Anti-LGBTQ Church Bombed in California

The FBI is currently investigating an attack on First Works Baptist Church in El Monte, California. The fundamentalist church has been known for its controversial messaging and statements. Despite the bombing causing significant property damage, no one was harmed in the blast.

Police responded to reports of an explosion at the First Works Baptist Church, in El Monte, Los Angeles at 1 am on Saturday. Police Lt. Christopher Cano was one of the first to respond to the explosion. In a statement to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, he described the scene upon arrival:

“When our units arrived at the scene they found that [the church] … was having some smoke come out of the windows … It appeared that the walls to the church had been vandalized as well as all the windows. [The windows] appeared at first to be smashed, then we realized that the windows were not smashed, that they had actually blown out from some type of explosion.”

Only a few weeks prior, First Works Pastor Bruce Mejia had filed a report with police that he was receiving threats of arson on social media. Some residents referred to the church’s sermons at an El Monte City Council meeting as “hate speech”. There had previously been organised protests outside the church on Sunday 17th January.

The organisation responsible for the protests against the church, Keep El Monte Friendly, stated in an Instagram post that they were “in profound shock” and hoped that no one had been hurt. Keep El Monte Friendly also cancelled their planned protest yesterday out of consideration. 

In response to the attack, pastor Mejia stated:

“We’re not afraid of this. It’s just a little bump in the road, and we’re still planning to have church tomorrow, obviously not at this current location, but we’re still planning to have church and once this is all said and done, we’re going to go back.”

The church is involved in a network of other religious institutions called the ‘New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement’, a network of twenty-two American and eight international churches. The churches share a strong anti-LGBT stance and have held a conference called “Make America Straight Again”. 

At the conference, Pastor Mejia reportedly stated:

 “We don’t advocate Christians to go out and be vigilantes [and kill gay people] ... We want the government to do it.”

Pastor Mejia also spoke of “waging war against the sodomites,” and tore a rainbow flag in half, shouting “I’m so sick and tired of them parading this thing around us,” to cheers from the audience. He has also denounced the activist organization Black Lives Matter for its “wicked agenda”, referred to women as inherently “weak” and preached against Judaism and the Jewish people’s “filthy lucre”.

The network’s leader, Steven Anderson, is a pastor from Arizona who reportedly rejoiced at the 2016 shooting at gay nightclub ‘Pulse’ in which 49 people were killed. Anderson also gained infamy in 2009 for stating in a sermon that he had prayed for the death of then-President Barack Obama.