Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark of First General Baptist Church in Malden, Missouri, went viral this week for all the wrong reasons after a sermon he gave suggested that marriages are stronger if the woman gets down to an ideal body weight.
Clark, who is not exactly at an ideal weight himself, said in the Feb. 21 sermon that the wife in a marriage needs to emanate sex appeal, much like Melania Trump. If not, it’s the woman’s fault if the husband looks for companionship elsewhere.
“And ladies, here’s the thing you need to know about men: Don’t give him a reason to be like this distracted boyfriend,” he said, referring to a popular internet meme. “You hear me? Don’t give him a reason to be looking around.”
“All right, if you were sitting in my office, here’s the first thing I’d say to you — and boy, I hate to say this, this is why I don’t do marital counseling anymore — and that is… weight control,” he continued.
The blowback from the video was significant enough for Clark’s church to announce that he has “taken a leave of absence and is seeking professional counseling.” The video has since been deleted from the church’s website.
According to the Friendly Atheist’s Hemant Mehta, a leave of absence is a good start, “but if the people taking his place hold the same awful sexist beliefs, then what does it even matter?”
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