Pastor Robby Gallaty of Brainerd Baptist Church in Tennessee just gave a lengthy sermon in which he pledged to not repent for opposing same-sex marriage.

“God said that the sins of the people had infected the very land in which they live,” he explained. “So what happens to people who engage in this activity, this sexual immoral activity? Go to Leviticus 20, God gives us the punishment for engaging in these sins… ‘If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed a detestable thing. They must be put to death. And their blood is on their own hands.’”

Yeah, the bible says god said that. And if you read that and think “Yup, time to kill some people” instead of “Geez, that sounds like some bullshit” then the problem is with you. Even if that god did exist and delivered the message directly (neither of which is true), why not reply “Um, no. If you want them dead, do it your omnipotent self”? The morality of baseless murder doesn’t change based on who issued the command, and if you’re willing to become a killer just because someone told you that god said to, then you don’t get to lecture others as if you were a moral authority.

What’s more, the bible also says not to grandstand by praying in public. It also says a raped woman must marry her rapist. It also says not to bear false witness and yet we still let people who bear false witness marry. You can decide that your church doesn’t recognize gay marriages, but the whims of your church cannot dictate the laws of the state, which must be concerned with equality and compassion, not the edicts of your church.

But the pastor noted that there was some good news in the New Testament of the Bible: God could turn gay people into heterosexuals. “[The Bible says] some of you used to act like this, but now you’ve changed by the grace of God. You were washed! You have been sanctified! You have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of God.”

And the entirety of the disciplines of medicine and psychology say it’s not optional. So we’re left to choose our authority: the greatest minds in the most relevant fields of the 21st century or a handful of people from a particularly ignorant part of the ancient world who didn’t yet fully understand that wiping your ass with your hand is a bad idea. Not a tough call.

And even if it were a choice, so fucking what? If you want to change our laws, your argument cannot be “Our religion says so! We get to make laws based on our religion for people who don’t follow our religion.” You have to show how your proposed laws protect other people and, in this case, you can’t even show how anybody else is being harmed by two men/two women marrying.

Gallaty went on to opine that “homosexuality is an attack on the family and the marriage.” “It’s the most lethal attack we have today against the family,” he insisted. “And if the enemy can ruin the family, he wins.”

How, exactly, does gay people marrying each other affect the world, much less the families of others, in any way other than making people who think they should get to dictate the love lives of others pissy?

According to Gallaty, LGBT people “wear that homosexual badge as a badge of honor, it’s an identifiable marker.”

Yeah, because it’s who they are – much like you proudly wear the label “Christian.” Oh, those terrible, terrible gays! How dare they not feel ashamed when you tell them to?

“Here’s the problem with the argument that you closed-minded Christians, one day you’re going to come full circle, and you’re going to realize that you’re being judgemental just like racism was 50 years ago,” he remarked. “And we finally realized that racism was an issue for Christians.”

Yeah, took a while for them to ditch all those scriptures about how god thinks slavery is peachy keen, but eventually they did. Eventually we’ll get past all those passages saying gay people should be killed. It turns out that rather than morality coming from the bible it is often achieved by actively ignoring the bible’s commands. Strange.

“And now you guys have repented and come full circle, and you’re going to realize that you’re as foolish as we were with the movement of racism,” Gallaty added. “It’s not the same… A black man can’t change his race, a white man can’t change his race, a homosexual can stop engaging in homosexual acts. See, sexuality is a choice. Gender and race are not.”

Oh, so the bible wasn’t wrong because it was racist, it was wrong because black people can’t change their skin color. If only they could, right?

C’mon gay people, all you have to do is stop doing what appeals to you because god said! Well, no. You need to show us how ignoring our particular sexual impulses makes the world a better place. Every mainstream psychological organization in the civilized world has stated that suppressing our sexual orientation leads to physical, real world consequences. Why should anybody adopt that burden? Why would god give us all this evidence that contradicts the bible? That’s a bit strange, don’t you think?

“You’re not a homosexual, listen to me! You’re not gay! You’re not a lesbian! You’re a child of God!”

I dunno, man. I have lots of evidence that the gay men to whom you’re speaking like penis and that the gay women to whom you’re speaking like vagina. On the other hand, I see no evidence that anybody’s a child of god.

Gallaty recalled that a gay member of the church had once come to him for advice because he was attracted to men. “It’s the same desire I had to get high and score dope years ago, it’s a desire there,” he admitted, recalling that he told that man that his “love for Jesus has to supercede any love on this planet, including men.” “For the glory of God and the honor of God in your body, you may have to remain single for the rest of your life,” Gallaty told the church member. “The cool thing is this: God, over time, will heal you.”

What a pernicious lie. You have to be alone because a god who loves you wills it. How pathological that a pastor who purports to be helping can do so much damage – and be so proud to do it. Therein lies the power of religion and the reason I loathe it so.