Old habits die hard. If you think that the Christian right has toned down its rhetoric when it comes to LGBT issues, think again. One of the most vicious ideas of the religious right is seeing a revival: the idea that homosexuality should be a capital offense. Moreover, the people promoting it aren’t relegated to the fringe, but are front and center among the leaders that Republican presidential candidates are courting.
Case in point: Kevin Swanson, an Colorado minister who called for the execution of gays and lesbians just this month. He did so at a conference that he organized, citing Leviticus. Then he invited his guests out to ask them some questions: GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal. Cruz later said the “doesn’t know what this gentleman has said and what he hasn’t said,” which beggars belief given the circles that Cruz’s father runs in. It also raises the question: Why the hell doesn’t he know anything about the people with whom he associates?
Swanson isn’t alone in his belief that death is too good for us. At the same conference, Philip Kayser, another religious right figure, was distributing a pamphlet that argued the death penalty was just when it applied to us.
Such sentiments shouldn’t come as a surprise. Earlier this year, a lawyer named Matthew McLaughlin proposed a ballot measure in California that would allow the state to “put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method” and LGBT citizens. McLaughlin was readily dismissed as just one more nut in the plentiful right-wing orchard, but he was merely reflecting a belief that still lingers on among the right wing, even as society rapidly changes.
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And then, of course, there has been the religious right’s promotion of anti-gay legislation in Uganda. An earlier version of that bill would have allowed the country to execute gays, which the American ministers fanning the flames of homophobia conveniently dismissed as going to far.
In fact, there’s a strong thread of kill-the-gays belief running through the religious right. One of the chief influences of the modern conservative evangelical movement is Rousas Rushdoony. Rushdoony founded the Christian Reconstructionist movement, which called for the U.S. to follow Biblical law, including executing LGBT people. The movement remains popular, especially during the GOP primary season. Four years ago, Republicans were tripping all over themselves to court David Barton, who advocates for theocracy.
For the most part, figures like Barton avoid calling for us to be rounded up and exterminated. But the underpinnings of their thinking are rooted in a philosophy that makes such murderous hatred a tenet of faith.
So, just when you think we’ve made some progress, the reminders come along that virulent homophobia has a long half-life. What keeps it going is the wink and the nod that Republican candidates keep giving it. Thanks to Cruz, Huckabee and Jindal, killing gays may be becoming respectable again.
Related: Christian Pastor Thinks Gay Couples Should Be Put To Death On Their Wedding Day
Phillip Bernal
Nero had the idea and use for these fucks, Lion food or patio lights…
Erven Cote
Very scary indeed! And these are the same folks who cry foul when Sharia Law is discussed … sounds much like it … is it to be called Leviticus Law?
Chris Trahan
Domestic terrorist
Brian JC Kneeland
If they also followed all of Leviticus their position would make more sense – but they pick and choose what to ignore!Q
1EqualityUSA
Thank you, Queerty. Please talk about this more. Alistair Wiseman,BJ McFrisky and more will find some merit to embrace, writing long-winded, interminable comments in support of Republicans. Nauseating. Whenever the notion of equality is brought up in any real way (poof) gone.
Brian
It’s incredible how similar these fundamentalist Christians are to the fundamentalist Moslems. They are like 2 peas in the same pod.
Harvey Shaeffer
Last Sunday in Des Moines Iowa, 32 miles from my home.
walshwitch
Why do you give this garbage the time of day? In doing so, you are complicit in it. There isn’t one person mentioned in this article that is of any relevance, whatsoever. Not one. They’re clowns and the more energy you give them, the bigger they “think” their weenies are. My mother’s best advice ever: ignore them and they will go away. #fuckem
Ian Watson
RELIGIOUS BREEDING OF HATE, AND HATRED
BEING BRED IN OUR WORLD,
COMPLETELY EVIL,
THIS IS THE CAUSE OF THE PARIS MASSACRE,
Ian Watson
Dale High
We should be more afraid of this than ISIS … Because this is the same mindset
Alexander R. Rodriguez
Alexander R. Rodriguez
The Democrats who want to kill you
Will Glitzern
Why stop at LGBT? Kill everyone who ISN’T old, white, rich and republican.
Ronald Wei
There comes a point where one has to wonder whether where Christ should be sits Satan.
walshwitch
This paranoia is profound.
Louie Mars
well,of course they want gays dead-why do you think AIDS was introduced into the population?
