Pastor Sean Harris: crack the wrists and punch children you suspect of being gay

Pastor Sean Harris (motto: "Proclaiming Christ Through a Blog in the 21st Century) gave a sermon on Sunday at his church in Fayetteville NC in which he told parents to beat their children if they showed signs of being gay:

Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch, OK? … You were made by god to be a male and you're going to be a male.

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 gonna act like a girl and walk 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 gonna dress yourself up."

In an "Important Clarification to Sunday's Sermon" that he posted to his blog, Pastor Harris complains that people who disagree with him are using naughty words that hurt his feelings:

Those in the opposition are suggesting all sorts of hateful things and using ungodly and profane words. Those who speak of the love of God are using the most hateful terms I have ever read. We must never resort to such language.

And in his fake apology (with the classic "I apologize to anyone I have unintentionally offended") he says "I have never suggested children or those in the LGBT lifestyle should be beaten, punched, abused (physically or psychologically) in any form or fashion." I guess that part's true, because in his sermon he commanded, rather than suggested, fathers to punch their gay sons.

Pastor Sean Harris Tells Congregation to Punch Their Gay Sons (Via Cynical-C)

• [mappo]

  Like the good book says:  spare the rod, spoil the heterosexuality of the child.

• [Mister44]

  What  a horrible person.

  • [Cowicide]

    And the crowd cheering him on can go to hell too.

    Pastor Sean Harris is obviously homosexual and his pent-up frustration has reached a fever pitch of obsession and self-loathing that manifests itself in lashing out at those who are free from his kind of retarded chains.

    Sources and evidence:

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120406234458.htm

    http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201106/homophobic-men-most-aroused-gay-male-porn

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8772014

    Pastor Sean Harris, come out of the closet already.

    • [Palomino]

      That was the part I enjoyed, it was only a smattering. If you listen again, he almost stumbles, then presses forward like a comedian who doesn’t get a laugh. We first have to find out how many people were in the audience. If there were hundreds, then his “speech” didn’t get much of a response.

    • [curiousrobot]

      Sounded like a pretty nervous uncomfortable sort of laughter to me. At least I hope so. Disclaimer: I could only get through about 90 seconds of this.

  • [EH]

    If it puts your mind at ease, history tells us that he’s almost assuredly gay himself.

    • [Jason Schmurr]

      So, basically, even homophobia is the fault of gay people. Nice.

      • [BunnyShank]

        nah just the fault of this gay guy

      • [Guest]

        every phobia is the fault of self loathing.

      • [EH]

        Just making an observation based on the news. Is homophobia from the closeted really such a scandalous probability?

• [Preston Sturges]

  Waiting for him to be caught knob gobbling in an interstate highway rest area bathroom in 3, 2, 1….

  • [Sagodjur]

     ”Uh…no, I wasn’t committing an ungodly act. I was…uh…just about to punch this gay gentleman in the balls and tell him to man up…I was just down on my knees so I could make sure I was punching him in the right place…”

    • [Preston Sturges]

      I’m pretty certain that this guy is going to get one of those wonderful deadpan fan  letters from Militia Commander General JC Christian (aka Jesus’ General) at http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/

      Gen. JC Christian is an expert on the insidious peril of homosexuality, and frequently consults with other experts on the homosexual agenda, especially those whose “little soldiers” seek the manly fellowship of interstate truckers and gladiator movies.

      “………I’ll never forget the day I first heard you speak about how your “wife’s vagina was enough.” I remember silently praying as I heard it, “please God, give me what this man has. I too want to be satisfied by my wife’s vagina.”

      He eventually answered that prayer, but I have to admit it was something with which I had to struggle for many months. It just didn’t seem very manly to put my little soldier into such a warm and snuggly place. And it wasn’t just a mental thing. Private Johnson would mutiny by refusing to come to attention every time I tried it.Then one night, after a couple of failed attempts, I turned on the tee vee next to the bed. Ben Hur was on. It was the scene where Chuck Heston is reunited with his old friend, Stephen Boyd. And what do you know, suddenly my little soldier was raring to go. I immediately made another attempt on the vagina, craning my neck so I could see the television screen, and by gosh it worked. Finally, my wife’s vagina was enough for me too–that and a copy of Ben Hur (I later learned that John Wayne’s Sands of Iwo Jima and anything featuring Abe Vigoda work as well). I think it’s because the addition of the movie made the vagina seem just a little less girlie.

      Following your advice on masturbation was much easier. Like with you, the choice of underwear played a key role in defeating the temptation. The briefs I had worn up until then were a problem. They squeezed my manparts, and in doing so, aroused me. Boxers were no better. They allowed my Private Johnson to swing freely, his helmet constantly brushing against the fabric in a seductive dance that fueled the flames of my lust like a burst of gasoline in the number three cylinder of a 427 Hemi.

      It was only after I began wearing silky ladies underthings that my libido finally went into sleep mode. The deep red, french cut panties you find at Victoria’s Secret seem to work the best, although I enjoy the nice black g-string trimmed with white lace and crimson hearts I picked up at Frederick’s of Hollywood too…..”

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        please God, give me what this man has. I too want to be satisfied by my wife’s vagina.

        Demonic raisins, I rebuke you.

