{"id":842,"date":"2009-05-05T09:37:11","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T09:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/2009\/05\/joe-the-plumber-on-the-queer-c.html"},"modified":"2009-05-05T09:37:11","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T09:37:11","slug":"joe-the-plumber-on-the-queer-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2009\/05\/joe-the-plumber-on-the-queer-c.html","title":{"rendered":"Joe the Plumber on Queers & Christian Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an interview in Christianity Today by Sarah Pulliam, Samuel Wurzelbacher <\/a>says he likes James Dobson, John Eldridge, and Sarah Palin — and criticizes the Republican Party for not standing up for evangelicals enough. “They use God as a punch line,” said the man who became famous as Joe the Plumber.
\nAs for homosexuality, he says:<\/p>\n

People don’t understand the dictionary–it’s called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It’s not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we’re supposed to do–what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we’re supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I’ve had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they’re people, and they’re going to do their thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Part of what I like about this quote is it makes clear why gays are not, and should not, be assuaged when evangelicals say they “love them.” Joe the Plumber loves them too. He just won’t let his children “anywhere near” them.
\nI’m not saying that it’s impossible for someone to be against gay marriage and still accept gays as people. And there are some Christian leaders who seem to genuinely do both. Many, however, say they “love” gays and then illustrate that they actually hold them in contempt. That’s bad for gays but, just as important, that’s bad for Christianity. It’s making a mockery out of the phrase “Christian love.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an interview in Christianity Today by Sarah Pulliam, Samuel Wurzelbacher says he likes James Dobson, John Eldridge, and Sarah Palin — and criticizes the Republican Party for not standing up for evangelicals enough. “They use God as a punch line,” said the man who became famous as Joe the Plumber. As for homosexuality, he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nJoe the Plumber on Queers & Christian Love - Steven Waldman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2009\/05\/joe-the-plumber-on-the-queer-c.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joe the Plumber on Queers & Christian Love - Steven Waldman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an interview in Christianity Today by Sarah Pulliam, Samuel Wurzelbacher says he likes James Dobson, John Eldridge, and Sarah Palin — and criticizes the Republican Party for not standing up for evangelicals enough. “They use God as a punch line,” said the man who became famous as Joe the Plumber. As for homosexuality, he…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2009\/05\/joe-the-plumber-on-the-queer-c.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Steven Waldman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-05T09:37:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"swaldman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Joe the Plumber on Queers & Christian Love - Steven Waldman","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2009\/05\/joe-the-plumber-on-the-queer-c.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Joe the Plumber on Queers & Christian Love - Steven Waldman","og_description":"In an interview in Christianity Today by Sarah Pulliam, Samuel Wurzelbacher says he likes James Dobson, John Eldridge, and Sarah Palin — and criticizes the Republican Party for not standing up for evangelicals enough. “They use God as a punch line,” said the man who became famous as Joe the Plumber. 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