Here’s a guy who should be nowhere near students in a public school. A Kansas middle school teacher wrote on his Facebook page, where many of his friends included his students, that being gay is just like being a murdered in the eyes of God.

Jack Conkling, a Prairie Hills Middle School social studies teacher and Buhler High School assistant women’s basketball coach in Buhler, Kan., is under fire after equating being gay to being a murderer on his Facebook profile, the Hutchinson News reports. In his post, Conkling comments on gay marriage, writing that homosexuality “ranks in God’s eyes the same as murder, lying, stealing, or cheating.” According to the paper, several of his students who were also his Facebook friends left comments on the post, something that led the school to eventually take notice.

And in response, he offers religio-babble:

“I wrote what I wrote for my Facebook friends who understand my heart and my intent,” Conkling told the Hutchinson News. “I understand that there were some folks who didn’t understand my heart, and while that’s sad, it is what it is.”

Phrases like “knows my heart” are standard-issue religious babble, literally meaningless tripe. Imagine being a gay student in one of his classes. Imagine being a gay student looking to him for protection from bullying. What’s he going to say, “Well God thinks you’re as bad as a murderer, so you had it coming”?