      • [Palomino]

        It was Midnight Express for me. 

        http://youtu.be/guCGGjrYHUo

• [dbergen]

  I’m just picturing the freakout that would have occured if this was footage of the president of the American Athiests saying the same thing.

  • [xunker]

    I think there *would* be a huge freakout, but primarily because the President of the American Atheists is probably a sane person and a sane person saying crazy things is exceptional.

    A nutjob saying crazy things is less unexpected.

    (And yes, for those who can’t read between the lines, I am saying Pastor Harris is a nutjob. Telling fathers to “give him a good punch” is not advocating discipline, it’s advocating domestic violence.)

    • [Genre Slur]

       I wouldn’t call the head of an atheist group ‘sane’. Technically, the sane ones appear to be multi-model agnostic. They’re the only ones basing their model on the actual evidence, but please continue.
      Post Script — that Harris guy seems like a very bad man. *shudder*

      • [Michael Rosefield]

        When you consider so many options for the nature of reality that the theistic ones occupy a tiny, arbitrary and really rather silly corner off to the side somewhere, well, why not call yourself an atheist? 

        That’s what I do. ‘God’ just isn’t remotely interesting or justified enough to merit the technically-correct but massively misleading term ‘agnosticism’ for my beliefs. 

        I imagine some might call me arrogant and dismissive, but they  should pause first to consider that I am merely being as honest as I can be.

        • [FrodeSvendsen]

          This, very much this. 

          I’ve also tried to explain it thusly; I just don’t care what label the religious deem to paint me with. If there truly exists a pink tea-pot floating out in space somewhere, it has no relevance to my life.

      • [wysinwyg]

         Go ahead and find a head of an atheist group that is demonstrably insane.  I’ll be waiting.  For a very long time.

        • [bardfinn]

          I’ve interacted with two individuals who are:
          Atheist;
          Leader(s) of Atheist group(s);
          IMNSHO (but not a medical one) clinically insane.

          Atheism is simply a lack of belief in deities. It’s neither a certification of sanity nor a certification of insanity.

          Hitler and Stalin: Both atheists. Both insane. QED.

        • [Preston Sturges]

          Cardinal Richelieu -Catholic
          Napolean – Catholic
          Hitler – Catholic turned pagan 
          Stalin – Catholic turned atheist
          Mussolini – Catholic
          Franco – Catholic
          Pinochet – Catholic
          Peron-Catholic

      • [Deidzoeb]

         Agnostic is a subset of atheism, depending on how you define atheism. Some of us think of it as lacking a belief in god(s), which is not exactly a position we need to prove.

        As far as agnostic being better or more reasonable or (fucking ugh) “sane” than atheist, I think of it in terms of the way people describe their beliefs or lack of beliefs in unicorns or leprechauns. No one identifies herself as “agnostic” on the question of unicorns. Generally we just say unicorns are a myth, or unicorns do not exist. If pressed by unicorn-believers, we can admit that we have no proof of the nonexistence of unicorns. But it still doesn’t seem hypocritical to phrase it that way. I can’t prove that unicorns don’t exist. It is reasonable not to believe they exist even if I don’t have proof. If new evidence comes in, I will re-examine the question.

        But since our culture is dominated by theists, we’ve developed this whole way of quibbling when it comes to that question. We have to say that we lack a belief in gods (i.e. atheist), but point out that we can’t prove the nonexistence of gods (agnostic subset). Why do we have to go out of our way to specify that, but we don’t have to go out of our way to say it when talking about the likely nonexistence of Quetzlcoatl or Osiris or Zeus or jackalopes? Apparently we have to go out of our way depending on how popular the myth is in our culture. If enough people start to have unsupported faith in the existence of chupacabras, the rest of us with healthy skepticism on the matter will have to call ourselves “agnostics” on the question of chupacabras?

        • [LightningRose]

          Well said, Deidzoeb.

          I sometimes point out to deists that they are already atheist with regards to thousands of deities and I simply believe in one deity fewer than they do.

        • [bkad]

           Yes, well said. I don’t think it is necessarily a problem though. If I identify myself as agnostic rather than atheist it isn’t because of the literal denotation of those words. It is out of sensitivity to the different connotations of the terms in American English. “Agnostic” means “Even if I disagree with it, I will not mock or attack your faith; you can feel safe around me, and even feel comfortable sharing aspects of your religious life.” “Atheist” has a much colder and more judgmental connotation. Since I personally value getting along with my fellow humans much more than being forceful/accurate about my opinions, I lean toward using the gentler (in American English) term.

        • [VentureFree]

          Theism and gnosticism are actually orthogonal concepts. One isn’t a subset of another, and they’re not different points on the same “belief” continuum. Theism is about what you believe, whereas gnosticism is about what you know. They are independent variables.

          You can be a Gnostic Theist (I believe in God because we can and do know that He exists) or a Gnostic Atheist (I don’t believe in God because we can and do know that He does not exist). These seem to be the stances that most people assume are being argued when debating about religion. But of course you can also be an Agnostic Theist (I believe in God even though we can’t know with certainty that he actually exists) or an Agnostic Atheist (I don’t believe in God even though we can’t know with certainty that he does not exist).

