Nearly 200 people have joined the Facebook group “Christians against Sean Harris and Berean Baptist Church's Message of Hate,” days after the Fayetteville pastor’s Sunday sermon encouraging parents to beat the gay out of their kids went viral.
“Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you crack that wrist,” said Harris. “Man up! Give him a good punch! You’re not gonna act like that!”
“You heard audible 'amen'. You heard audible applause,” said Norfolk Pastor Mark Byrd, an openly gay Christian leading the New Life Missionary Community Church of Hampton Roads. “It was just as disturbing to me to hear the reaction by the congregation to his sermon .”
Several members of Harris’ congregation applauded as he said, “When your daughter starts acting too butch, you rein her in, and you say ‘Oh no, oh no sweetheart. You can play sports; play them to the glory of god. But sometimes you're gonna act like a girl, walk like a girl, talk like a girl, smell like a girl...”
“It's one thing to teach your children,” said Byrd. “It's another thing to do so in a way that either borders or crosses the line on child abuse.”
Harris has retracted his sermon, and issued an apology in his church website.
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