Cathleen Falsani’s latest piece, “Is Evangelical Christianity Having a Great Gay Awakening?,” touches on a small, but growing movement among Evangelicals to be more welcoming to gays. Or at least stop throwing them on the eternal fire pits of Hades. She talks about her own encounters with friends who “came out:”

“According to biblical accounts, Jesus said very little, if anything, about homosexuality. But he spent loads of time talking, preaching, teaching and issuing commandments about love.

That was my answer: Love them. Unconditionally, without caveats or exceptions.

I wasn’t sure whether homosexuality actually was a sin. But I was certain I was commanded to love.”

She then talks to Jay Bakker (son of Jim) who’s the pastor of Revolution NYC, a bar-based congregation in Brooklyn:

“The truth is that the Bible endorses all sorts of attitudes and behaviors that we find unacceptable (and illegal) today and decries others that we recognize as no big deal. Leviticus prohibits interracial marriage, endorses slavery and forbids women to wear trousers. Deuteronomy calls for brides who are found not to be virgins to be stoned to death, and for adulterers to be summarily executed.

“The church has always been late. We were late on slavery. We were late on civil rights. And now we’re late on this.”

Bakker also talks about  what he and other believe are incorrect translations of the original Greek in the Bible. Instead of “homosexuality” he feels the correct translation is about male prostitution and the men who solicit them.

Which, to me, is kind of beside the point. Just read the quote above again. That’s the crux. It also brought back all sorts of wonderful memories of the following clip. It might have been the first time my jaw literally hit the floor while watching TV.