          In my experience most believers tend to be Gnostic Theists while most non-believers tend to be Agnostic Atheists. That fact alone tends to gum up the works in most religious debates. One side is in effect arguing *based on* what is known while the other side is arguing about *whether* it is known. Not recognizing that distinction eventually leads to confusion as both sides end up arguing half about one thing and half about the other without realizing there’s even a difference.

          Edit: fixed the weird line breaks

      • [Moonpie Nobot]

        “They’re the only ones basing their model on the actual evidence” What evidence? 

    • [Palomino]

      Excellent point, this is to be expected, so we shouldn’t be shocked. Maybe it’s on BB because it’s a new low? I don’t know. 

      I appreciate guys like this, he has his convictions. It’s the ones who share them in secret, donate money, create a PAC. 

      Your comment proves there’s worse closets than gay ones. 

  • [Palomino]

    Below: Hitler & Stalin were fake Atheists. Before they discovered it, they hated the idea  of God, didn’t like the idea they had anyone to answer to or be below of. They were the supreme rulers, omnipotent. If you think yourself omnipotent, then you default to Atheism or an Agnostic. 

    Some people search out a belief system that fits their current beliefs best. If you’re homophobic, go to this church.  If you are a dirty old man and want to have sex with young girls, find a backwater Mormon church. 

    Just like websites and apps, there’s a religion  for that, that, and that.

    • [EH]

      It’s basically ignorant to call the Nazis atheists.

  • [devophill]

    Seriously?

• [RaleighSaintClair]

  this hatred makes me feel so religious.

• [Nell Anvoid]

  Wrist braces.  The only solution.

• [John P]

  Poor Pastor Sean’s delicate fee-fees. I’d give even money on the whole repressed/self loathing thing, but I wouldn’t want to wish this monster on the gay community.

• [T. O’Huva]

  minor point but you mean “rein her in”

  • [Pat Popov]

    What a homophone!

  • [Mark_Frauenfelder]

    Fixed it — thanks! I’ve made that mistake before (and I’ll probably make it again.)

• [taj1f]

  In this clip he’s clearly advocating…encouraging physical violence towards innocent children, finding their way in the world. What a tool.

  • [Guest]

    If you let them find their own way they’ll never grow up wracked with the sort of guilt that fills donation trays.

• [kleinfelter]

  Kids!  The moment your pastor shows signs of homophobia, tell your Dad (or your Mom) to 

  “Man up. Give him a good punch, OK?”

  If it is OK for a pastor to advocate violence against children, it is high time children advocate violence against the pastor.

  • [Guest]

    freethinking is violence, to some

  • [Cowicide]

    Right, if this pastor is advocating violence for homosexual tendencies, then he should knock himself out cold.

  • [bardfinn]

     No one has to stoop to this asshat’s level. When your pastor advocates domestic violence, stand up, shout him down, walk out, and file a criminal complaint. This is criminal.

  • [YamaraTheGod]

    Christians who aren’t Christian enough should be crucified.

    Christ up, and give him a good cross, okay?

• [Sam Ley]

  I don’t know what sort of “hateful words” he’s talking about, but “punch your children” is pretty high up on my list of “hateful words” that people might say about each other.

• [RachelF]

  The missing context is that many NC churches are pushing to pass Amendment One on 5/8, so unfortunately you can probably expect more horribleness from a lovely state to get posted on Monday….

  • [IronEdithKidd]

    Oh, so he’s simply flirting with revocation of his tax-exempt status.  Well, then, carry on.  Nothing to see here.

    • [Preston Sturges]

      Unfortunately sermonizing about “issues” is fine with the IRS, it’s just not supposed to endorse candidates.

      However, it was great that this vote is not part of the November ballot where it would be used to bring out the church vans packed with GOP voters.  That is the usual strategy. 

• [Lalo Martins]

  Oh yes, nasty language isn’t the response to this. Pressing charges for discrimination and encouraging domestic violence, yes. A person like that needs to be in jail.

  (No, I don’t believe everybody who is prejudiced and/or encourages domestic violence should be sent to jail. But everybody who does that to an audience, yes.)

  • [Steve Lord]

    I’m not a lawyer, but from my reading of North Carolina general statutes:

    http://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_14/GS_14-318.4.html

    “crack that wrist” sounds like “serious bodily injury” (assuming the time the wrist would need to spend in a cast counts as “protracted”.) So basically this person is encouraging parents to commit a felony. If any of those parents follow through, doesn’t that make him an accomplice?

    • [bardfinn]

       IANAL IANYL ATINLA

      Federal statute holds that anyone who ” … aids, abets, commands, counsels, induces or procures a crime…” shall be considered to be prosecutable as having actually committed the crime.

• [kleinfelter]

  And in that apology, he mentions “sexual immorality.”  I say it is high time for “sexual immorality” to include homophobia.

• [morcheeba]

  When I get beyond the horror of what he’s saying, I find it funny that his religion is against the alleged symptoms, and not the feelings underneath. I guess he’d be ok with lesbians as long as they were fem and not butch? What a crappy preacher.

