A 79-year-old retired United Methodist minister killed himself to protest discrimination against the LGBT community and other injustices.

According to The Dallas Morning News, on June 23, a Monday, the Rev. Charles Moore parked his car in a Grand Saline strip-mall roughly 70 miles east of Dallas, doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire.

Bystanders rushed to extinguish the fire and Moore was flown to a Dallas hospital. He arrived unconscious at the hospital, where he died from his injuries.

In a letter he left behind on his car windshield, he said he was troubled by his hometown's history of prejudice.

In other writings, he lamented not doing enough to end social injustices, including discrimination based on race and sexual orientation, and to help the poor and disadvantaged.

In 1955, Moore went on a hunger strike to protest the United Methodist Church's treatment of gay men and lesbians as the church's bishops gathered in Austin. Fifteen days into the strike, the bishops issued a statement calling on Methodist churches to open their doors to gay members. However, the church's policy calling homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching” remains to this day.

Moore began contemplating self-immolation after his retirement in 2000.

“I have always felt that death for a cause was my destiny, but never so much as during the past several years – when it has admittedly been a preoccupation,” he wrote.

A memorial service will be held Saturday at Faith Presbyterian Church in Austin.