After NFL-hopeful Michael Sam “came out” as a homosexual a few weeks ago, sports media was atwitter trying to find a locker room response that was headline-worthy. They thought they had one with Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins:

“From a football standpoint, if the guy can help us win, come help us win,” Cousins, who is a devout Christian, is quoted by MLive as saying during an appearance at Michigan’s NorthPointe High School. “Now, there are a lot of teammates in my locker room right now who may not have a homosexual lifestyle, but they have sins, too. They’re not perfect. So I don’t say they can’t help us win. Nobody’s perfect.”

That sounds like a reasoned, and reasonable, expression of tolerance from Christian perspective. That shouldn’t cause a ruckus, should it?

Right.

Outsports’ Jim Buzinski was among those who were critical of Cousins’ statements. “People like Cousins seem well-meaning and he would like to think he’s only full of love,” he wrote. “But his assumption that homosexuality equals imperfection and sin is insulting, as is his desire to proselytize.”

Noted. Buzinksi find Christianity insulting.

Added Guest of a Guest’s Nicole Mills: “While Cousins doesn’t specify which ‘sins’ his teammates partake in, we can only imagine from the reputation that football players often have. Cheating, excessive drinking, etc., is on the same level as a dude loving another dude?”

While a biblical discussion on sin would probably take a bit longer than the time available here, yes, it is true that the Christian faith considers cheating, drinking to excess, etc, to be “sins” — as it does homosexuality.

Many other reactions to Cousins’ comments were less…kind.

The Christian perspective on sin generally and homosexuality specifically has been around for about 2,000 years. It was a paradigm the United States largely shared for about the last 200 years. It continually amazes that there are people who seem surprised that a Christian would find homosexuality to be sinful.

Even more amazing, a Christian saying so in a manner as benign as Cousins is considered bad, “wrong” (in an awkwardly self-contradictory moral judgment), or even actionable.

Seems Isaiah had something to say about that in his day, noting the future of Israel:

Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:20

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