Matthew Warren, son of famed California pastor Rick Warren, committed suicide on Friday April 5 and since then, a small band of Twitter users have started rumors that the 27-year-old may have killed himself because he was secretly gay. The accusations have sparked controversy, with some joining in the discussion, but with many others rebuking the rumors as entirely unfounded and simply an inappropriate and mis-timed attack on grieving father Rick Warren's Christian values on the subject.

Rick, of the Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., released a letter to members of his church on Saturday announcing his son's death. The 27-year-old died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday at 10 a.m. Matthew was the youngest of Rick's three children.

Rick wrote, "Only the closest knew that he struggled from birth with mental illness, dark holes of depression, and even suicidal thoughts."

Despite there being absolutely no evidence that Matthew was gay, a small band of Twitter users were seemingly looking to create online discourse, posting comments that blamed Rick's biblical stance on homosexuality as the reason for his son's death.

The pastor has been vocal in the past about his biblical views that scripture teaches homosexuality is a sin, and he angered some pro-gay rights activists a number of years ago when he rallied in support of Proposition 8, which overturned legal same-sex marriage in California in 2008.

One Twitter post cited by a news report on NY Daily News, written by handler Samir Perez on Sunday, read, "Was @rickwarren's son gay? Maybe conversion therapy, condemnation and hatred towards gays was too much for matt...#ripmatt."

Other social media users, seemingly with a grudge against the pastor's teachings on homosexuality, also used the words "karma" and blamed the "bigoted" Rick for the deaths of his son as well as other gay youths, according to the New York Daily News.

"Dear Rick Warren: now U know the 'anguished grief' parents of gay teen suicides feel after listening 2 U and UR ilk's anti-gay hate speech," wrote @jefferychrist on April 6, a day after Matthew's death.

However, those comments have sparked anger among many others who have described the attacks on a grieving father as entirely inappropriate, and have criticized them as politicizing the tragedy. Others also pointed out that there is absolutely no evidence of homosexuality having anything to do with the current tragedy.

Social media user TJMaxis has responded to the attacks by posting, "What horrid people attacking this father in a time of tragedy. Selfish people using this opportunity to push their own agendas. These rumors are completely random. Shame on you."

A number of atheists also used the opportunity to attack Rick Warren, telling the pastor and his wife Kay that there is no heaven and they would never see their son again, according to USA Today. The publication's news report about Matthew's death attracted similar hurtful comments, including one Cincinnati commentator who wrote the following:

"Either there is no God, or God doesn't listen to Rick Warren, despite all the money Rick has made off of selling false hope to desperate people." In another comment, the same poster counsels Warren to "abandon primitive superstitions and accept the universe for what it is - a place that is utterly indifferent to us."

A grieving Warren has not addressed the attacks or gay accusations but on Monday he tweeted thanks to those offering their support to him, "When the tide is out in your life, true friends rush in. Thank you."

On Sunday, he tweeted, "Kay and I are overwhelmed by your love, prayers, and kind words. You are all encouraging our brokenhearts." The message received many responses by Twitter users expressing their condolences over the family's loss.