Top school fights back after hateful sermon

Gay-bashing talk from priest sees backlash

PRESTIGIOUS independent Grahamstown school St Andrews College pupils and staff have come out guns blazing against what they have termed an aggressive, judgemental and homophobic sermon delivered by African Enterprise Ministry director Theuns Pauw.

The school has officially expressed its horror at Pauw’s sermon, which referred to gay relationships as ungodly, unnatural, and the work of the devil.

He also made judgmental remarks about people who divorced as being failures whose children would be ruined.

He was deeply disparaging about gay marriage, saying the devil had worked to ensure some countries legitimised it.

Pauw, as director of the wellknown international AE ministries in South Africa, was supposed to talk about social media, pornography and addiction at the Anglican boarding school. Instead, he appears to have gone off script, declaring right at the beginning of his sermon that God had made Adam and Eve and “not Adam and Steve”.

The sermon went downhill from there with what matric SAC pupil Geir Wilson said was pure bigotry and hate speech.

Wilson took his hurt to social media in a post that has been shared dozens of times.

He says he was “broken and defeated” by the sermon at his school and expresses particular horror at the silence of his peers, teachers and himself during the sermon.

But, Wilson said, he was immensely proud of his school and the unequivocal stance it had subsequently taken against Pauw’s bigotry.

SAC principal Alan Thompson said their silence at the time was one of the questions they were all grappling with.

“Perhaps it is about our natural hesitance to make a scene or create an open conflict.”

But Thompson is not holding back now and nor are his pupils, some of who have reported the sermon to the SA Human Rights Commission.

Thompson says Pauw’s portrayal of gay people had been aggressive, mocking, nasty and homophobic.

He said his judgmental statements about divorce had also been guilt-laden and added to the pain of children of divorced parents who “bear no fault whatsoever”.

The school had immediately called the pupils back to the chapel, apologised for the sermon and begun a process of conversation and counselling.

He said the preacher had left behind an audience that was hurt, bewildered, confused and angry, and the talk had set back a whole series of vital conversations about tolerance, respect and inclusiveness.

On the positive side, he said it had led to even richer conversations at the school.

“The response of many of our boys has been in keeping with what we want – boys who hold their own in a complex world and have the courage to address the things they see as wrong.”

He said Pauw had subsequently acknowledged he had caused harm and hurt and that he had failed to meet his brief and mission.

An infuriated Wilson, who is in matric, says he was particularly hurt by the homophobic comments as he has a close family member who is gay.

Wilson and others met with Pauw yesterday but he said he felt the preacher’s apology lacked substance.

“He clearly failed to fully understand or accept accountability for the damage his actions can, and have, caused.

“He fails to take accountability for the real-world effect a sermon like that has in terms of legitimising hate and despicable action.”

AE refused to part with Pauw’s phone number and Pauw had not responded to an e-mailed request for an interview at the time of writing.