A progressive leaning LGBT outlet recently characterized California pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church as an “old white hate pastor” following MacArthur's recent comments about Martin Luther King Jr.'s faith.

According to The Christian Post, LGBTQ Nation, which is owned by San Francisco-based Q.Digital Network, denounced MacArthur for contending that King was a “non-believer”and “not a Christian at all” during a Q&A session at his church last month.

At the time, an attendee asked the pastor concerning his thoughts on two Evangelical organizations, The Gospel Coalition (TCG) and Together for the Gospel (T4G). MacArthur, in response, recalled a brief history of the now-defunct T4G and noted how the TGC strayed from its original mission despite launching with “noble intent.”

Although TCG paid tribute to the late theologian R.C. Sproul, the organization did the same for King years later.

“I’m not saying he didn’t do some social good, and I’ve always been glad he was a pacifist or he could’ve started a real revolution,” MacArthur added. “But you don’t honor a non-believer who misrepresented everything about Christ and the Gospel in an organization alongside honoring somebody like R.C. Sproul."

In response to MacArthur’s remarks, LGBTQ Nation defended King as a Christian including his ministry in Montgomery, Alabama, his “Ph.D. in systematic theology,” and said King “is widely regarded as a distinctly Christian and moral civil rights icon.”

The outlet also accused MacArthur of allegedly making "numerous racist and anti-[LGBT] statements throughout his career,” including a 2001 sermon in which he contended, “The Bible is abundantly clear, slavery is the heart of what it means to be a true Christian,” and “Christianity does not free slaves. Christianity does not give equal social rights…”

MacArthur was also referred to as an “old, white, hate pastor” by the outlet, which previously used the same title for Pastors John Hagee, Jack Hibbs, and other pastors who teach homosexuality is a sin.

LGBTQ Nation in 2019 called Evangelical leader Tony Perkins “president of the hate group Family Research Council,” and often cites the Human Rights Campaign, which described prominent conservative and Christian organizations as "the enemy" in a "state of emergency" report in June 2023 on “anti-LGBT” legislation.

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