Knocking out stupidity...

I fought the tree and the tree won..., a photo by paynehollow on Flickr.

[Note/Caveat: I don't usually engage in name-calling, but the person in question here was advocating abuse of children and that's a whole other level of disgusting, so...]

Ugly stupidity in the news...

A pastor who advocated hitting boys who display effeminate qualities is expressing regret for the sermon he delivered in the midst of a controversial marriage amendment battle.

"Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist," Sean Harris, the pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, told his congregants in his sermon on April 28. He continued, "Man up, give them a good punch, OK. '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...'"

The pastor defended his comments, saying...

"You know, it's amazing how 'punch' has been equated to inciting violence against gay youth. That's not what I meant," the pastor said.

Instead, he said, the reference should be interpreted differently: "A shove, an affirmation. You see coaches give their players a good punch, a good slug. It's a way of affirming the gender distinctions between a male and a female," he said.

Anyone looking for a sweeping apology will be disappointed.

"I was apologizing for failing to say the right thing, for failing to be more careful, to make sure that no one thinks that Sean Harris is suggesting, as was said – although I never said this – ... 'Beat the gay outta children.' Those weren't my words, I didn't even believe there is such a thing as gay children. So I wasn't saying that. I was dealing with effeminate behavior, and instructing parents to affirm the manhood or the womanhood in their children," he said...

The upside to this horrible twisting of Scripture and good moral sense is that buffoons like this are doing their part to hasten the day when marriage equity is available for all and churches like this have, if not disappeared, marginalized themselves into irrelevance to the point that they are just laughed at sadly and ignored.

Or, wait a second, I have a better idea - a sermon is popping into my head, inspired by this fella...

Church members, the second you hear your pastor dropping mindless endorsements of abuse, you walk over there and smack 'em on the head. Just give 'em a good whack right upside their head. Tell them, "You're not going to act like that. You were made by God to have a mind and a sense of morality, USE IT!"

Now, please don't get me wrong: It's amazing how "whack upside the head" can be equated to inciting violence against idiot pastors. That's not what I meant.

Instead, the reference should be interpreted differently. You know, a "whack upside the head," a playful bop with a two by four, a good wallop. An affirmation. It's a way of affirming using your brain and good sense and the distinctions between moral people and goons.

I'm not saying we ought to "beat the stupid" out of pastors like this. Those aren't my words. I was dealing with imbecilic behavior and instructing churches to affirm non-stupidity and basic morality.

You see what I'm saying...?