Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the
influential First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, has sided with
Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson.
Robertson was suspended from the
reality show after stating that gay sex is an illogical “sin.”
(Related: Conservatives
compare Phil Robertson to Pope Francis, Martin Luther King, Jesus.)
Appearing on CNN's New Day,
Jeffress said that what Robertson said about homosexuality is in
keeping with what the Bible teaches.
“And that is that God created sex for
a man and a woman in a marriage relationship and any deviation from
that, whether it be adultery or pre-marital sex or homosexuality, is
sinful,” Jeffress said. “And when Phil says that it's unnatural
for a man to be with a man, or a woman with a woman, it's a misuse of
the body, he is simply quoting what Paul says in Romans 1. Now
people might not agree with that, they may want to attach some new
interpretation to it, but people don't have the right to label Phil
or me or tens of millions of Evangelical Christians as hateful
because we hold to a historic understanding of the Bible.”
“To say homosexuality is sinful is no
more hateful than saying adultery is sinful,” he added.
Earlier
this year, Jeffress compared gay sex to plugging a 120-volt
television into a 220-volt outlet.