  • [petertrepan]

    I may be wrong, but I don’t think there’s any Biblical prohibition against lesbians, either in Leviticus or from Paul in the New Testament. I find that interesting. Maybe it’s missing from Leviticus’s health-centric code because they had some equivalent to HIV back then and it didn’t really apply to lesbians, but I suspect it’s missing from Paul’s bigotry because he’s a man, and I’ve never known any man to be truly hostile to the idea of lipstick lesbians.

    I bet this preacher is relatively okay with fem lesbians for the same reason, even if he doesn’t realize it.

    • [bardfinn]

       He’s preaching from a doctrine that was introduced to the Bible by translators. the Gospels include two versions of a tale of Jesus in which a roman centurion tells Jesus of his concern for his distant male lover, and Jesus blesses the centurion and his lover.
      The homophobia angle is a political piece of bullshit, supported by a Levitican edict that only applied to priests (he who lies with a man as with a woman…).

• [Jose]

  WWJD?  Because, verily, a guy who spent his entire life hanging out with a bunch of other guys was undoubtedly a homophobe like the “good” pastor here.  And didn’t Jeebus preach violence against those he didn’t agree with?

  • [Marja Erwin]

    Not exactly, ’cause Jesus hung out with both men and womyn, it’s just the womyn have been erased from the popular understanding of the story or have been redrawn to fit male-defined narratives of sinfulness.

    • [bardfinn]

       Hallelujah and speak to it.

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      Hmm.  He hung with his mom and a hooker whom he wasn’t boning.  Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge.

      Wow, there are a lot of gay Last Supper images.

• [PhosPhorious]

  Two points:

  1) “Dropping the limp wrist.” Dot tumblr dot com.

  2)  What if your kid is into S&M?

  • [bardfinn]

     There’s nothing in the Old Testament that forbids S&M explicitly, just the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, which discusses promiscuity, licentiousness, and paedophilia.

    • [Jonathan Roberts]

      Specifically, depicting one of the ‘heroes’ of the Old Testament promoting paedophilia as a more acceptable alternative to gay sex with a house guest.

• [Andy]

  Complete D-bag. I guess lying isn’t a sin now??? He says you should hit your children, then he claims that’s not what he said. Welcome to the public record of your advocating violence against children, then lying about it. 

  • [starfish and coffee]

    But he did say “Give him a *good* punch”. Which is like, you know, not one of those *bad* punches, so…

    • [nixiebunny]

       How about a nice Hawaiian punch?

      [You have to be nearing 50 to get that.]

      • [IronEdithKidd]

        No you don’t.  I’m not even 40 and Hawaiian Punch was my favorite “juice” as a kid.

      • [chgoliz]

        Thanks to YouTube, my children are fully versed in 1960s and 70s pop culture references.

      • [bardfinn]

         My mother would repeat that throughout my childhood (1980′s).
        Granted, my mother is  incapable of restraining herself from committing domestic violence.

    • [Palomino]

      Yeah, he should have been more “subversive”; “Give him a good V8″ or “Give him a good Safe Auto”. 

• [doggo]

  Oh, I think nasty language is the best possible response to this jagoff (but I could be wrong.) I suggest, no, I command that you always refer to Sean Harris as (and please pardon me, my queer friends) “That fucking faggot, Sean Harris”, or “That closeted motherfucker, the Reverend, Flaming, Harris”. That is, at every turn, use the most foul, derogatory, epithets used for homosexuals to refer to that fairy, Sean Harris.

  I know, I know, “disrespectful”, “feeding the hate”, “perpetuating”, etc. Whatever. Give him a taste of his own medicine, I say. Be as crude as possible, I say.

  I know you’ll hate my idea. I apologize (in advance) to anyone I have unintentionally offended, except that nancy, Sean Harris.

  • [Preston Sturges]

    “Jagoff?”  Go Steelers!

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Say, isn’t seanharris slang for that crusty bit of pre-cum that sticks to the corner of your mouth?

    • [Palomino]

      Oral smegma? EW!

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        Maybe that would be a better definition.

        seanharris: noun. a frothy mix of spit, smegma and Zima

        • [Palomino]

          I’ve always loved the word “spittle” since I first heard it used in Dune.

          seanharris: noun. a frothy mix of spit, smegma and Zima

          And why do I want to scream:

          “I’ve been sexually Harrissed!” (Harrised?)

• [Preston Sturges]

  When a preacher comes out hating on Teh Gay, does that mean his church is like a gay sex club for rural closet cases? Or is that only sometimes? 

  • [Cowicide]

    I’m sure a lot of those guys hooting and praising “Amen!” to the idiot would act just like the hicks in the film Deliverance out in the middle of the woods.

• [Chuck]

  The part of his speech where he says “Oh no – oh no sweetheart. You can play sports. Play ‘em; play ‘em to the glory of God” makes me suspect that he’s one degree of separation away from the kinds of people who believe that a couple pushups will turn a girl into a lesbian.  (That’s right — those hotties on the jogging trail in your local park should all be condemned as lesbians, even if they’re exclusively attracted to men.)

  And I notice he focuses on mannerisms and personal tendencies (limp wrist, :butchiness”, etc.) rather than sexual acts or tendencies.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the kind who’d endorse prison rape as something “real men” would do in certain circumstances — either that, or a large number of people in his congregation believe in such things, and he has to keep them satisfied.

