Is the Antichrist gay? Stretching scripture at the 'Values Voter Summit'.

According to the New Testament Book of John, the Antichrist is the ultimate foe of God. tie is referred to as a liar and a deceiver who denies Christ and all of his works.

Although the Bible actually has little to say about the Antichrist he is mentioned by name only five times--interest in this evil figure has always been intense. Given the dearth of information, many have engaged in wild speculation. During the Family Research Council's recent "Values Voter Summit" in Washington, one speaker espoused one of the more unusual theories about this mysterious opponent of Christianity: The Antichrist, the Rev. Dwight McKissic said, may be gay.

McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, put forth slim evidence for the assertion, citing a murky passage in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Daniel. Interestingly, the verse in question, Daniel 11:37, does not mention the Antichrist by name. It talks instead about a prophecy concerning a Persian king who will amass great power and oppress God's people.

This monarch, the King James Version of the Bible says, will not shine "the desire of women."

Although other translations of the scripture differ radically, to McKissic, the KJV text is proof enough.

He asked the crowd, "Could it be that the Antichrist himself may be homosexual?'"

Assailing the gay rights movement, he added, "I believe it's from the pit of hell itself that this movement is inspired, that it has a satanic anointing."

McKissic, who runs a group of anti-gay pastors called Not On My Watch, said he is offended that gay rights activists employ the language of the civil rights movement.

"The civil rights movement was inspired and given by the Holy Spirit, birthed in the church and bathed in prayer.... But the gay rights movement, I believe, was birthed and inspired by (he Antichrist," he charged.

The Texas preacher didn't stop there. During his remarks, delivered while addressing a workshop titled "Impacting the Culture," McKissic opined that Jesus predicted the rise of same-sex marriage and asserted that the Bible condemns not only gays but even straight people who tolerate homosexuality.

He was not the only figure to bash gays during the event. The Rev. Wellington Boone, a frequent speaker at Promise Keeper events, sounded similar themes during his time at the podium. Boone blasted gays for linking their drive to the civil rights struggle. Tracing the history of black slavery and the oppression of the Jim Crow South, he told the crowd, "You tell me a gay has the right to get in on some of that? Get out of here!"

Boone called gay people "sodomites" who, he said, "are really nasty about trying to stop us from taking away their perversion."

Added Boone, "Back in the days when I was a kid, and we saw guys that don't stand strong on principle, we called them 'faggots'.... I got another one I'm gonna say in a minute--that [men who] don't stand up for what's right, we say, 'You're sissified out!' 'You're a sissy!' That means you don't stand up for principles. And I just believe that God hasn't called us to be sissies on a principle level. We're called to be, to stand up and be men."

Other speakers accused gays of nefarious goals. Maggie Gallagher, a syndicated columnist who has been criticized for taking money from the Bush administration, asserted that gay rights advocates seek to deny non-profit status to Christian radio, Christian schools and other tax-exempt religious entities. People who oppose same-sex marriage, she said, "are treated like racists."

Religious Right leaders often talk about hating the sin but loving the sinner. At this meeting, when it comes to gay Americans, there seemed to be a lot more hate than love.