A controversial American Baptist pastor has been banned from preaching in the Netherlands or from entering Europe’s 26-state Schengen Zone, over his extreme views against the LGBT and Jewish communities.
Steven Anderson, who once praised the mass shooting at a gay night club in Orlando, was due to preach in Amsterdam on May 23 as part of his European tour, which also included public events in Sweden and Ireland. Concerned over the pastor’s well-documented hate statements, gay rights advocates and a number of MPs urged the Dutch government to ban him from entering the Benelux country.
On Wednesday the government adopted “measures” barring the 37-year-old pastor from entering the Schengen Zone, a 26-country area of Europe where visa-free travel is allowed.
The government is “taking strong action against extremist speakers who, by spreading their beliefs, restrict the freedoms of others or even incite hatred or violence” State Secretary of Justice and Se
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