Uncv1
What is the difference between these guys and the radicals that wanted to take out innocent lives in Paris? Why haven’t these guys been called out by the media or others? If they were Muslim (no offense to the majority of Muslim brother and sisters who are against killing) they would be on a terror watch list. The scary part is the crazy republicans can’t see past the nose on their face to make the connection. I hope the rest of the nation can see it. They scare me more because it fuels the hatred in this nation.
aliengod
@Dale High: What an incredibly ignorant statement.
These “pastors” are nothing more than blowhards that get off on hearing themselves talk. They represent such a minuscule fraction of christians in this country that they pose no threat. And the Republican candidates that attended this event haven’t a snowballs chance in hell of getting elected President. On the other hand, ISIS is slaughtering thousands of people across the planet. They aren’t just talking about it.
As a gay man, if I had to be locked in a room with a Christian extremist or a Muslim extremist, I’d for sure choose the Christian. They’re more likely to shout and scream and pray the devil out of me. The Muslim would detach my head from my body with a dull knife.
Kathukid
When Fascism comes to America, it will be draped in a flag and carrying a cross.
16669d
This is another reason I love living in canada.no gay witch hunts and politicians
Would never use hate speeches because they are against Canadian laws and off course
Human dignity.
David of montreal
alphacentauri
@walshwitch: Exactly.
alphacentauri
@aliengod: Very true, yet queerty completely ignores covering anything about Fundie Muslims who want us all dead, and who are a real threat.
walshwitch
@alphacentauri: Thank you.
walshwitch
This thread baffles me. Ladies, own your shit– in doing so, the almighty “they” will never own you.
Giancarlo85
@aliengod: You are BSing yourself completely. I want ISIL destroyed and eliminated off the face of this earth as much as anyone else. But the way you grossly and disgustingly underestimate the power of the Christian far right in the republican party shows you really have no clue what’s going on.
If I had to be locked in a room with any kind of extremist, I’d find my way out of there immediately as both would want me dead. Christian extremists wholly and fully endorsed the “kill the gays” bills and are friendly to other African Christian dictators who impose the death penalty on gay people.
And what do you propose to do with ISIL? I’ve proposed giving the Kurds heavy weaponry (though Turkey may not like that) and think the Kurds need an even more autonomous (or even independent) state in Northern Iraq.
I’d rather be locked in a room with a Kurd than ISIL or the Christian Taliban.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/08/turkey-hdp-party_n_7537648.html
Awesome party. I’d rather be locked in a room with these leaders because I know they would respect me. Kurds are Muslim, yet highly secular and modernized. I suspect Iran would be the same way if they could ever get rid of the old 80+ year old Mullahs… well old age will get to them.
Giancarlo85
By the way the HDP, a pro-gay, pro-women Kurdish party in Turkey isn’t some non-factor. They garnered 13% of the vote, and considering that Kurds represent 20% of Turkey’s population… that’s pretty substantial. They also eroded Ergodan’s ability to pass whatever he wanted to do so.
So I just pointed out a party that is more pro-gay than the republican party. And it’s an moderate Islamic party.
Oh and they aren’t quiet about it either. They are a highly vocal party. They have 80 seats in the Turkish Parliament and are proving a huge roadblock to Ergodan.
Kurds have always been secularized and politically left wing, but they are still Islamic.
gaym50ish
I’m sure we can find a good, Judeo-Christian reason to give Kevin Swanson the death penalty. Has he ever touched his wife when she was menstruating? The penalty is stoning. Has he ever cursed his mother or father? “His death shall be upon him.” Did he ever commit adultery? Same thing.
In Romans Chapter 1, all of these folks get a death sentence: fornicators, liars, gossipers, boasters, children who are disobedient to their parents, covenant-breakers, the implacable, the envious, the unmerciful and several other types.
martinbakman
In California, Huntington Beach-based X-tian attorney, Matt McLaughlin introduced the “Sodomite Suppression Act” ballot initiative describing homosexuality as a monstrous evil and calling for gays to be put to death by a bullet to the head. California Attorney General Kamala Harris took McLaughlin’s initiative to court where it was disallowed from the ballot. IMO, this kind of hate speech seems coordinated, at a minimum as a way to stir enough emotions for the wing nuts to open their checkbooks and give to churches and politicians one more time.
jonjoe
@Alexander R. Rodriguez: Name the Democrats who said they want to kill gays. People like you are like Jews who supports the Nazis.
jonjoe
@aliengod: ISIS kills indiscriminately – even their own fellow Muslims. These Christian pastors and their hateful murderous rhetoric target gay people in this country. You may think they are insignificant but rightwingers who listen to them are not an insignificant number of the population. Gay bashing is on the rise in this country and somehow I doubt they are caused by fundamentalist Muslims.
