It’s sad that Peter LaBarbera has been reduced to picking fights/starting one-man witchhunts against college professors. It’s all he has left, apparently. I never thought I would say this, but I feel sorry for Warren Throckmorton, that he’s having to learn the true character of his erstwhile friend Peter firsthand. But anyway, the witchhunt continues with a letter written by some AFTAH reader (Matt “Bam Bam Right Hook Hunka Hunka Macho Smash Totally Not Gay” Barber, maybe?), reminding us that even if you’re not gay, if you act like a fag, you’re still going to hell:

Let us remember that the Bible not only condemns homosexual sex, but also plainly says that “the effeminate” will not inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor 6:9 KJV). Sin extends beyond explicit, overt activity/behavior; the attitude and demeanor of homosexuality must be cast off as well as the practice itself.

Do you hear that, Every Ex-Gay Ministry Leader? Still going to hell. Sorry.

You should always pay attention when a fundamentalist says that the Bible “plainly says” something, because they’re about to come at you with something intellectually equivalent to “If ‘Anglish was good enough fer Jesus, it’s good enough fer me!”

Okay, do you want to know what that verse is actually about? Well, it goes like this: to translate the word malakoi as “effeminate” is incorrect, at least insofar as “effeminate” is understood in modern society. The literal meaning is “soft” and it’s used elsewhere in the Bible and in other writings of the time to describe clothing, or wearers of certain kinds of soft, lush clothing. I could spend a lot of time explaining, but this and this are helpful places to start. In short, if you study the passage closely [a concept completely foreign to illiterate homophobes] in light of the culture in which it was written, the best translation is more of a concept of a soft, lazy, wealthy and well-fed ne’er-do-well sort. The word also was used sometimes in relation to the practice of pederasty, but again, one has to understand what pederasty was and was not. Lying bigots will tell you pederasty was just like our modern day concept of homosexuality, because they know that the people who listen to them are not well-read. Pederasty was a strange cultural phenomenon practiced by heterosexuals wherein a younger man, as a rite of passage, was sort of mentored by an older man. Sometimes it involved sex, but sometimes it didn’t. Here’s how Plato described it:

“When an older lover and a young man come together and each obeys the principle appropriate to him — when the lover realizes that he is justified in doing anything for a loved one who grants him favors, and when the young man understands that he is justified in performing a service for a lover who can make him wise and virtuous — and when the lover is able to help the young man become wise and better, and the young man is eager to be taught and improved by his lover — then, and only then, when these two principles coincide absolutely, is it ever honorable for a young man to accept the lover.”

But again, I emphasize that the word Paul used only sometimes referred to this practice, which does not remotely resemble a married gay or lesbian couple who are committed to each other in sickness and health, etc. But unfortunately, you fast forward 2,000 years and rednecks who can’t tell the difference between “your” and “you’re” feel comfortable explaining that the Bubble sez if you ack like a fag yer goin’ to hey-ull. It’s mindnumbing, I know.

Anyway, thus concludes your second Bible lesson from an atheist!