https://www.dailykos.com/news/SeanHarris News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Sun, 26 Jan 2020 20:02:43 +0000 Sun, 26 Jan 2020 20:02:43 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/6/1117197/-Tell-NC-to-investigate-school-run-by-pastor-who-thought-joking-about-child-abuse-is-OK <p>If you'll remember, back in May--just a few days before North Carolina voters approved the blatantly discriminatory Amendment One--Pastor Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville encouraged the parents in his flock to give their kids "a good punch" if they display gay tendencies. &nbsp;The video went viral, and apparently someone told Harris that he would have been in deep legal doo-doo had any of the parents in his congregation actually taken him up on his advice. &nbsp;<a href="http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/official-statement-of-retraction.html">He issued a retraction three days after preaching that sermon</a>. &nbsp;</p> <p>Well, this weekend I discovered something so egregious that it merits a repost from yesterday. &nbsp;Turns out that retraction wasn't sincere at all. &nbsp;Three months later, the video of that sermon is still available on the church's YouTube channel. &nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rROFJyeSp6I">See for yourself</a> (the screed begins at the 45:46 mark):<br /> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rROFJyeSp6I" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>Maybe it's just me, but if Harris were a bit sorry about this, you'd have thought the first thing he'd have done was to delete that video. &nbsp;But it's been three months now--well beyond any good-faith explanation for why it's still up.</p> <p>Now here's the really disturbing part--this church operates a full-fledged Christian school, <a href="http://www.bbafnc.org">Berean Baptist Academy</a>. &nbsp;Is this the kind of environment that is at all appropriate for a school? &nbsp;I should say not! &nbsp;</p> <p>Private schools in North Carolina are under the supervision of the state Division of Non-Public Education. &nbsp;<a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/director-north-carolina-division-of-non-public-education-investigate-berean-baptist-academy">Sign this petition and help make it happen</a>.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) Anti-Gay Bigotry Child Abuse ChildAbuse Civil Rights CivilRights Hate LGBT LGBTYouth Marriage Equality MarriageEquality North Carolina NorthCarolina SeanHarris _1117197 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:28:09 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/5/1117007/-Tell-NC-to-investigate-school-run-by-pastor-who-thought-joking-about-child-abuse-is-OK <p>If you'll remember, back in May--just a few days before North Carolina voters approved the blatantly discriminatory Amendment One--Pastor Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville encouraged the parents in his flock to give their kids "a good punch" if they display gay tendencies. &nbsp;The video went viral, and apparently someone told Harris that he would have been in deep legal doo-doo had any of the parents in his congregation actually taken him up on his advice. &nbsp;<a href="http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/official-statement-of-retraction.html">He issued a retraction three days after preaching that sermon</a>. &nbsp;There's just one problem. &nbsp;It wasn't sincere.</p> <p>Three months later, the video of that sermon is still available on the church's YouTube channel. &nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rROFJyeSp6I">See for yourself</a> (the screed begins at the 45:46 mark):<br /> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rROFJyeSp6I" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>Maybe it's just me, but if Harris were a bit sorry about this, you'd have thought the first thing he'd have done was to delete that video. &nbsp;But it's been three months now--well beyond any good-faith explanation for why it's still up.</p> <p>Now here's the really disturbing part--this church operates a full-fledged Christian school, <a href="http://www.bbafnc.org">Berean Baptist Academy</a>. &nbsp;Is this the kind of environment that is at all appropriate for a school? &nbsp;I should say not! &nbsp;</p> <p>Private schools in North Carolina are under the supervision of the state Division of Non-Public Education. &nbsp;<a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/director-north-carolina-division-of-non-public-education-investigate-berean-baptist-academy">Sign this petition and help make it happen</a>.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) Anti-Gay Bigotry Child Abuse ChildAbuse Civil Rights CivilRights Hate LGBT LGBTYouth Marriage Equality MarriageEquality North Carolina NorthCarolina SeanHarris _1117007 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 19:56:41 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/4/1116719/-Sermon-that-encouraged-parents-to-give-gay-kids-a-good-punch-is-still-up-on-YouTube <p>If you'll remember, back in May--just a few days before North Carolina voters approved the blatantly discriminatory Amendment One--Pastor Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville preached a sermon urging a "Yes" vote. &nbsp;Nothing out of the ordinary, since Berean Baptist is an independent fundamentalist Baptist church. &nbsp;But then Harris went several miles off the deep end by encouraging the parents in his flock to give their kids "a good punch" if they display gay tendencies. &nbsp;The video went viral, and in the face of almost universal criticism, Harris took to his blog to claim <a href="http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/important-clarification-to-sundays.html">his words were taken out of context</a>. &nbsp;But apparently someone must have told Harris that he would have been in deep legal doo-doo had any of the parents in his congregation actually taken him up on his advice, because the next day <a href="http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/official-statement-of-retraction.html">he issued a retraction</a>. &nbsp;There's just one problem. &nbsp;It wasn't sincere.