Shepard Smith Tells Fox News Viewers About Embassy Preacher's Homophobia, Anti-Semitism

By being completely objective and just reporting the facts, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith made clear what a horrible choice Robert Jeffress was to deliver the opening prayer at the dedication of the U.S. Embassy Monday in Jerusalem.

"One of the men who gave a prayer before the ceremony in Jerusalem today says he believes all Jews are going to hell," the out newsman told viewers on his Shepard Smith Reporting program Monday night. He also notes, "Jeffress's views on other religious groups and Judaism as well as the LGBT community are well-documented."

Smith went on to relate those views: "Here's Robert Jeffress in his own words. He told NBC News, 'Mormonism has never been considered a part of historic Christianity," On Islam, quoting, 'Islam is a false religion, and if you sincerely follow the tenets of Islam, then you will end up in hell when you die.' On homosexuality, he's accused gays of being, quote, 'engaged in the most detestable, unclean, abominable acts you can imagine,' and said that the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality is 'the greatest, most historic landmark blunder ever in the court's history.'"

Jeffress, Smith reported, told journalists Monday that Christianity has taught for 2,000 years that salvation can occur only through faith in Jesus Christ, and "the fact that I, along with millions of evangelical Christians around the world, espouse that belief is neither bigoted nor newsworthy."

Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas and a major supporter of Donald Trump, was not the only controversial minister to appear at the ceremony. Delivering the closing prayer was John Hagee, senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, who has said Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for LGBT people, as New Orleans was about to hold its Southern Decadence celebration when the city suffered the storm's effects in 2005, and that Adolf Hitler was a "hunter" sent by God in order to get Jews back to Israel.

Some members of the Christian right had pushed for the move of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- a move that drew protests from Palestinians because of their claim to the latter city; dozens died in clashes with the Israeli military. But some evangelical and fundamentalist Christians believe that a major Jewish religious revival in Jerusalem will bring about the battle of Armageddon -- humanity's last great war -- as well as the second coming of Christ and the mass conversion of Jews to Christianity.

Watch Smith's segment below courtesy of Media Matters.