Barb Kipper
Here’s where I want so badly to have a magic wand!! People are just BAD.
Giancarlo85
@Alexander R. Rodriguez: And what democrats are those? You really are a liar. And you won’t even defend the lies you post on here. You just post lies and you take off. One day you’ll get over your delusions.
youarekiddingme
@Alexander R. Rodriguez: I have watched you post your hateful lies about Democrats through several topics here on Queerty. Now you’re slamming Democrats again saying, “The Democrats want to kill you.” That’s a vile statement coming from a young man who is supposed to be a devout christian I must say!
You, like most other “kristians” never practice what you preach. Kristians, by the way are hypocritical people who do not follow the teachings of their religion! Go to church on Sunday and become vile assholes when you leave the church doors. This is not your first time. You make these general statements (backed up by NOTHING) and then run away)!
The article comes about from a right-wing religious idiot who put on a conference and said some very horrible, disgusting, hateful things. Things that some idiot republicans supported by their support and attendance at the conference. This idiot does not represent all the folks who happen to be religious (I think most of us realize that).
People like Alistair Wiseman, BJ McFrisky and other republicans who post here see nothing wrong with supporting the likes of Jindal, Cruz and Huckabee…assholes!
As a young man hopefully you will gain the advantage of a little worldly life experience…That experience will teach you to be ware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Being religious is fine (if that’s what you’re into)…organized religion, well that’s a whole other topic.
youarekiddingme
@aliengod: : You may be correct in that these religious idiots don’t represent a majority of christians, but does that mean we dismiss them out of hand? Do we dismiss the likes of Ted Cruz (who is in Congress and has power) as “not a snowball’s chance in hell?”
I’m happy that you are able to predict election outcomes in the future, but I’m not. People said that a black man wouldn’t be elected in 2008 either…hmmmm. People said Trump was a joke when he announced his candidacy….hmmmmm. People said Trump would be out of the ring by November (cuz he’s such a big mouth, se@ist, ra@ist, blowhard). Guess what? He’s still here and he on top of many Polls!
Yea, I’m worried about ISIS. I’m worried about appropriate screening of immigrants. I’m worried about terrorist attacks. Let’s not obscure the topic here. I’m scared of head lice, crabs, bed bugs, hiv, robbery, murder and a whole host of other problems. The topic is this right-wing religious idiot who wants to see fags killed and the republican presidential candidates who fuckin support him!!
Bottom line. I’m VERY concerned about this situation. Snowball starts out very small. Rolls down a hill and becomes a giant. Never underestimate an opponent. Religious right (and republicans who support them) are opponents/adversaries and some of them are downright EVIL. They need to be closely monitored and not “blown off.”
Merv
@walshwitch: These guys aren’t relevant? Did you read the article? Swanson is rubbing elbows with top presidential candidates who also happen to be sitting governors and senators. Rushdoony was *very* influential when he was alive, and he remains relevant through his writings and the homeschooling movement he spawned.
walshwitch
@Merv They are as relevant as you allow them to be, I guess. I mean, Bobby Jindal? Seriously? What an utter boob. Silliness. Enjoy your fear, if that’s what winds you up but my hunch is your energy is better spent elsewhere.
Billysees
@Brian:
” It’s incredible how similar these fundamentalist Christians are to the fundamentalist Moslems. ”
It is amazing isn’t it? And it makes you ask — why is conservative, fundamentalist religiosity too much preoccupied with death? That kind of attitude comes from parts of their holy books. But why are they in these holy books in the first place? I can’t answer that, but I do remember reading the following from Christian texts —
1. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another…Romans 14:13
2. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God…Romans 15:7
3. …all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble…1 Peter 3:8
4. Be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone…Titus 3:2
Now if the gay haters and scorners would just concentrate on using those verses as guidelines for their personal beliefs and public discourse, imagine how much better a world we would live in.
Daggerman
..Jesus Christ almighty! Some people really need to get a life! But the point is all these hard nosed Christians are too scared of life. Burn in hell! ’cause that’s where you’re going!
