Right-wing extremist pastor wants false reports of sexual assault to be punished with the death penalty

A Christian nationalist pastor in Texas has suggested that women who make false reports of sexual assault should be publicly executed.

“#MeToo would end very quickly,” Joel Webbon said in a recent sermon at Covenant Bible Church in Austin. “False accusations, playing the victim when in reality you are not; Do you know how to end this really quickly? All you have to do is publicly execute a few women who lied.”

Webbon believes that a person who falsely accuses another of a crime should be subject to the punishment for that crime. Furthermore, he believes that punishments should be pronounced publicly.

It is truly Old Testament thinking that is equal parts frightening and incoherent. In the United States, sexual abuse of any kind is generally not a capital crime, and hoaxes are statistically rare. It’s difficult to determine a definitive percentage, but the National Sexual Violence Resource Center estimates the frequency of false accusations at 2 to 10 percent, while other organizations estimate the high end at 8 percent. Ultimately, it’s hard to say, but legal systems that bias against accusers may well cause even these numbers to be inflated.

Still, it’s not surprising rhetoric for a preacher whose worldview lies very far to the right. He doesn’t seem to believe women should be allowed to vote, and claimed on his podcast that black doctors don’t have to pass medical exams.

Webbon is also the founder of Right Response Ministries, which represents an ultra-conservative form of Christianity. His Covenant Bible Church, which meets at a local truck stop, describes itself as a “biblical church with spine, ready to take a stand against the woke nonsense of the culture and the civil tyranny of the state.” And of course, he seems a fan by Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate JD Vance. There are no surprises there.

Read more at The Daily Beast.