• [scottrose]

  He deserves for a gay man who was tortured for being gay as a child, but is now a hulking weightlifter, to beat the living shit out of him, in the name of any and all eventual gay people in his parish.  And, after he is lying on the ground in a bloody pulp, a group of lesbian motorcycle enthusiasts should all take dumps on his face.  He now is trying to complain about the nasty language being used against him — as though saying the words “fuck” or “eat shit and die, Sean Harris” really were worse than giving anti-gay bigot parents “special dispensation” to crack their sons’ wrists.  

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    I think I rented that film from the corner porn shop in the 90s.

    • [Palomino]

      (So why aren’t there a bunch of titles following?) 

      I choose Charles At Last.

    • [Preston Sturges]

      The Japanese original  is so much better than the dubbed version, but it’s not on Blu-Ray.

• [Mister44]

  1) What about the non-limp-wristed gays? Lots of ‘straight acting’ gays out there.

  2) re: “sexual immorality” – just assuming for a second gay sex is a sin – so is soooo much of the ‘straight’ sex out there. Worry about yourself.

• [Kevin Pierce]

  Christ, what an asshole.

• [nvlady]

  The conservative movement has gone away from their teachings to a, “you are on your own, money is a virtue, and the stereotypes we believe in are the only way to live,” mentality. 

  Christian Capitalism, the ultimate oxymoron. It’s the only way they can justify their insatiable desire for greed. Why? Because helping the poor, and not judging are such ‘liberal’ ways of thinking now. WHAT!!?? When did that happen!?

  When did they stop questioning their leaders?

  • [Wreckrob8]

    I find nothing oxymoronic in Christian capitalism. The two are inseparable.

    • [dnebdal]

      Yes and no. I’m a militant internet atheist on my spare time, but I’ll give them this much: Christianity as preached by Jesus doesn’t go well with capitalism. Not that any of them care about that – the evidence is almost entirely in your favor.

      In other words, it’s deeply hypocritical – and thus goes well with most of the rest of mainstream US christianity.

      • [Anon_Mahna]

         didn’t the church used to condemn/ban usury?

        • [dnebdal]

          At certain times, yes. And no.

• [fnc]

  Because beating up on children is such a manly thing to do. 

  • [Dree]

    And is known for giving rise to normal, well-adjusted adults who *don’t* later pay people to beat them up to remember those strange feelings of intimacy and physical pain.

• [Mitchell Glaser]

  This hateful priest should be forced into a cage fight with those two marine guys who were pictured kissing when one of them returned home from protecting their country. They would limp-wristedly bitch slap him into paste.

  • [cdh1971]

    I agree with your sentiment but I think these marines would just chuckle at him much like they would chuckle if they were supposed to cage fight a chihuahua.

    On the other hand, even if they were pissed off at him and if he was yapping vile abuse at them, I think they’re man enough to show restraint and not beat a weaker person – unlike Pastor Sean Harris. 

• [godfathersoul]

  It’s times like this that I wish I could be sitting there in that parish and just stand up and say “what the FUCK are you talking about? Beating kids? Are you crazy?” and then walk out. 

  But then… I’d have to sit through a lot of sermons to find the right one.

  Or I could always be that guy at each and every sermon.
  Oooo…. I think I just found a new hobby….

  • [Tynam]

     Damn.  Now I almost wish I lived in the US, so I could do this.  And document the responses.

    • [godfathersoul]

      Documenting the responses… i see a new youtube meme on the horizon. All you need is one person with a cell phone… that person wouldn’t even have to get up and make a scene. they would however have to sit quietly through the rest of the sermon. Call it penance…

      PLEASE someone do this. Make multiple videos. Be calmly disruptive.

  • [chgoliz]

    I don’t think you’d have to search long to find instances like this one.  Just pick the ‘right’ Protestant denominations — hint: avoid the Quakers and Universalist Unitarians — and you’ll be guaranteed a satisfying storm-out every Sunday.

    • [bkad]

      I didn’t hear a single comment on homosexuality growing up in church. Granted, it was a fairly liberal church (United Church of Christ — they’ve been ordaining gay preachers since the 70′s) but from talking to others who grew up in old, north-east US, ‘mainline’ protestant churches my experience was not that unusual (that is, regardless of what the church ‘taught’, it wasn’t ever discussed). I wonder if churches have only recently started bringing up homosexuality, or if it is a regional thing.

      • [chgoliz]

        I think time and region are both strong factors, but I would put UCC on the UU/Quaker side of the divide, anyway.

• [Kevin Pierce]

  Obviously, he’s speaking from experience.

• [Drabula]

  For my money the most disgusting part is the guffaws of approval coming from the audience. I wonder if there was one single mother fucker in that crowd whose conscience was prodding them to get up and walk out – OR stand up and shame him (impossible, most likely). One loud mouthed asshole preacher is one thing, but a room full of people voicing approval is another. Damn, I despise the American Taliban.

  • [Cowicide]

    hose conscience was prodding them to get up and walk out

    That would require self-awareness.  If you have any of that, you wouldn’t be there in the first place.

  • [Kathryn]

    Exactly. The a$$hole isn’t in a vacuum.