</p> <p>Three months later, the video of that sermon is still available on the church's YouTube channel. &nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rROFJyeSp6I">See for yourself</a> (the screed begins at the 45:46 mark):<br /> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rROFJyeSp6I" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>The only thing that appears to have been added is raw video of Harris walking the aisle while preaching. &nbsp;If you'll notice, there's scarcely any sign of apprehension from the congregation--indeed, more than a few "amens." &nbsp;Maybe it's just me, but if Harris were a bit sorry about this, you'd have thought the first thing he'd have done was to delete that video. &nbsp;But it's been three months now--well beyond any good-faith explanation for why it's still up. &nbsp;The only plausible conclusion one can draw is that Harris still believes it's OK to beat the gay out of children.</p> <p>Now here's the really disturbing part--this church operates a full-fledged Christian school, <a href="http://www.bbafnc.org">Berean Baptist Academy</a>. &nbsp;Is this the kind of environment that is at all appropriate for a school? &nbsp;I should say not!</p> rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) Anti-Gay Bigotry Child Abuse ChildAbuse Civil Rights CivilRights Hate LGBT LGBTYouth Marriage Equality MarriageEquality North Carolina NorthCarolina SeanHarris _1116719 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:55:31 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/9/1090208/-Should-a-church-that-finds-it-okay-to-joke-about-child-abuse-be-running-a-school <p>Let's assume for the sake of argument that Sean Harris really was joking when he suggested the parents at Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville give their kids "a good punch" if they display gay tendencies, one thing is beyond dispute. &nbsp;If that's the case, then the environment in that church is such that it's acceptable to joke about abusing children. &nbsp;That doesn't sit well with me at all--especially considering that the church operates a full-fledged Christian school, <a href="http://www.bbafnc.org">Berean Baptist Academy</a>.</p> <p>I don't know about you guys, but the kind of environment in that church doesn't seem like one that's appropriate for a school. &nbsp;Especially considering how traumatic child abuse can be.</p> <p>Private schools in North Carolina are regulated by the <a href="http://www.ncdnpe.org">state Division of Non-Public Education</a>. &nbsp;Additionally, the school is accredited by the <a href="http://www.aacs.org">American Association of Christian Schools</a>. &nbsp;We probably should drop them a line and at least get them to call Harris on the carpet for that sermon.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) Child Abuse ChildAbuse North Carolina NorthCarolina SeanHarris _1090208 Wed, 09 May 2012 22:24:24 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/6/1089243/-Sean-Harris-give-them-a-good-punch-sermon-is-STILL-available-despite-retraction <p>If you'll remember, Sean Harris issued a retraction of his sermon last Sunday in which he told the parents in his congregation that the best way to deal with gay tendencies in their kids was to "give them a good punch." &nbsp;You'd have thought that once he issued that statement, one of his first priorities would be to delete all traces of that sermon, right? &nbsp; Well, folks, as of right now (Sunday afternoon, Eastern time), the video of that sermon is still up on both <a href="http://www.sermonaudio.com/playpopup.asp?SID=42912940300">the church's Website</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rROFJyeSp6I">its YouTube channel</a>.</p> <p>About the only plausible excuse Harris might have is that he simply didn't have time. &nbsp;But that excuse simply doesn't wash because the "give them a good punch" bit was <a href="http://media.sermonaudio.com/mediapdf/42912940300.pdf">edited out of the sermon transcript</a>.</p> <p>I had been willing to give Harris the benefit of the doubt--that maybe, just maybe once he got out of his cocoon, he realized he'd stepped in it and that he'd really realized he'd screwed up big time. &nbsp;But if he hasn't deleted that sermon, one has to wonder how sincere that apology was.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) AmendmentOne Anti-Gay Bigotry Child Abuse ChildAbuse Civil Rights CivilRights Hate LGBT LGBTYouth Marriage Equality MarriageEquality North Carolina NorthCarolina SeanHarris _1089243 Sun, 06 May 2012 19:21:15 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/4/1088691/-Sean-Harris-give-them-a-good-punch-sermon-says-more-about-the-climate-of-his-church-than-him <p>As a North Carolinian, you can probably imagine that Sean Harris' sermon this past Sunday hits a particularly raw nerve with me. &nbsp;Just when we're finally turning the page from the legacy of Jesse Helms, here comes a pastor giving the parents in his church "special dispensation" to deal with gay tendencies among their kids by "giving them a good punch."