Most people are probably aware of the Westboro Baptist Church and the horrible messages they spread throughout society, but what most people fail to realize is that there are supporters of the church who exist in just about every corner of America. One such supporter recently experienced what it’s like to share messages of hate in a public setting, and he most likely won’t be repeating the experience any time soon. The man in question is a pastor by the name of David Grisham, and he preaches at the Last Frontier Evangelical Church in Alaska. Despite being a self-proclaimed ‘pastor’, the man is known for his hateful speech toward minorities and members of the LGBT community.
Recently, Grisham decided to take his hate speech up a notch by targeting children. He visited a mall in the town of Amarillo, Texas, specifically to ruin the time for children who were there to see Santa Claus. Grisham filmed himself as he circled the area where Father Christmas was greeting the children, and the hateful pastor shouted out that Santa isn’t real. He shouted it several times in an attempt to get as many children as possible to hear him.
Grisham created a video explanation for his actions, and he started the video by saying, once again, the Santa Claus isn’t real. He goes on to say that Christmas should be entirely about Jesus, which is the only truth in his eyes. When he arrived at the mall, he loudly shouted to the children that the man they were about to see was merely dressed as Santa, and that the real Santa doesn’t exist.
During his filming of the event, several parents approach him and ask him to leave the scene. Grisham claims he was physically assaulted by two of the fathers at the mall with their children. He even shared a statement on his Facebook page that detailed how he was assaulted for simply trying to ‘spread the truth about Santa Claus’.
Of course, as with most situations like this one, most of the internet instantly jumped to the side of the parents. Commenters thanked the parents who stepped up to the bully ‘pastor’, and several wrote that they were sure Grisham would be despised by true Christian believers, and that his example was nothing compared to the example set by Jesus. Others called Grisham a coward and other negative names that seemed to perfectly fit the delusional man.
Stories like this have elements of humor and of sadness. The world, ideally, should be a place where everyone can believe what they choose to believe without being hassled by those who believe different things. Parents certainly should be able to help their young children enjoy the special time of year that is associated with Christmas, or any other holidays they wish to celebrate. It doesn’t truly affect Christians if others aren’t Christian, and that holds true for every religion. The very fact that this man felt the need to approach strangers and question their beliefs shows that he has little respect for his fellow man. Just because parents teach their children about Santa Claus doesn’t mean they don’t also teach them about religion, yet that seems to be what Grisham thinks. Of course, extremists tend to think in absolutes. To them, you are either fully Christian, or not at all.
The hypocrisy of the situation is not lost to those who understand what is truly going on. This ‘pastor’ is behaving in ways that are far less Christian than the behavior of the souls he is attempting to save. Perhaps he will eventually learn the difference between preaching and harassing.