• [xian]

  He apparently doesn’t have a problem with bears, I think I know what his kink is.

• [MrJM]

   ”The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” 
  –  Queen Gertrude, Hamlet, Act III, scene II.

• [Brie]

  So its official.  According to Pastor Sean Harris, God does make mistakes.  Or does Pastor Sean Harris feel he is better than God apparently to him God is not making children properly and feels incline to correct Gods obvious mistakes.

  • [asterios9]

    Meh, he’d deny it is “natural” for a boy to act effeminate or a girl to be butch.  He’d blame “society’s permissive attitudes and mixed messages,” “political correctness” and a “failure of parental guidance.”  

    And underneath all of that, what is the ultimate cause?  THE DEVIL.  I am not even being facetious.   You forget how profoundly irrational Christian theology really is.

    • [petertrepan]

      http://profoundprophecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/church-sign_1486461i-300×193.jpg
      This sign is one hour from my house. Believe it or not, posters from more secular regions of the country, there are large numbers of people who believe in the literal devilled-ham devil.

      • [noggin]

        That’d be on I-65 near Montgomery.  I remember seeing it as a kid on my way to FL and laughed out loud so hard.

    • [Matthew Petty]

      You can’t say that Christian theology is irrational until you have been a theological scholar for your entire life. You’ve got to read all the books!

      • [Jonathan Roberts]

        I grew up in a very active Christian home with a dad who has literally thousands of Christian books. My family has been in full time Christian work since at least the mid 19th century. Since I was probably 7 or 8 I listened to about an hour and a half worth of carefully prepared sermons each week. I’ve personally done full time Christian work for three years and spent quite a bit of time studying the theology too. I’ve probably read the Bible six or seven times. When I told my father that I no longer believed in God, he asked me if I had really given God a chance. How can I say I don’t believe he exists when I’m giving up on him in my mid twenties?

    • [Wreckrob8]

      Original sin, the resurrection, redemption, compassion, forgiveness of sins and the incarnation which is the culmination of a process (progess) and which cancels and reverses everything preceding it. Makes perfect sense ‘cos fucking makes you die, right? Essentially nothing is permitted and everything is permitted.

  • [Wreckrob8]

    If God wasn’t an almost total fuck-up they wouldn’t need saving, would they? I think that is the whole point of Jesus.

  • [bardfinn]

    YOU FOOL! YOU’RE TRYING TO MAKE SENSE! WHAT IF HIS REALITY FIELD WERE TO COLLAPSE, AND HIS BOGONS MET YOUR ANTI-BOGONS!
    IT WOULD BE THE END OF CIVILISATION AS WE KNOW IT!

• [Ethan Taliesin Houser]

  This is just a degree or two away from gang rape as a “cure” for lesbianism.  What a demented asshole.

• [Green Ghost]

  This is all based on the proven scientific fact that you can punch the “gay” out of kids. I think it was Michelle Bachmann’s husband that did the research at his anti-gay clinic.  Good thing you can’t punch the “straight” out – or can you? Are all the gay kids the result of school bullying?

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Good thing you can’t punch the “straight” out – or can you?

    That depends on what you’re punching with, where and how deeply you’re punching, and whether or not you can get a good rhythm going.

• [Genre Slur]

  That man needs to be bent over the altar given a good old-fashioned talking to about how he should love people, regardless of who or how they seem to be.
  Post Script — By ‘who’ and ‘how’, I refer to them being different than him. Harris doesn’t get to sneak absolute values into the conversation (E.G. ‘I have to love them even though they are evil?’ does not compute).

• [strugglngwriter]

  Another overlooked bit of the video are the jagoffs shouting “Amen” after he says such hateful things. 

  • [Kathryn]

    I found that the most appalling thing about the video. The congregation was full on with him.

    • [sdmikev]

      That’s the worst part, to me.
      Not shocking, but still terrible.  Stupid goobers.

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      Angling for position in the pack.

• [Alexandros]

  I have a bunch of words  that come to my mind when I see this … lets put this mildly…terrible excuse of a human being.
  Only this much, he can be glad that he isn´t  here in Germany, public  incitement to a criminal offence like child abuse could get him up to five years in prison here. I don´t know how the current legal situation in the US is thou.

  • [bardfinn]

     If someone takes him seriously and does it? 100% prosecutable as an accessory.

• [SeriousPlay]

  I hope this man sees the error of his ways. If he doesn’t, well, maybe he’ll get hit by a truck, that would satisfy me too.

• [cbbb]

  I’m sorry, but isn’t this sort of thing inciting violence against children. This seems akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater. I’m all for his right to say stupid things, but this seems to cross the line into inciting dangerous and criminal activity.

  I think the authorities should have a discussion with him.

• [occula]

  Although this is not why I am a terrible disappointment to my parents, I am a straight female person who isn’t particularly athletic and is very much not beautiful. I guess I smell okay, but I think he wants my mom to punch me anyway.

  • [Sagodjur]

     Oh, I’m sure he also advocates pre-emptive beatings to make sure your kids don’t slip into teh gay. Maybe his other motto is, “a beating a day keeps the gay away!”

