Piers Morgan has torn into an evangelical preacher who insists gays are “sin.”
On Thursday’s episode Piers Morgan Uncensored, the TV personality interviewed evangelist Franklin Graham, who is currently on a preaching tour of the UK.
The host spoke to the controversial evangelist about declining faith in God and organized religion in the United States, suggesting that churches’ views on the LGBT community could be one reason.
Graham has canceled events in the past for his comments about the LGBT community, with Morgan saying he supports free speech but questioning his views.
Morgan, who is known for his own controversial views, presented to Graham that he believes being gay is a sin, to which the preacher replied, “It’s what God says.
“It’s what the Bible teaches.”
Morgan pointed out that the Bible says “all kinds of things we don’t do now,” but Graham insisted that he “believe in the Bible from cover to cover.”
“There are things in the Bible that would be absurd today,” Morgan insisted, but the pastor persisted: “No, I believe the Bible is the word of God.”
“So we should still be stoning people in the street?” asked Morgan. ‘Would you do that? Would you allow adulterers to be stoned in the street?’
Graham rejected this by saying, “Jesus has set that right” and recalled a story from the Bible where a woman was brought before him to be stoned for adultery, but he told her to “go and sin no more.”
“Your tour is called God Loves You,” Morgan continued, asking, “Why do you think it’s Christian to stigmatize gay people?”
Graham insisted, “I’m not stigmatizing them… we’re all sinners, you and me.”
He continued, “God loves gay people, he loves us all,” and when asked if he himself “loves gay people,” he said, “Of course.”
“I love them enough to want to warn them and tell the truth.”
He insisted he doesn’t think the LGBTQ+ community is “more sinful” than straight people, as “we are all born in sin.”
“But to be forgiven, we must turn from our sins.”
Morgan disagreed and asked, “If I’m having sex with my wife and we’re both straight, that’s not sinful is it?” But if I was gay and had sex with a man, you’d think it’s sinful.’
“It’s not that I would think that, it’s what God calls it,” Graham insisted. “It’s what God teaches. The Bible teaches that.’
Morgan suggested that this way of thinking could be the reason religion is “going out of fashion in younger people.”
He added: “I don’t understand why I should be free and you should be free to have sex with who we like, but gays don’t.”
The evangelist claimed he doesn’t ‘hate gays, I don’t preach against gays…’
Morgan added: “You’re entitled to your opinion, but I think one of the reasons religion is becoming less popular is that young people look at seniors like you and think, ‘That doesn’t sound very Christian to me, that sounds to me. like someone who is homophobic.”’
He said to the pastor, “I think you should think about this a little more. Times change. People change.’
However, the preacher replied that God “is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow.”
Piers Morgan Uncensored is broadcast on TalkTV on weekdays from 8 p.m.
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