Making Homosexuality a Capital Crime? A Repudiation of Hateful Pastors

Just this week, over on the Friendly Atheist blog, there were three separate examples of so-called pastors advocating making homosexuality a capital crime (one of the three appears to have no actual congregation and to be mentally ill, so my main concern is with the other two). I will not name these pastors because I have no desire to make them more famous than they already are or to spread their message.

One of these two pastors advocated killing homosexuals as the Bible’s “cure for AIDS” (never mind that plenty of straight people have AIDS!). Particularly chilling about this sermon was the familiar conversational rhetorical style. Phrases like “it was there in the Bible all along” and off-the-cuff humor (“we’d have AIDS solved by Christmas! Hardy-har-har-har!”) interspersed in the midst of a horrific recommendation to make homosexuality a capital crime makes this pastor sound like a normal pastor. Until you listen to what he’s actually saying! Even more disturbing is the way his congregation laughs along with his disturbing humor.

The other pastor is even worse—if that is at all possible. Not only does he say that homosexuals should be killed, but he also uses even more gay slurs and, contrary to any attitude a minister of the Gospel should have, he actually says he will not allow homosexuals in his church. (I guess so much for the idea that God so loved the whole world that He sent His Son…). Then he goes on to claim that all homosexuals are pedophiles and rapists. Utterly horrifying, untruthful, and dangerous speech.

A common theme between these two pastors is that they are leaders of independent churches. They have no denominational board over them that might step in and check them on their speech or remove them from ministry. Now, having denominational oversight is certainly no guarantee of churches being led properly, but it sure does help to have some avenue of church discipline if things go awry. Authority is something that always needs accountability. As the leader of a congregation, a pastor’s influence is so substantial that he needs people around him who can help to check his power. If a pastor goes down a wrong road, she needs people who will lovingly speak the truth to her and call her back to a faithful walk with God.

These pastors cited above are wolves in sheep’s clothing, however normal their preaching cadence may sound. Their statements wound and harm those in and out of their pews who feel same-sex attraction. Their statements of violence can have real-world implications and cause unstable people to actually do harm to those who are gay. These pastors are enshrining hate with religious motivation and convincing people who engage in violence and hate that they have a Biblically-justifiable reason for doing so (even as they cloak their desire for this capital punishment in a claim that it’s “not the church’s job, but the government’s job”). They are to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. These folks are not members of my denomination, but as a Christian, I think it’s important to distinguish myself and the Christian community I know from such men.

It’s important to note that I don’t believe I have any Christian friends who would agree with these guys. Even my most conservative, Fox News-watching friends would say, “That guy’s a lunatic, and I do not agree with him.” (That is not to say that evangelical Christianity is without its own more subtle homophobic attitudes, but that is another topic for another day.)

If you’re looking for great evangelical Christian models of how to talk about reconciling faith and homosexual orientation, I’d like to direct you to some folks who have “skin in the game” because they are gay. They will be able to better address questions that may arise than I could hope to do.

Spiritual Friendship

Julie Rodgers

Sarah and Lindsey

A recent article in The Washington Post

I probably won’t talk about this again for a while, because I really do want to listen more than I talk when it comes to the LGBT community. But once I actually watched these horrific sermons, I felt it was important as a follower of Jesus to condemn their words publicly. Anybody who speaks like these preachers speak has completely lost touch with their own desperate need for God’s grace and has abandoned the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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POST-SCRIPT

One question that I know will arise is this: what do you do with those passages in Leviticus if you are a person who takes the Bible seriously? So here’s my attempt to address that:

In regards to the Old Testament capital punishment penalties for homosexual sex, I would first say that I have difficulty with those passages as well, but that it is important to acknowledge that there were a lot of different capital punishment penalties for various offenses, and it’s completely disingenuous to suggest that we reinstate the one for gay sex while ignoring the others. If we were to reinstate Old Testament death penalties, I can’t help feeling that a lot of Christians would be found guilty.

The whole of the Old Testament is meant to point all of us toward our need for salvation and to show us the impossibility of living up to God’s moral standards. We don’t get to declare one class of human as worse than all others. Romans 3 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s standards.

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.–Romans 3:22b-24 NIV

Instead of constantly pointing to gay people and trying to convince ourselves that they are the ultimate sinners (so that we don’t have to deal with our own sin), we ought to be saying with the Apostle Paul: “I am the chief of sinners.”

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.—I Timothy 1:15-16

Furthermore, nowhere does the New Testament tell us to impose capital punishment on sexual sins. Instead, the New Testament distinguishes between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world (John 18:36). When a woman is caught in a sexual sin, the religious leaders drag her to Jesus for stoning (John 8).

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.–John 8:4-6

Rather than condemning her, Jesus condemns them for their judgmental spirit. He tells her to go and sin no more. This is a word to us in the Church today.

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”—vs. 7

Because LGBT issues can be such a sensitive topic, I would especially implore folks in this comment section to speak with gracious care for their neighbor. Especially to Christians, I ask that you pretend a gay person is looking over your shoulder as you type. Speak carefully and with lots of recognition for the fact that you--as Paul models the saying for us–are the chief of sinners. Thank you.

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