court to one month in prison on June 20, 2004, the decision was appealed and overturned at the Gota Court of Appeals in February of this year but prosecutor Stefan Johansson appealed it to the Supreme Court.
While the media have falsely claimed that Green referred to gays as a "cancerous tumor" in society, Green told the courts he was referring to homosexual acts, not persons. In fact, the only similar reference in his 2003 sermon was this line: "Sexual abnormalities are a deep cancerous tumor in the entire society." (read the full sermon here: http://www.akegreen.com/sermon_transcript.htm )
In his remarks in court today, Green defended his assertion in the sermon that homosexuality in large part responsible for the spread of the AIDS virus. He noted that his reading of the Bible and "other sources like the National Encyclopedia" confirmed his view "that a promiscuous lifestyle heightens the risk of AIDS".
Speaking to reporters prior to the hearing, Green noted that he said, "I wanted to spark a debate and I've done that. My message is that men should live by the laws of creation which means the normal family set-up with a woman, a man and children. I think homosexuality and that lifestyle is abnormal and I want to be free to say that."
"I don't take back what I said," Green said. "I still think we should be able to voice our convictions without ending up in jail and if that happens I will be showing how ridiculous things have got."
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