Steve Gaines doesn’t like gay people. He banned a woman from coaching in his church’s softball league because she admitted to being gay:
Bellevue Baptist Church pastor Steve Gaines told his congregation Sunday that any church leader found in serious sin would have been prohibited from coaching in the church’s athletic leagues, just as a woman who acknowledged she is gay.
“You have to have certain standards for leadership,” Gaines said in a video posted on the Internet. “Leadership is not a right. Leadership is a privilege.”
Of course — leadership is for bigots like Steve!
“We all know that every coach is a sinner, every player is a sinner. We understand all of that,” he said. “It’s not that we are trying to have a sin-free ball league.”
He noted if another coach was currently an adulterer, cohabiting with someone, hooked on pornography, or participating in “the sin of homosexuality,” they would suffer the same fate.
What Steve means is admit to those sins. But rarely do religious bigots admit to their secret sins, so most of his flock will be fine.
Could you imagine if they banned everyone who looked at porn? Steve would be without any coaches. I wonder if his standards apply to the other biblical sins too… does he ban people who are fat (gluttons)? Does he ban anyone who lies (which would be everyone)?
By the way, this is the same Steve Gaines who failed to report one of his ministers molesting his own son:
An assistant prosecutor said Bellevue Baptist Church Pastor Steve Gaines may have committed a crime if he knew the “moral failure” a church staff member confessed to him six months ago involved child molestation. [...]
Gaines has admitted that Paul Williams, a minister on staff at the Memphis, Tenn., mega-church for 34 years, told him in confidence about inappropriate behavior that occurred 17 years ago.
While Gaines did not disclose details of the confession, a Web site critical of his leadership alleged Williams molested his own son. Church leaders have suspended Williams and launched their own investigation, due to last a month.
Way to go, Steve. You’re a role model for bigots and bastards everywhere!
You meant to say “role model,”, not “roll model.”
Looking at his pic that could go either way…
Considering it’s a Baptist Church in the south, I’m sure more than half of the members are major fatasses!
We just know that, sooner or later, ol’ Steve is going to be caught in a compromising situation.
It amazes me how much the fundies get all riled up about the “sin” of homosexuality. I remember my days in church and the pastor would preach on things like lying, gossiping, alcohol etc. and the congregation would be relatively quiet. As soon as he would preach against homosexuality, the faithful would get excited shouting out amens at the top of their lungs. I just don’t get what their beef is with that particular “sin”.
Because it is is icky, of course. Whereas why would you shout hossahs after being reminded that gossupping about your neighbors’ infidelities is sinful. I mean…come on…everyone gossips a little. Especially after a couple of brewskies (or glasses of Chardonnay for the women) Teh Gay, though? Ewwwww. (LOL)
I think you’re on to something; the “sin” of homosexuality isn’t like most sins, in that most sins everyone indulges in occasionally (and therefore would be unenthusiastic about casting the first stone), whereas homosexual urges and acts are mostly confined to people predisposed by biology to have them. People feel more comfortable castigating and ostracizing that which they will never participate in; it’s a very safe sort of hate, from a psychological perspective.
That was one of Fred Clark’s conclusions as well:
Guys, this is really make sense. I have learned something new today. Thank you.
I pity these christians who thought they are of the “Truth”, maybe because I once was a christian.
He makes a distinction between ordinary, tolerable sin, and “serious sin.” I wonder who he thinks he’s fooling with that classification, not god perhaps?
I just want to point out that not all fat people are gluttons; bodies metabolize food in different ways to produce a complicated relationship between food intake and body shape. It’s not always linear. So just as we don’t assume gay people are horrible because they are gay, let’s not assume fat people are horrible because they are fat.
Thank you! you said that perfectly!
I just want to point out, LOL WUT.
I don’t recall anyone suggesting that fat people, or gluttons, are necessarily horrible people. It was just a brief point showing how choosy these people are about the sins they will complain about.
My boyfriend’s father was a pastor at a church. He had to hide the fact he was getting a divorce or risk losing his job.
She wanted to be a softball coach! How did he not know she was a lesbian until she told him?
Because according to the article linked she was singled out and questioned by him and then the whole team was banned as a result despite the rest of the team not being “sinners” but then again in Pastor Steves book everyone is a sinner….
“Jacobson acknowledges she acts as the team’s representative. But she wondered if the matter was about her, why the entire team was banned from playing.
“I was judged by my appearance,” said Jacobson, who describes herself as athletic-looking. “I was brought in and questioned and I was sentenced.”
There’s a song that’s perfect for this occassion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV26OMSb_VQ
Is it true, what I have heard, that those who are homophobic really are severely closeted, same-sex enthusiasts? The way most fundamentalists act around homosexuals, would that mean that, if let loose, they would be a bunch of screaming queens? Might this be the reason that fundamentalists never proselitize in gay bars? Is it any wonder that most televangelists look like they haven’t had a great “lay” in a thousand years….always so stern faced and generally miserable dispositions!
The homophobes don’t need to be gay themselves for society to be afflicted by a more general ego-dystonic sexual orientation.
Disgusting. Not only the bigotry and irrationality, but the hypocrisy. Seems christianity blinds people to what is truly evil.