Itrebo
Im confused! Live in a catholic country in europe and always thought it couldnt be worse…here catholics are famous for being conservative, protestants have the reputation of being more open minded and liberal.
But even our catholics arent as bad as your protestants!? And your presidential candidates meet with people who wanna execute gays???
Even for our right wing parties that would be to much…thought its easier for gay people in the US than in europe. Not sure about that anymore. Maybe its easier in San Francisco than Houston? Where should i move? 🙂
1EqualityUSA
Itrebo, Free speech doesn’t correspond with intelligent speech. Who would vote for such a politician? USA is reaping the harvest of underfunding schools for many generations. An uneducated population is more easily controlled. A financially threatened population is swayed with false promises and met with utter callousness. Republicans remove important initiatives to level the playing field. The financial sector is politically oppressive. Voter suppression is merely one method of gaining control. How vulnerable is a nation which has so few voices? A consensus usually yields acceptable solutions, as all are seeing the problem from unique perspectives. Fear is steering. People are so easily swayed by fear. Republicans use this emotion to manipulate people. Free speech is our way of differentiating, as cellular biology would have some cells become red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Where one Republican venue is cultivating “kill the gays” to their audiences, others are looking forward. Night and day.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Here’s chapter and verse on a more-or-less comprehensive list of things banned in the Leviticus book of the bible. A decent number of them are punishable by death.
Unless you’ve never done any of them (and 54 to 56 are particularly tricky), perhaps it’s time to lay off quoting 18:22 for a while?
1. Burning any yeast or honey in offerings to God (2:11)
2. Failing to include salt in offerings to God (2:13)
3. Eating fat (3:17)
4. Eating blood (3:17)
5. Failing to testify against any wrongdoing you’ve witnessed (5:1)
6. Failing to testify against any wrongdoing you’ve been told about (5:1)
7. Touching an unclean animal (5:2)
8. Carelessly making an oath (5:4)
9. Deceiving a neighbour about something trusted to them (6:2)
10. Finding lost property and lying about it (6:3)
11. Bringing unauthorised fire before God (10:1)
12. Letting your hair become unkempt (10:6)
13. Tearing your clothes (10:6)
14. Drinking alcohol in holy places (bit of a problem for Catholics, this ‘un) (10:9)
15. Eating an animal which doesn’t both chew cud and has a divided hoof (cf: camel, rabbit, pig) (11:4-7)
16. Touching the carcass of any of the above (problems here for rugby) (11:8)
17. Eating – or touching the carcass of – any seafood without fins or scales (11:10-12)
18. Eating – or touching the carcass of – eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat. (11:13-19)
19. Eating – or touching the carcass of – flying insects with four legs, unless those legs are jointed (11:20-22)
20. Eating any animal which walks on all four and has paws (good news for cats) (11:27)
21. Eating – or touching the carcass of – the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon (11:29)
22. Eating – or touching the carcass of – any creature which crawls on many legs, or its belly (11:41-42)
23. Going to church within 33 days after giving birth to a boy (12:4)
24. Going to church within 66 days after giving birth to a girl (12:5)
25. Having sex with your mother (18:7)
26. Having sex with your father’s wife (18:8)
27. Having sex with your sister (18:9)
28. Having sex with your granddaughter (18:10)
29. Having sex with your half-sister (18:11)
30. Having sex with your biological aunt (18:12-13)
31. Having sex with your uncle’s wife (18:14)
32. Having sex with your daughter-in-law (18:15)
33. Having sex with your sister-in-law (18:16)
34. Having sex with a woman and also having sex with her daughter or granddaughter (bad news for Alan Clark) (18:17)
35. Marrying your wife’s sister while your wife still lives (18:18)
36. Having sex with a woman during her period (18:19)
37. Having sex with your neighbour’s wife (18:20)
38. Giving your children to be sacrificed to Molek (18:21)
39. Having sex with a man “as one does with a woman” (18:22)
40. Having sex with an animal (18:23)
41. Making idols or “metal gods” (19:4)
42. Reaping to the very edges of a field (19:9)
43. Picking up grapes that have fallen in your vineyard (19:10)
44. Stealing (19:11)
45. Lying (19:11)
46. Swearing falsely on God’s name (19:12)
47. Defrauding your neighbour (19:13)
48. Holding back the wages of an employee overnight (not well observed these days) (19:13)
49. Cursing the deaf or abusing the blind (19:14)
50. Perverting justice, showing partiality to either the poor or the rich (19:15)
