David Popescu (politician)
| David Popescu | |
|---|---|
| Born |
J. David Popescu c. 1948 (age 68–69) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Perennial candidate |
| Years active | 1998-present |
J. David Popescu (born c. 1948) is a perennial candidate for public office in the city of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Popescu has run in several federal, provincial and municipal elections. He was convicted of willfully promoting hatred against homosexuals in August 2009, and was charged of advocating or promoting genocide and willful promotion of hatred against homosexuals in his February 2015 by-election campaign before the charges were dropped in December 2015.
Popescu worked at Inco in his twenties, but quit in 1972 after converting to fundamentalist Christianity. He has said that he does not campaign to win votes, but rather to warn citizens of the judgment he believes will be visited upon them by the Christian God if they do not live their lives in accordance with Biblical commands.
Popescu believes that the decisions of elected officials have made it difficult for citizens to avoid what he considers to be sinful activity. "The casino, pornography and undoing the Lord's Day are opening the door for sin that destroys," he said in the 2000 municipal election. "If we violate (God's) standards, we're doomed from the start." On other occasions, he said that popular music stores should be closed because they "promote Satanic music", and that Sudbury's annual Dragon Boat races should be canceled because the boat designs invoke the devil. Popescu has also said that natural disasters and other catastrophes are divine judgment for earthly sins.
He has used his political campaigns to distribute a self-produced video, in which he delivers a series of sermons. In 2003, the Sudbury Star noted that this recording contained messages directed against homosexuals. In one sermon, Popescu says, "God burnt five homosexual cities alive, including women and children, as an example of what we are supposed to do to them. Instead, our evil government gives them rights."
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