</p> <p>To his credit, Harris apologized on Wednesday--no doubt after being told that if anyone actually took him up on his advice, he'd end up in an orange jumpsuit himself., &nbsp;However, almost, if not more, disturbing than the actual sermon is that Harris initially fobbed it off as a joke. &nbsp;Indeed, most of the people who were in attendance that day at Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville supposedly "knew" <a href="http://fayobserver.com/articles/2012/05/02/1174936">their pastor didn't really mean for people to actually beat the gay out of their kids</a>.<br /></p> <blockquote>Harris said he polled his pastoral staff and members of the congregation Tuesday after he started getting telephone calls and abusive emails once his comments went viral. <p>From within the church, Harris said, "the response was, 'Pastor, we know you didn't mean that.' "</p> <p>"We know when you're saying something seriously and when were supposed to just understand the intent and not the application,' " Harris said.</p> </blockquote> Now, I'm used to seeing disconnect between what fundies and the reality-based world find acceptable. &nbsp;Many of you know that I was suckered into joining a hypercharismatic campus ministry at Carolina that found nothing wrong with out-and-out deceiving people about who they really were so as not to scare people away. &nbsp;But this takes the cake. &nbsp;There is something fundamentally wrong (the pun was intended) with a church where a pastor can even think joking about child abuse is at all acceptable. &nbsp;Even if you allow for the nature of an independent fundamentalist Baptist church like Berean--where the pastor's word is pretty much the law--this is off-the-charts disturbing. rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) AmendmentOne Anti-Gay Bigotry Child Abuse ChildAbuse Civil Rights CivilRights Hate LGBT LGBTYouth Marriage Equality MarriageEquality North Carolina NorthCarolina Recommended SeanHarris _1088691 Fri, 04 May 2012 13:43:34 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/3/1088530/-Book-of-Fallopians-Ranting-Homophobe-Version <p>It's been a banner week for insane, ranting, homophobic pastors and weirdos. From forcing and then gloating over the resignation of Romney's foreign policy spokesman, to Sean Harris telling parents to "Smack the gay out," to a DJ telling a father to have a friend "rape his daughter straight"...my skin has crawled, my eyes have goggled, and my hair has stood on end at the words these loonies have spewed.</p> <p>WTF??? And on a personal note, when I tweeted a picture of my son (he's almost 12) leading our UAWOW march last Saturday, some asshole sent me a tweet that said, "Better get him into sports before he turns into a fruit." Fucker. As far as I know, my son is straight, but if he isn't, I DON'T CARE. He's my CHILD.</p> <p>So, it's time for another chapter in the Book of Fallopians.</p> rss@dailykos.com (BadKitties) BookofFallopians BryanFischer Homophobes horridDJ LGBT RicGrenell SeanHarris Sluts _1088530 Fri, 04 May 2012 04:18:49 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/2/1088293/-NC-pastor-apologizes-for-telling-parents-to-beat-the-gay-out-of-their-kids <p>Earlier today, Pastor Sean Harris raised the white flag and apologized for his sermon this past Sunday in which he gave "special dispensation" to the parents in his flock to <a href="http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/official-statement-of-retraction.html">give their kids "a good punch" if they were acting gay</a>.<br /></p> <blockquote>I should not have said what I said about “cracking,” “punching,” and particular bias toward outward attraction of girls. Nor should I have used the words “special dispensation.” I did not say that children should be squashed. I have never suggested children or those in the LGBT lifestyle should be beaten, punched, abused (physically or psychologically) in any form or fashion. The gospel is the only source of power sufficient to deliver anyone from the power, penalty, and presence of all forms of sin including, but not limited to, all forms of sexual immorality including homosexuality.</blockquote> Harris characterizes this as a full retraction of his words from Sunday. &nbsp;That's a pretty big turn-around from yesterday, when he took to his blog to claim his words had been <a href="http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/important-clarification-to-sundays.html">taken out of context</a> and told <i>The Fayetteville Observer</i> that <a href="http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/05/02/1174936">it was only a joke</a>. &nbsp;Methinks someone must have told Harris that had anyone in his flock actually taken him up on his advice, he'd have been in deep legal doo-doo. &nbsp;Even when you take that into consideration, he deserves a good deal more credit than Patrick Wooden, the Durham pastor who made news earlier this year with his hateful and uninformed suggestion that gays have serious health problems. &nbsp; rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) AmendmentOne Anti-Gay Bigotry Child Abuse ChildAbuse Civil Rights CivilRights Hate LGBT LGBTYouth Marriage Equality MarriageEquality North Carolina NorthCarolina Recommended SeanHarris _1088293 Wed, 02 May 2012 22:02:07 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/2/1088150/-OOPS-Berean-Baptist-home-of-hate-preacher-Sean-Harris-took-down-their-contact-page <p>Thanks to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/user/uid:150162">lwfky</a> for pointing out that Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville NC, home of "pastor" Sean Harris (pastor kid puncher) has taken down its contact page!