Claiming that being gay is a choice like drug abuse, the senior pastor for a megachurch in Tennessee says that “gays must be put to death” because God commands it.

Last Sunday, Brainerd Baptist Church Senior Pastor Robby Gallaty told his large congregation that Christians should never stop discriminating against homosexuals, claiming that gays could choose to be straight if they only accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Gallaty explained why gays should be put to death:

God said that the sins of the people had infected the very land in which they live. 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.’

Pastor Gallaty tried to justify his Biblically inspired hatred for gays and lesbians by repeatedly trying to argue that being gay is a choice, and some sort of rebellion against his imaginary God’s divine plan.

While openly acknowledging that Christianity was the source and justification for racism in America prior to the civil rights movement, Pastor Gallaty admonished his congregation that the analogy between Christians openly discriminating against gays is different from Christians openly discriminating against African Americans because gays choose their sexual orientation but African Americans do not choose the color of their skin:

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. And we finally realized that racism was an issue for Christians. 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,. 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.

Pastor Gallaty’s attempt to defend the Biblical prohibition against homosexuality hangs upon his contention that gays choose to be gay. However, this is clearly not the case. Sexual orientation is not a choice. One does not choose to be gay or straight.

Gallaty and Christians like him are dangerous individuals. Their perverse religious superstition allows them to advocate for death and discrimination against those they do not like and do not understand.

(Via Raw Story)

Brainerd Baptist Church Senior Pastor Robby Gallaty