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North Carolina Pastor Sean Harris: Parents Should 'Punch' Their Gay-Acting Children (HuffPost)

A North Carolina pastor's horrific anti-gay tirade is making the blogosphere rounds.

Sean Harris, senior pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Fayettesville, spoke at length in support of North Carolina's proposed Amendment 1, which would outlaw same-sex marriage, during an hour-long sermon on Sunday. In this clip, provided by Jeremy Hooper of the blog Good as You, a man identified as Harris is heard urging his congregation to attack their children if they appear to be exhibiting behavior outside of gender norms.

Notes Harris:

"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.

Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male. And when your daughter starts acting too butch, you reign her in. And you say, 'Oh, no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play them to the glory of God. But sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You are going to dress yourself up.'"

Read the rest here.

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At times I truly wonder if this is some kind of contest among evangelicals, to see how outrageous they can be in public. For Pastor Harris, apparently hatred and bigotry are not enough any more; now he has to introduce violence and bullying as proposed curative measures for children who are probably in enough internal turmoil as it is.

Oh, sure, Harris has made something of a retraction ... but the fact is that the bell cannot be un-rung. His opinion was expressed and his words are out there, and there are unthinking sheeple in his audience who will take his message to heart.

This is despicable. Back-pedaling notwithstanding, Harris should be censured and disempowered from his position, preferably by his own congregation (if they have the cojones to do so [doubtful!]), and he should face the kind of mocking derision that Harold Camping did for his specious predictions about the end of the world.

It's time that stupidity at this level should have a penalty associated with it.

Tags: Sean Harris, bullying, gender identity

1 member likes this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David W on May 2, 2012 at 8:07am

Reading about this makes me sad. Genuinely sad. Pisses me off, too.

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on May 2, 2012 at 8:12am

Make you SAD? Hell, it makes me wanna kick Pastor Harris in the nuts ... more than once!

Permalink Reply by Jessica on May 2, 2012 at 11:03am

There will be parents who agree with this moron and continue/start beating there children. No wonder gay teens commit suicide. My son is 4 and he likes all things boy but sometimes he will ask for a baby doll or to watch Strawberry Shortcake. This guy would have me beat him?! I'm so proud to live in NC today.....

Permalink Reply by Pat on May 2, 2012 at 11:05am

Actually, I wouldn't expect anything less from a religious troglodyte like Harris. After all, it's not like he doesn't have precedent from other churches for this. The standing "joke" among us who went to Catholic School was which hurt worse - the brass ruler or the long pointer. And, you got whacked if you just spoke out of turn, or asked a question about religious inconsistencies. So now, to save a toddler's everlasting soul from the eternal fire, you must beat him/her into refusing to recognize and embrace who that child may really be. Make him/her ashamed of themself, repress any normal form of self expression, make sure to teach that their bodies are filthy and any expression of sexuality, or the human emotions that stem from that expression, are vile , despicable filth.

Hmmm, let me think. Now why are there so many pederast priests, bloodthirsty lunatic mysogynist mullahs, and incestuous pedophile Mormon polygamists?

Permalink Reply by matthew greenberg on May 2, 2012 at 12:52pm

haha, you beat me to it Loren. sorry for duplicating your efforts. crazy story.

Permalink Reply by Langston on May 2, 2012 at 1:37pm

I believe you mean "courage", not "cojones". Courage is not gender-specific, and nothing about having testicles necessarily comports with courage.

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on May 2, 2012 at 1:44pm

Courage or cojones, I doubt either is present in sufficient quantities to expect the requisite action needed. Of course, that's why they call 'em SHEEP.

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Simeone on May 2, 2012 at 11:16pm

Loren,

Thank you for sharing this important but horrific story. Encouraging child abuse from the pulpit? What kind of a man is Harris? This takes teaching spanking to a whole new level. If this man has children he should be investigated by the state.

Permalink Reply by Alice on May 3, 2012 at 11:01pm