Pastor Bobby Leonard of Bible Baptist Tabernacle in Monroe, North Carolina, said during a sermon that women can be raped if they wear shorts instead of a pants or a dress. (Screenshot: Bible Baptist Tabernacle)
A North Carolina pastor landed himself in hot water after he said during a sermon that he would he would let a man accused of rape walk free if the woman was wearing shorts, as opposed to pants or a dress.
Pastor Bobby Leonard of Bible Baptist Tabernacle in Monroe, a suburb of Charlotte, delivered the sermon last summer, but it recently went viral after clips of the sermon were posted to X, the platform formally known as Twitter, and Instagram. He suggested to churchgoers that they go and sit in the parking lot in the outlet mall in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and count how many women were in pants or a dress compared to how many wore shorts. He predicted that twice as many would be in shorts.
“I used to say this, I haven’t said this for a long time: If you dress like that and you get raped and I’m on the jury, he’s gonna go free. You don’t like it, do you? I’m right, though. A man’s a man,” he said.
The comments led to a protest outside the church last week as videos of the comments spread via the X accounts of Christian investigative journalist Julie Roys and Bad Preacher Clips. The video had been viewed over 3.4 million times on Roy’s account.
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When you go to Pigeon Forge, sit in mall parking lot, you’ll find more women with shorts on than pants & dresses put together.
If you dress like that & you get r?️ped & I’m on the jury, he’s gonna go free. I’m right. A man’s a man.#BadPreacherClipsPastor Bobby Leonard pic.twitter.com/TpqWh7G4tA
— Bad Preacher Clips™ (@BadSermons) February 21, 2024
Leonard apologized in a message on the church’s marquee.
“I am sorry for any hurt. I was wrong,” the message read.
He also wrote an apology on the church’s website, saying he is “only beginning to understand the hurt and offense caused, and I take full responsibility for my words.”
“I earnestly seek your forgiveness as I reaffirm my commitment to serve our community with unwavering integrity, humility, and profound love. I deserve for folks to be extremely upset with me, but I ask you to please forgive me,” he wrote.
Protesters met last week outside the church to voice their outrage.
“Rape is wrong and I don’t care if a woman is walking around you in the nude,” organizer Jason King told ABC affiliate WSOC. “It still is not right, and it’s still a man’s choice of whether he does wrong or right.”
Ben Rudy, a former member of the church, also joined the protest.
“It broke my heart that he would say something like that,” Rudy told the outlet.
According to his biography on the church website, Leonard founded the church that initially started in the backyard of a parishioner and grew into a larger sanctuary. He has four children, including three daughters, along with several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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