Demonologist pastor says ‘homosexual issue’ needs to be corrected

Reverend Dr Donald Stewart, who claims to specialize in casting out demons from possessed individuals, says the church is as confused as society about how to deal with the ‘problem’ of homosexuality

25 August 2013 | By Jean Paul Zapata

A Jamaican clergyman known for his exorcisms says the church is in turmoil over how to address the ‘issue’ of homosexuality.
Reverend Dr Donald Stewart gave an interview with Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner blaming the ‘homosexual movement’ on a confused parish and the lack of positive male role models.
Stewart, who according to a Gleaner article is also a well-known exorcist who claimed to perform three to five ‘deliverances’ a day, was unapologetic for saying that homosexuality is a sin and not a part of God’s plan.
Stewart said: ‘The argument is that [gay people] are born that way, and these are God-given gifts and they should not be treated any different. That is what they are trying to sell.
‘There are no homosexual genes and God never made anybody that way. And that is not something I back away from.’
Stewart has written and published over a dozen books on Christianity, one of which he uses to explain what causes homosexual behavior.
‘There are many different causes for homosexuality,’ according to Stewart, ‘and in one of my books I have about 20 reasons. Depending on what is the cause, the appropriate medicine has to be administered.
‘There are some homosexuals who all they need is a little attention, guidance, and positive male role models in their lives.’
According to Gay Jamaica Watch, in 2009 Stewart was convicted of sexually assaulting a number of boys when he presided over the Swift Purcell Boys Home. While he was convicted on two counts of indecent assault, Stewart was only given a suspended sentence, which meant he would serve jail time only if he committed another crime.
In this most recent interview, Stewart said that even pastors, like himself, have difficulty approaching the subject of homosexuality.
‘Some [pastors] just block [homosexuality] out of their minds that it's an issue they are not going to deal with, so it's difficult to discuss with their own congregations an understanding of the issue.’
He also claimed the church is just confused as society is terms of figuring out how to deal with the 'issue' of same-sex relations.
‘Many times we are more bent on reacting to what we hear about homosexuals. But the same turmoil that is being demonstrated in the society on the issue is the same turmoil that is in the church.’
Stewart went on to blame semantics and the use of language as a tool to make the idea of homosexuality more approachable.
‘The homosexual movement has taken on a new agenda. What they have been doing is working with certain words and vocabulary like 'gay' and 'tolerance' - adjusting the meaning.
‘By using the word gay, it makes it more palatable or receptive. It will come from your lips more easily, and it is deliberate.’
Stewart’s anti-gay tirade represents deep-rooted homophobic sentiments still pervasive in Jamaica.
The most recent of anti-gay attacks in Jamaica occurred on 23 July, when a cross-dressing male was identified by a group of people, and then subsequently attacked and 'chopped' to death.
Despite the Jamaican government not stepping forward with LGBT protections, some religious leaders have recently been asking their communities to be more tolerant of the LGBT community.
In July Rev Dr Clinton Chisholm wrote an opinion column saying: ‘The homosexual does not cease being a human person by his/her homosexuality.'
The following month, Jamaican Anglican priest Reverend Father Sean Major-Campbell said that most opposition to the normalization of homosexuality is based on hypocrisy.