Michele Bachmann’s husband is alleged to have called gays barbarians, something many are latching on to as reason to dismiss her candidacy for President. Bachmann is claiming that the tape being bandied about by lefty blogs is doctored but Morgen at VerumSerum is looking into the issue anyway:
I can understand how Marcus Bachmann’s statement in this clip could be understood by some to mean that he was referring to gays as barbarians. But I don’t believe this is what Bachmann intended to convey. The key to understanding his comment from a Christian perspective is his sub-sequent statement about man’s “sinful nature”. In the Christian tradition, we are born into sin and thus prone to transgressions against God by our very nature (see Romans 5:12-21 or even Wikipedia). In God’s eyes we are all barbarians, worse even, and God does not distinguish much between categories of sin.
Thus, it seems pretty clear to me that Bachmann’s was referring to young people in general, particularly adolescents, as “barbarians”, due to their natural propensity to be curious about sexual activity. And that is the job of parents and other authority figures to counter these natural (and often destructive) urges through education.
This understanding seems entirely consistent with Bachmann’s comments both leading into and subsequent to the statement in question. And don’t forget that in the Christian tradition extra-marital sex of any form is condemned. Having grown up in evangelical churches, I could just as easily imagine someone like Bachmann making the same comment about straight pre-marital sex, which is obviously more prevalent.
Morgen’s fellow co-blogger John adds:
I think what we really have here is a case of gays not familiar with evangelical tropes on sexuality assuming they are being singled out for harsh treatment. And again, there’s no denying that in some cases gays are singled out by evangelicals, but I don’t think this is really a good example of that.
On a less theological note, I will also add that the initial report on this comes from the same Think Progress LGBT blog that misread the Family Leader Pledge to say it involved a “porn ban” which it did not. So, by my accounting, that’s twice they have misinterpreted the meaning of something involving Bachmann. One begins to get the sense they are out to get her, fairly or not.
Strange eh? Leftists out to smear a conservative woman with lies and half-truths. It’ll be tough to top the treatment Sarah Palin has been getting from liberals but something tells me that they’re going to go all out and try. And with their candidate having the problems he’s having, the attempts will be loud and plentiful.
Thank God for alternative media.
