As I’ve mentioned before, I try to stay away from extreme rhetoric. More often than not, I see no point in amplifying those messages. Then there are moments where I just can’t help myself.

Sometimes what is said by one of these extremists is so out there that it should be noticed, if only to be reminded that there remain true differences in the world that are not easily resolved.

So here it goes: Lou Engle, an enthusiastically anti-gay preacher, recently whipped up a crowd of young people asking them to pray for God to convert 100,000 gays and lesbians into straight people who would “be the preachers of righteousness in their own communities” and bring about “radical salvations and healings of AIDS.”

Watch the video:


As extreme as this preacher may be in particular, I know that his beliefs in general about gays and lesbians are far from uncommon.

I, too, hope for a cure for AIDS. That’s about all the common ground I can find.