Mississippi State Rep. Andy Gipson (R) #fundie

Mississippi State Rep. Andy Gipson (R) #fundie huffingtonpost.com

The Mississippi state lawmaker who cited a Bible passage on Facebook calling for gay men to be "put to death" has taken to the social networking site again to refuse to apologize for the remark.

Rep. Andy Gipson (R-Braxton) went on Facebook Friday to say that although he has been receiving emails and calls from around the country about his citation of Leviticus 20:13, as well as Romans 1:26-28, in a May 10 Facebook post on President Barack Obama's endorsement of gay marriage, he will not say he's sorry. The emails have come in response to a petition calling on the lawmaker to issue an apology and to meet with LGBT groups in Mississippi.

"To be clear, I want the world to know that I do not, cannot, and will not apologize for the inspired truth of God's Word. It is one thing that will never 'change,'" Gipson wrote. "Anyone who knows me knows I also believe that all people are created in God's image, and that all people are loved by God, so much so that He gave us the truth of His Word which convicts us of the reality and guilt of our sin, and He gave us His Son Jesus who paid the full penalty for all our sins, by His grace through our faith in Him as we repent of our sin. John 3:16. It is this message that I preach every Sunday. I sincerely pray God will reach someone through this message."

Gipson is a Baptist minister and a business lawyer when not serving in the Legislature. He notes in his official state biography that his family are "of the Christian faith, and are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention."

75 comments

old comment by Horsefeathers

"Rep. Andy Gipson (R-Braxton) went on Facebook Friday to say that although he has been receiving emails and calls from around the country about his citation of Leviticus 20:13, as well as Romans 1:26-28, in a May 10 Facebook post on President Barack Obama's endorsement of gay marriage, he will not say he's sorry."

I guess in your deep Bible research to find those verses you somehow managed to miss all of those places where Jesus tells you not to be an asshole and, instead, to love your neighbor and that you have no right to judge anyone else.

"'To be clear, I want the world to know that I do not, cannot, and will not apologize for the inspired truth of God's Word. It is one thing that will never 'change,'' Gipson wrote."

I hope you mean that your opinion won't change and not that the Bible doesn't change because, well, it has.

"'Anyone who knows me knows I also believe that all people are created in God's image, and that all people are loved by God, so much so that He gave us the truth of His Word which convicts us of the reality and guilt of our sin, and He gave us His Son Jesus who paid the full penalty for all our sins, by His grace through our faith in Him as we repent of our sin. John 3:16. It is this message that I preach every Sunday. I sincerely pray God will reach someone through this message.'"

This is what's called lip-service. It's also called being a hypocrite. Both will surely serve you well in what will no doubt be a long, dull, and entirely unnoteworthy political career.

"Gipson is a Baptist minister and a business lawyer when not serving in the Legislature. He notes in his official state biography that his family are 'of the Christian faith, and are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.'"

Well then, that explains several things.

old comment by SpukiKitty

@Matante
Yeah. I remember now.

@Brendan Rizzo
Brendan, I like you. I promised never to be snarky at ya but...well...you've turned into Headache. You need a therapist. I don't know what happened that made you switched sides. Ever heard of "shades of grey"? It's not "one or the other/black & white", my friend.

I noticed something. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I suspect that Brendan Rizzo & Headache are one and the same, a sock-puppeter. Here's how I've arived to this conclusion.
* When Brendan was "Mr. America", he used to spar with "Mr. Anti-America", Headache, a LOT! They were like arch-foes. Brendan was the Liberal version of "America Is Great & Europe Is Stupid" whereas Headache, of course was the reverse.
* Suddenly, Brendan's doing Headache's schtick & HEADACHE HASN'T BEEN SEEN SINCE!
....Things that make you go, "Hmmmmmmmmmmm"....

Some trolls are VERY clever & not anywhere near as obvious...they're really that GOOD at trolling. I suspect that Brendan/Headache is a very committed, very subtile, very ingenious master troll.

old comment by Brendan Rizzo

@ SpukiKitty:

If you know how to do so, compare my IP address to Headache's. We are not the same person. I would hate for you to wind up thinking so.

Maybe I do have a bit of a problem when it comes to countries. But no matter how often I am told otherwise, I won't be able to believe America isn't doomed until reactionaries release their hold on the country. That won't happen for decades if it happens at all. At least other countries realize the foolishness of religion. Mine doesn't. Its motto is even a statement of faith, which probably goes against the Constitution. For some reason I think we at FSTDT are fighting a losing battle. Even if we aren't climate change will probably wreck the world before this century is out. Thanks a lot, Republicans.

old comment by Brendan Rizzo

If we're going to continue the discussion we had earlier (and I can't find anywhere else to put this) I should point out that I have tried to find good, legitimate sources that say America is great. However, every single article on the subject I have found, without exception, misses the point entirely. The only sources that say America is still great are conservatives. That would be one thing, but the smugness exuded by these articles has only reconfirmed my belief that the country is doomed. Every last one, when talking about the "greatness" of the USA, either pretends that it is the only free country in the world or, when comparing it to European countries, implies that Europeans hate freedom and support al Qaeda -- accusations which Europeans point to in order to prove the ignorance and arrogance of Americans. Our own media prove the stereotype correct. Ipse dixit. These patently false claims are a sure sign that defenders of America are grasping at straws. When pressed to give American accomplishments, these articles never provide anything after WWII -- because there are no good American accomplishments after then. Everything following was a failure. Never do these articles ever mention America's penchant for warmongering, religious fundamentalism, and Gilded Age-style economics -- all of which are practically nonexistent in the rest of the free world -- the very countries which these articles disparage without cause. So because there are no pro-US sources which aren't biased or hopelessly inaccurate, I think that Xotan and Headache are right.

old comment by SpukiKitty

Agreed on most counts, Brendan. We don't deny that the U.S. is a land of warmongering, jingoistic blowhards & ignorant sheep. Blind jingoism makes me barf, too. We just think you're going overboard into Headache levels of displeasure.

That said, I respect your opinion. You are allowed to have that opinion. We have no right to badmouth you for your opinion, we just think the "Headachey" nature of your posts get, well headache-inducing.

Heck, even I sometimes have moments where I just want to throw up my hands & move to Canada. I may still make tracks for Canada even if America isn't doomed, just in case.

If Obama's reelected & the voting trend goes Blue, then I'll see some hope. However, if the reverse happens then I'll KNOW it's 100% fixed & it's "Game Over" for the country.

old comment by Brendan Rizzo

@ whatever:

How come it's only America which has these massive pendulum swings? Whenever the other democratic countries appear to be heading to the right, they always rebound before the right-wingers can do any permanent damage. In America, however, every single social reform between Roosevelt and Carter has been overturned by now, and there is no sign of a swing back. Even if there were, it would probably take another thirty years for the acts of the ultraconservatives to be undone and then another thirty for America to finally reach the standards of the rest of the free world. By that time, who knows what sort of bad things could happen?

old comment by whatever

@Ryushikaze
"If the progressives leave the country, then it will be doomed. Instead of US progressives moving out, we need to start getting as many Canadian and European progressives moving IN as we can to disrupt the right wing attempt to rule through sheer numbers.

If you/ your friend hate the direction the country's gone in, start doing shit about it. Stick it in people's craws. Be loud and noisy and make yourself heard.
I live in NC. Amendment one is a piece of shit and shouldn't have passed. It did. That doesn't mean the fight for basic decency is forever lost. It means we keep fighting."

I can just imagine the US conservatives' reaction to a bunch of foreigners coming in and telling them what to do in their own country.