51. Spreading slander (19:16)
52. Doing anything to endanger a neighbour’s life (19:16)
53. Seeking revenge or bearing a grudge (19:18)
54. Mixing fabrics in clothing (19:19)
55. Cross-breeding animals (19:19)
56. Planting different seeds in the same field (19:19)
57. Sleeping with another man’s slave (19:20)
58. Eating fruit from a tree within four years of planting it (19:23)
59. Practising divination or seeking omens (tut, tut astrology) (19:26)
60. Trimming your beard (19:27)
61. Cutting your hair at the sides (19:27)
62. Getting tattoos (19:28)
63. Making your daughter prostitute herself (19:29)
64. Turning to mediums or spiritualists (19:31)
65. Not standing in the presence of the elderly (19:32)
66. Mistreating foreigners – “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (19:33-34)
67. Using dishonest weights and scales (19:35-36)
68. Cursing your father or mother (punishable by death) (20:9)
69. Marrying a prostitute, divorcee or widow if you are a priest (21:7,13)
70. Entering a place where there’s a dead body as a priest (21:11)
71. Slaughtering a cow/sheep and its young on the same day (22:28)
72. Working on the Sabbath (23:3)
73. Blasphemy (punishable by stoning to death) (24:14)
74. Inflicting an injury; killing someone else’s animal; killing a person must be punished in kind (24:17-22)
75. Selling land permanently (25:23)
76. Selling an Israelite as a slave (foreigners are fine) (25:42)
1EqualityUSA
Imagine a school, online, where students of any age may learn and be tutored. Scholarships could be awarded to those showing the most initiative. The site could supplement lessons and enhance learning. Tests, done at testing sites, render credits earned for college. Scholarships and assistance with tuition could impel students to accumulate credits. Anybody could log on and learn something, no restrictions. Competition can be exhilarating. Learning could be skateboarder-cool.
Merv
@walshwitch: At the very least, Bobby Jindal is relevant in his home state of Louisiana, where he is sitting government. If you’re familiar with RJ Rushdoony’s writings on “theonomy” (his word for totalitarian theocracy), theocracy is to be implemented at the state level once a certain threshold is reached (I think 80% Christian), so that makes Jindal especially relevant. Rushdoony said quite explicitly that gay people are to be executed. His son-in-law Gary North described how stoning was the best method for executing gay people because of the easy availability of stones, and because it brings together the whole community to enforce Biblical law.
Merv
@Merv: I meant to write sitting governor in the previous post, not sitting government.
Kangol
These are the white Xians without the hoods on. They want to kill gay people, and I bet if you spend enough time around them you’ll see they hate independent, non-subservient black people, brown Latinxs, Asian Americans, and non Xian Native Americans, as well as all Muslims of whatever race, ethnicity or gender.
They are generally so full of hate and rage they spend more time thinking of how they can harm others than getting help for their psychological problems.
Since they have a pact with billionaires to ensure lower taxes and more power to corporations in exchange for implementing draconian anti-government and anti-democratic policies all over the US (think ALEC), which is basically what the contemporary Republican Party has come to represent, we’re stuck with them.
youarekiddingme
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS: Very enlightening…Thank You for your post Sir! I am going to copy it and give it to a select few “idiots” that I have to deal with!
scotshot
@walshwitch: Your mother was wrong, ignoring them only encourages them.
Spend some time actually reading about politics and inform yourself. Stating these people are clowns only exhibits ignorance.
scotshot
@walshwitch: Your mother was wrong, ignoring them only encourages them.
Spend some time actually reading about politics and inform yourself. Stating these people are clowns only exhibits ignorance ……..
WEBOne
@Brian JC Kneeland: If they would just read the beginning of the chapter that they’re so fond of quoting
Leviticus 18:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God.
Every chapter of Leviticus starts that way…
Billysees
@1EqualityUSA:
” …Free speech doesn’t correspond with intelligent speech. ”
How true that is. Sometimes I think that free speech is the desire of a fool because it is so easily abused. Interesting comments about speech from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
Billysees
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS:
Thanks for this listing of chapter and verse of things banned. I’ll save this for future use. But they are the reason I prefer the NT because of its more loving and more meaningful attitudes such as those I listed previously in this column.