</p> <p>I wonder why? Could it be the pressure, from the problem being first introduced by this <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/01/1088039/-NC-Amendment-One-sign-shooter-confronted-by-dozens-of-deputies-">diary</a> from Chris Love, ratched up by this <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/01/1087962/-ACTION-Email-Pastor-of-Hate-Sean-Harris-child-abuse-advocate-?showAll=yes">ACTION</a> diary posted yesterday that lists the contact information of the pastor, church, and Liberty University, and now a great petition publicized by <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/02/1088130/-ACTION-ALERT-Tell-NC-pastor-to-apologize-for-suggesting-gay-kids-need-a-good-punch-">Christian Dem in NC</a> on the reclist this morning?</p> rss@dailykos.com (GoGoGoEverton) Action Amendment1 bereanbaptist Gay Rights GayRights Hate Speech hatesermon HateSpeech North Carolina NorthCarolina SeanHarris _1088150 Wed, 02 May 2012 14:18:20 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/2/1088130/-ACTION-ALERT-Tell-NC-pastor-to-apologize-for-suggesting-gay-kids-need-a-good-punch <p>This past Sunday, Sean Harris, pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina; urged his congregation to support the effort to write a ban on same-sex marriage into the North Carolina constitution. &nbsp;But toward the close of that sermon, he went completely off the deep end by <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/01/1087931/-Sick-Sick-Sick-NC-pastor-advocates-beating-the-gay-out-of-children">suggesting that the parents in his flock give their kids "a good punch" if they think they're acting gay</a>. &nbsp;In case you missed it, watch the whole thing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rROFJyeSp6I">here</a>. &nbsp;The screed starts at the 45:46 mark:<br /> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rROFJyeSp6I" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>Harris must have figured out that he stepped in it. &nbsp;He took to his blog last night to claim that <a href="http://pastorseansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/important-clarification-to-sundays.html">his words were taken out of context</a>. &nbsp;He also told <i>The Fayetteville Observer</i> that <a href="http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/05/02/1174936">he was only joking</a>, and most of his congregation knows he didn't mean it. &nbsp;No, Pastor. &nbsp;Child abuse is not a joking matter. &nbsp;And any person who even thinks it is a joking matter has no business being in a pulpit.</p> <p>Harris has only one way out of this--issue a full apology for his hurtful words. &nbsp;<a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/pastor-berean-baptist-church-apologize-for-telling-parents-to-give-gay-kids-a-good-punch">Sign this petition telling him to do so</a>. &nbsp;It'll send a letter directly to his email--hopefully a few hundred or thousand emails clogging his inbox will give him a dose of "conviction."</p> rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) AmendmentOne Anti-Gay Bigotry Child Abuse ChildAbuse Civil Rights CivilRights Hate LGBT LGBTYouth Marriage Equality MarriageEquality North Carolina NorthCarolina Recommended SeanHarris _1088130 Wed, 02 May 2012 13:19:48 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/1/1087962/-ACTION-Email-Pastor-of-Hate-Sean-Harris-child-abuse-advocate <p>Our <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/01/1087931/-Sick-Sick-Sick-NC-pastor-advocates-beating-the-gay-out-of-children">Chris Love</a> has a reclist diary explaining the horrific and woefully un-Christian message from "Pastor" Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, NC; paraphrased simply as "Beat the Gay out of your Kids."</p> <p>I call on fellow Kossacks to respond. See below the squig for how.</p> rss@dailykos.com (GoGoGoEverton) Action Amendment1 Gay Rights GayRights North Carolina NorthCarolina respond SeanHarris _1087962 Tue, 01 May 2012 20:26:29 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/5/1/1087931/-Sick-Sick-Sick-NC-pastor-advocates-beating-the-gay-out-of-children <p>I'm disgusted. Actually, no, I'm a lot more than disgusted, but to my knowledge, no word in the English language describes the level of repulsion I'm feeling after listening to this clip.</p> <p>Sean Harris, the Senior Pastor of <a href="http://www.bbcfnc.org/seniorpastor.php">Berean Baptist Church</a> in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has some words of advice for parents of possibly LGBT children: Smack them around. Beat the gay out of them. Or, in his precise words, <strong>"Give 'em a good punch!"</strong></p> <p>Follow me below the fold.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Chrislove) AmendmentOne Anti-Gay Bigotry Child Abuse ChildAbuse Civil Rights CivilRights Hate LGBT LGBTYouth Marriage Equality MarriageEquality North Carolina NorthCarolina Recommended SeanHarris TeenSuicide Violence _1087931 Tue, 01 May 2012 19:22:07 +0000