Pastor Sean Harris of Fayetteville, North Carolina’s Berean Baptist Church went on a gay tirade during his sermon on Sunday, urging the fathers in his church to “man up” and use physical violence against their effeminate sons. He also had some shameful advice for families with butch daughters. When a recording of the sermon went viral, the pastor sort of backtracked by saying he would choose different words if he had it to do over but did not apologize. No penance, contrition or atonement for this “man of God.”
On effeminate boys:
“Your son starts acting a little girlish when he’s four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying man-up, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch because that’s what boys do.” [The church then erupted in laughter before the pastor continued.] “You take out the camera and start taking pictures of little Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everyone laughs about it and next thing you know this dude, this kid, is acting out childhood fantasies that should’ve been squashed! Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see that son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give them a good punch. Okay? You’re not going to act like that! You were made by God to be a male and you’re going to be a male.”
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On butch girls:
“And when your daughter starts acting too ‘butch,’ you rein her in. And you say, ‘Oh no. Oh no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play ‘em, play ‘em to the glory of God, but sometimes you’re going to act like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl, and that means you’re going to be beautiful, you’re going to be attractive, you’re going to dress yourself up.”
His post-scandal statement to the Fayetteville Observer:
“If I had to say it again, I would say it differently, no doubt. Those weren’t planned words, but what I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that effeminate behavior is ungodly. I’m not going to compromise on that.”
If you are a Christian, then you believe that God created everything. So if your four-year-old is acting effeminate, that is how he was created. He didn’t wake up one morning and decide to act “girly.” It was not a conscious decision. If you hate him for who he is, if you fight him for who he is, then you are hating and fighting his creator. You punch your boy, and you punch your God.
I haven’t been able to bring myself to listen to the full recording. If you’re feeling masochistic, here you go.
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