Bronx Pastor Suggests 'Best Person To Rape Is Your Wife' [Video]

A senior pastor of a New York City Seventh-day Adventist Church has been the subject of backlash after he suggested earlier this month that husbands may rape their wives.

Burnett Robinson, senior pastor of Grand Concourse Seventh-day Adventist, on Nov. 13 preached about wives submitting to their partners after marriage, saying “you are no longer your own.” He also advised the men to rape their wives as it has “become legalized.”

“I want you to know upfront ladies, that once you get married, you are no longer your own. You are your husband’s. You understand what I’m saying?” Robinson told churchgoers, which was captured in a video.

“I emphasize that because I saw in court the other day on TV where a lady sued her husband for rape. And I would say to you gentlemen, the best person to rape is your wife. But then it has become legalized.”

Robinson was allegedly preaching a passage from the New Testament’s Letter to the Ephesians. In it, Apostle Paul declared that women should submit themselves to their husbands and the Lord.

The video clip of Robinson’s preaching was posted and shared online, leading to a Change.org petition calling for the pastor’s resignation.

“Dr. Burnett Robinson has made damaging and harmful comments about women. This is far removed from the standards of God and what we stand for as a society,” the petition read.

The petition earned 2,010 signatures as of 9.19 p.m. ET. It has a goal of 2,500 signatures.

The Greater New York Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has placed Robinson on administrative leave, adding that the pastor has given an “unqualified apology” for his statement, according to Religion News Service.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has approximately 1.2 million members across the United States and Canada. The church’s origin can be traced to William Miller, who once predicted that the world would end in the 1840s.

When his prediction did not come true, some of his followers split into small groups. One of the groups eventually became the Seventh-day Adventist Church.