Evangelist says Katy Perry 'ruled by Satan' for not believing you can 'pray away the gay'

A religious activist has launched a scathing attack on pop singer Katy Perry over her stance against conversion therapy – a term given to psychological or spiritual counselling in order to change a person's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual.

Talk-show host, Gordon Klingenschmitt accused the I Kiss A Girl And I Like It hitmaker of being "ruled by satan" and urged her to turn away from sin.

Klingenschmitt was outraged by the comments Perry made while accepting the Human Rights Campaign's National Equality Award back in March. The 32-year-old had recalled her experiences going to Christian camps: "Most of my unconscious adolescence, I prayed the gay away at my Jesus camps. But then in the middle of it all, in a twist of events, I found my gift and my gift introduced me to people outside of my bubble. My bubble started to burst."

She added that the LGBT community "were the most free, strong, kind and inclusive people I have ever met. They stimulated my mind and they filled my heart with joy and they freaking danced all the while doing it."

Addressing the pop star – whose parents were Pentecostal pastors – directly during a recent episode of his online Christian talk show Pray In Jesus Name, Klingenschmitt said Perry ought to know better considering she had grown up in being taught that homosexuality was "synonymous with the word abomination".

"Katy, you know that God made them male and female. This is what in Genesis, this is what Jesus says, Jesus affirms," he said.

"If you went to a Jesus camp, maybe you remember, God made them male and female. For this cause, a man shall leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Jesus affirmed the definition of marriage between one man and one woman.

He continued: "If you had been sincere in your prayers at the Jesus camp, you would have prayed against sin and the devil. You would have repented of your sin and invited Jesus to rule your heart."

He then suggested that she was being used a vessel to mislead young fans. "You would have repented of your sin and invited Jesus to rule your heart. But apparently, that's not what you prayed. Katy, she whose sins is of the devil... You are ruled by Satan," he said, warning: "Katy Perry, you don't just need more of your Jesus camps, more of the Bible, more of what your parents told you; you need to get the devil out of you."