CONTROVERSIAL American pastor Creflo Dollar, who last year asked his followers to stump up $65 million for a new private jet, has been told he is not welcome in Glasgow, by the Free Church of Scotland.
The televangelist is set to appear at the SECC in June in a meeting organised by the Destiny Evangelical church.
Dollar is a proponent of the Prosperity Gospel that says being rich is God’s will and that a regular donation to the church can help a believer become more wealthy.
But yesterday, the Rev David Robertson, Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland said Dollar’s work was blasphemous and embarrassing, and told him to go elsewhere.
Robertson said: “Creflo Dollar coming here is appalling. He’s a multimillionaire, American, televangelist and we really do not need him here. The church doesn’t need him. It’s embarrassing to have somebody like that come. His prosperity gospel is blasphemous. It’s not what people in Scotland need to hear.
“He’s not welcome. Not with that message. It’s a horrendous message that he brings. It’s not the message of the gospel at all. He can keep his jet and use it to fly elsewhere.”
Dollar is senior pastor at his own World Changers Church International, and has an estimated net worth of $27 million. The New York Times reported that he has mansion in Atlanta, a penthouse in New York, several cars, including a Rolls Royce.
When he was asked about the Rolls Royce is a rare media interview he replied: “It was a gift that my local church gave to me, you don’t turn down a gift that somebody gives to you”.
Last year Dollar appealed to his parishioners to each donate $300 towards the cost of a new G650 Gulfstream private jet, insisting it was necessary.
Chief executive of Humanist Society Scotland Gordon MacRae said: “Scotland is proudly a place where people are able to express their views, no matter how ridiculous people find then.
“This news is coming in the same week as the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey confirmed that a majority of people in Scotland are not religious.
“We trust that Destiny Church would not expose any of their vulnerable members to be to exploited by his voracious appetite for money. We don’t want Scotland to become the latest layover stop for wealthy televangelists seeking to rip people off.”
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