• [Cowicide]

  Well I started out younger at things that people start younger at 
  And a thousand days and nights of getting overexposed 
  Then someone asks, “How do you sleep at night?” 
  With the borrowed dreams from a broken past 

  You keep runnin’ away don’t matter how fast or long 
  You always wind up there 
  Another thousand pileups in the ugly name of morality 
  Fucking ugly, some creepy guy keeps asking 
  “How the fuck do you sleep at night?” 
  With a frozen dream and a borrowed hope that died 

  Filth pig, filth pig 
  I sleep with both eyes open 
  Filth pig, filth pig 

  I keep chasing this tail but the tail gets bigger go figure 
  A thousand more stories keep the fires and flames alive 
  So how the fuck do I dream at night? 
  With the memories of a borrowed death, the guilty past 
  Filth pig, filth pig 
  He sleeps with both eyes open 
  Filth pig, filth pig 

  He sleeps all right because he’s a 
  Filth pig

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QloZREyA8Xk

• [andre paris]

  i hope more people join Project Reason because of this

• [petertrepan]

  This preacher demonstrates how speech laws are selectively enforced. Martin Luther King Jr. got arrested repeatedly on incitement charges, but I don’t think any of us expect this guy to get frogmarched from the pulpit.

• [Brainspore]

  Know who else got punched and had his wrists broken for not conforming to social norms? JESUS.

  • [Gutierrez]

    Amen, Brother Brainspore!

• [Preston Sturges]

  It’s also worth pointing out that Fayetteville is one of these most crime ridden towns on the east coast thanks to its army base and proximity to I-95.  For a while they had a real  impressive string of soldiers killing their wives. 

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Fayetteville, Arkansas, on the other hand, has been rather gay-friendly since the 1970s.
    http://www.towleroad.com/2010/06/fayetteville-arkansas-mayor-says-screw-you-to-afa.html

• [SoItBegins]

  But the pastor’s committing a logical fallacy! What he’s talking about is adherence to traditional, societally-mandated gender roles, but that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with homosexuality. A man can be metrosexual without being gay, for example.

  • [typical_academic]

    You should point that out to him, I’m sure he’ll make a correction in his next sermon.

• [PinkWithIndignation]

  Arbitrary gender stereotypes created in the 20th century are exactly what the ancient Hebrew bible describes we beat into our children. Oh, and don’t forget all the explicit chapters of gay bashing in that same bible! People have, and always will, use divine will as an excuse to impose their belief onto others.

• [Roose_Bolton]

  I’d like to know exactly what goes on in his mind. Does he go home every night and just weep? He must. Somebody should talk to him before he ends up in a tall building with a big rifle.

• [Nicholas J Longtin]

  What a sad situation. This attitude is what directly contributes to young people taking their own lives. Young people are especially hurt when they don’t feel accepted.

  I recently interviewed some high school kids for a short film being submitted to the White House Champions of Change video challenge. These kids are extremely lucky to be in a school environment that supports them even if they don’t get support at home.

  Watch the video to learn more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyoeLuKjUdM

• [Baby Cachet]

  Sicking and he calls himself a person of God.

• [rattypilgrim]

  Jesus said (sic), “Suffer the children unto me…whoever harms a hair on their head would be better off with a millstone tied around his neck and cast into the sea…for such (children) is made the kingdom of heaven”. The preacher forgot that part.

  • [IronEdithKidd]

    There’s a raft full of stuff Pastor Harris has forgotten about the teachings of Jesus.  Such as; *all* of it.

• [Guest]

  Why give people like this coverage on BB? Until you do, the only ones listening to this crap are his little “flock” who agree wholeheartedly.

  Sure, he’s going to get plenty of hate mail from teh Internets now, but do you really think he cares?

  • [Roose_Bolton]

    A disease left unexamined and untreated will rarely heal itself.

    • [SomeGuyNamedMark]

      Unless you are talking to him or his flock I doubt this will affect him.  Yelling insults at people like him just harden their conviction that it is “us vs them”.

      • [Roose_Bolton]

        Yes, but the question wasn’t “why waste time insulting the guy in the BB comment thread”, it was “why give people like this coverage on BB”.

        Step One: Exposure.

        • [SomeGuyNamedMark]

          I can support that.  Like turning on the light on cockroaches.  They prefer the shadows.

    • [Guest]

      Yes, and it slowly kills the infected. This is a pathogen festering in a NC swamp. Once you dredge it up it might start to spread.

      I know, the video is really on YouTube and BB’s readership is only going to mock this guy… but hits to this page mean hits on the vid… next thing you know it is ranked popular and front page… and you know there are probably just as many positive comments as negative ones on the ‘Tube.

      Best we could possibly do is get YT to remove it as hate speech.

  • [chgoliz]

    Do you know every BB reader?

    You have no way of knowing how this information might get passed on.  Perhaps to a relative, or a business colleague.  Maybe someone here is a public official, or influential in their religious community.  Maybe 50 different BB readers will send a letter to their senator or representative about it.

    The operative word is “coverage”.  You can’t fight what you don’t see.  We are being educated about something we didn’t know when we woke up this morning.  Who knows how far the story will be disseminated as a result of this one little thread?

  • [Guest]

    “Why give people like this coverage on BB?”

