Steven Anderson, the minister who became the first person to be banned from Ireland, has condemned the Westboro Baptist Church for preaching too much hate.

The religious fundamentalist, who called for the death penalty for LGBT+ people, said the Westboro protesters cross the line. His reasoning for calling them out is not due to disagreeing with their beliefs, but he says their methods are a “turn-off”.

In his latest video sermon, he suggested Westboro hatemongers tone it down:

“Okay, but is there any fruit? Is there any building going on? Is there any planting going on? Or is it just all negative, all the time?” he said.

Anderson continues saying he condemns the excommunicated Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps.

“False prophet! The guy had a wrong salvation, wrong gospel, wrong doctrine, not saved, total heresy,” Anderson said. “And he’s just getting up and just ripping on homos all the time. But when did he ever get up and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ? Never.

“When did he ever have a positive message about reaching people with the gospel, winning souls, all the good things? Never.”

Steven Anderson is a self-proclaimed homophobe who called for the extermination of LGBT+ people to “cure AIDS” and uploaded a video for his followers to explain why the 49 people murdered in the Pulse nightclub massacre “deserved to die in the shooting”. He is also a Holocaust-denier, Islamophobe, stands against abortion rights and tells his followers that “women are to remain in the home”.

Steven Anderson was due to give a sermon in Dublin on May 26 but was banned by the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan.

There was massive outrage to the news of his imminent arrival, with various petitions launched including one organised by All Out and LGBT Ireland partnered with GCN which garnered 25,000 signatures.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan signed an exclusion order blocking the religious fundamentalist in the ‘interests of public policy’.