Pastor Scott Carpenter was invited to give the baccalaureate address at North Carolina’s Kings Mountain High School last week, an occasion where speakers traditionally honor the achievements of the graduating senior class. Carpenter, however, went rogue and took the opportunity to inform students that the gay pupils in their ranks were going to burn in hell.

Unsurprisingly, students and parents at the school were unimpressed.

“This is bullying,” parent Chuck Wilson told local television station WBTV. “Bullying doesn’t have to happen from the back hallway of a school or a back parking lot. It can happen from the pulpit, it can happen from the stage.”

Despite the criticism, Carpenter is staying on message, claiming that he did what he “had to do as a Christian minister,” and denying that he behaved inappropriately.

“Nobody got bashed or anything. All I did was simply speak biblical truth,” he said. “Do I hate anybody? Absolutely not. I just love them too much not to tell them the truth.”

The school has since distanced itself from the comments.

Pastor Scott Carpenter. WBTV

Read More:

Parents angry over ‘anti-gay’ baccalaureate message (WBTV)

North Carolina pastor tells gay grads they’re going to hell (Advocate)