    For the same reason you didn’t blog about it on your blog.

• [SomeGuyNamedMark]

  There you go, all that gay stuff has been straightened out.  Thanks Pastor Sean!

  Next week he lectures on how to cure mental illness by restraining patients in cages and dumping ice water on them.

• [dm10003]

  This is old but still powerfully ugly news in my circles. 

  Hey, does anyone think that “crack his wrists” is his Freudian slip (in the crack up to the wrist) that he thinks about doing with a boy? XD

• [TimRowledge]

  I don’t think “suffer the little children” is likely to have been meant to be taken that way. Then again, considering the staggering amount of vileness in the horribly misnamed ‘good book’, perhaps it was.

  • [Anon_Mahna]

     He’s the type of goram git that would believe that beating the child IS helping them..

• [Hiro David]

  Ya know… I usually don’t comment on religious items. I am a professing Christian, and a total geek. I love me some boingboing. Sadly I fear that a lot of times in geek culture, faith gets dismissed out of hand or ridiculed to no-end  (ie zombie-jesus, sky fairy kind of crap) which really irks me, but hey, we’re all entitled to opinions, right? I still love geek culture :)

  With that being said…

  This is the most asinine trash I have ever heard. Any man that calls himself  ”pastor” or “Man of God” and spews this kind of hatred ought to be absolutely ashamed!! Jesus is about love. There is absolutely nothing loving in this filth. I am embarrassed to be considered part of the same demographic as this jerk. (I know, not very loving of me… I’m a sinner too).

  It really gets under my skin that all believers are lumped in with this guy in the eyes of the majority of society. It saddens me. We’re not all like this guy. Some of us believe in Jesus.

  • [Nathan Hornby]

    I appreciate your sentiment, but this is hardly a unique example of the evils of organised religion.

    Few people have any issue with faith as a concept, or even others beliefs of a higher power; it’s the cult like aspect of man made faiths with a long history of control, corruption and destruction that turns critical thinking folks off of religion.

  • [GrrrlRomeo]

    If you don’t want to be lumped in with Christians like this, then you should actively oppose those Christians. You’re not the victim in this scenario. The victims are vulnerable children. If you’re a Christian, then I would think your first priority would be to protect children from terrible people advocating child abuse rather than be worrying about your reputation or Christian cred.
    He who exalts himself shall be humbled and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

• [♡ Malcolm Jackson]

  Ugliest thing I’ve seen in years, and from a pastor??!!  Words fail me.

• [thecleaninglady]

  I’ve always wondered, do Christians not notice the discrepancy between the core of Christ’s teaching — love & acceptance, and the hatred coming out of Christian preachers. How did “Practice Love” become “Be hateful, gang on others and generate as much carnage as possible to whoever I tell you to.”

  Could it have to do with the Church redefining the meaning of “love” to match “hatred and punishment?”

  Thank god I am not religious :)

• [bergamasque]

  And all throughout, the audience is clapping and laughing like they’re in a stand-up comedy club. Chilling!

• [bigboing]

  I wish my mom and dad had cracked my wrists and punched me–I could have grown up to be a pastor.

• [Tom Leo]

  Is that Mr. Garrison?

• [snagglepuss]

  Too bad there isn’t anything in the bible about beating the shit out of punk-ass preachers who recommend the violent abuse of children as a way of themselves avoiding dealing with their own issues.

  Oh, wait – I have a solution. Please, somebody out there – Selectively interpret some random bibble passage to justify doing exactly that, so it’ll all be “godly” and morally correct. Then take a baseball bat to that fucker, specifically the groin area and the jaw, and take a good long time explaining to him that pounding him into mush is just one of the many mysterious ways that the lord does his holy works. He’ll understand then.

• [Michael Johnston]

  Protest this jerk Sunday at his tax exempt church Sunday 9-12

  http://freethoughtblogs.com/rockbeyondbelief/2012/05/03/protest-the-fort-bragg-area-pastor-who-says-punch-your-gay-child/

• [Palomino]

  Now all we need is a picture of him and Romney together and then the Dem’s will have this entire Junior High Schoolish presidential election in the bag. 

• [Timothy Moorehead]

  To this guy, as to so many, the world is OUT OF SORTS, and in time, with “biblical backup,” this guy has a real sh*tty idea. This is pretty small, yes? Then We, the horrified community (bb&tc), will need to find, share, and distribute something BIGGER that not only circumvents this kind of filthy ethics…we will valorize the real instances of getting a grip on being homo sapiens on this globular realm. That’s it. Remember that this is instance is localized–then broadcast. Deal with that. Love and kisses!

• [anharmyenone]

  “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me”

• [fredesmite]

  I don’t know Mormons were as horrible as Southern Baptists ! 

• [curiousrobot]

  Christ, what an asshole.

• [Britt L.]

  Scumbag.

• [Laurent Dubois]

  I totally agree with this brave man! And I would add that we should kill the kids if they answer back and start listening to Justin Bieder. Now let me prepare my whip so I can beat my 2 year old because she refused to tell the grace for our 5 am breakfast and instead pretended to be asleep…

  We should be able to legally beat the hell out of this asshole and make him taste the flavor of a multiple fracture of the wrist, see if it would get limpy.