Things on the Interwebs that Piss Me Off

Maybe I'll start a whole new label for this topic.  It seems that, every time I turn around, there's something else.  This, for example.  This is a pastor exhorting his parishioners to beat the gay out of their kids.  Charming, huh?  Dare I say that this is a North Carolina pastor?

Harris, the Senior Pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C., is heard in this audio clip telling his congregation that should their children show any signs of “homosexual” behavior, then it is their responsibility to use violence as a corrective measure to prevent that child from being gay or lesbian.  

 For a start, just what are the "signs of homosexual behaviour?"  He mentions that it is OK (thanks, douche bag) to let your daughters play sports, but that they have to dress (and smell) like girls at other times.  Does he advocate parents sniffing around their daughters?  That sounds a little...well...perverse, to me.  Just what does a girl smell like, in his view, I wonder?  Perfume?  Hormones?  What?  He doesn't have a whole lot to say about girls, but he has plenty to say about boys.

“So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, ‘Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do,’ you get out the camera and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everybody laughs about it and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid, is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed. …

Your children are your children, you self-righteous son of a bitch.  You are lucky to have them.  If you believe in god, then you have to believe god made them.  Just who the hell are you to think you can improve on the work of your creator?  You think he sends them to you all flawed and stuff, and you are supposed to "fix" them?  How arrogant and egotistical is that?  And what business do you have preaching this obscene crap from a pulpit, no less?!

Before I totally gave up on religion, I went to several different churches, for several different reasons.  One that I attended for a few months had a preacher who offered to come into our homes and discipline our children for us...just to show us how it should be done (in the eyes of god, of course).  That was when I quit going there, despite the fact that Brendan (at maybe six) wanted to keep on, as he was kicking ass in Sunday school, playing some bible video game.  My son is straight, but I didn't know that, at the time.  He, like all my kids as toddlers, liked to walk around in my shoes.  I'm thinking that, according to the pastor at the church I attended, and this jerk from North Carolina, I should have been "squashing that like a cockroach."  Well, guess what, Pastor Harris..it didn't make a shit-stinking bit of difference!

In the interest of raising kids with a minimum of gender bias, I made sure that the girls had trucks and Legos and all the "boy" toys I wanted as a child, but was not allowed.  I made sure my son had dolls and other traditionally "feminine" toys. 

Preachers such as this Sean Harris are trying to put us all back a few generations, to when men were men and, as they say, sheep were scared.

Fuck him...wait...let me think about it...no.

http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/important-clarification-to-sundays.html

Ooh!  More fodder!  Here is his APOLOGY!  On his very own blog, no less!.

For the record, I want to ensure everyone that I do NOT believe physical force is capable of fixing effeminate behavior or homosexual behavior. Parents should not punch babies or children. (Ultimately only the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to deliver one from sexual immorality and behavior including effeminacy; )

I would never advocate for such discipline or actions on behalf of a father or mother. I misspoke. Hopefully, you understood that I was speaking in a forceful manner to emphasize the degree to which gender distinctions matter to God; and therefore, must matter to each of us and especially parents.

"Ensure?"  Shouldn't that be "assure?"  If you don't believe it, why preach it?  If "gender distinctions" matter so much to "god," shouldn't you be content with what "he" "gives" you in the way of children, and not try to change them to suit your own ideas?  Just sayin...

The bible passage he quotes to support his views:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

So, has he other sermons exhorting parents to punish their tender-aged offspring for behaviour that might reflect the other no-nos listed?  a) sexually immoral, b) idolaters, c) adulterers, d) thieves, e) the greedy, f) drunkards, g) revilers, h) swindlers...

And isn't he being a bit of a "reviler" himself?

The bible is bad enough as a moral compass; this guy takes it to a new low.