I found the following article in the summer 1991 edition of
Free Inquiry magazine. It is written by Skipp Porteous.
Several months ago, I appeared as a guest on "Sound Off,"
hosted by Paul Gonzales on WSB in Atlanta, Georgia. The
program was scheduled in response to statements I've made
about Christian Reconstructionism. Gary DeMar, a member of
the Coalition On Revival's (COR) Steering Committee, and a
leading Christian Reconstructionist author and lecturer, was
also invited to speak. Throughout the program, Gonzales
emphasized that I've maintained that COR membership alone
does not mean that one advocates all of the tenets of
Christian Reconstructionism. What follows is a brief excerpt
from that interview.
DEMAR: The definition of Christian Reconstruction is simply
this: The Bible applies to every facet of life. That means
not just the judicial aspects of life, such as civil
government, church government, but business, economics--every
facet of society. The Bible has something to say about each
area. For example on homosexuals: We do not believe that
homosexuals ought to be executed. The Bible doesn't say that
homosexuals ought to be executed. What it says is this: If
two men lie together like man and woman, they are to be put
to death.
PORTEOUS: What the hell do you think that is?
DEMAR: Well, wait a minute. If a guy comes up to me and he
says, "I'm a homosexual," that doesn't mean he's to be
executed. If you understand the scriptures, it says very
clearly, if a man comes up to you and says, "I've murdered
somebody," that doesn't mean that person ought to be
executed.
GONZALES: Oh, so what you are saying Gary, is, if you catch
homosexuals in the act, then the Bible says to execute them.
DEMAR: The Bible lays forth the severest penalty, which
would be capital punishment for two men who publicly engage
in sodomy.
GONZALES: Does it say "publicly" in the Bible?
DEMAR: You've got to have at least two witnesses who would
come forth and testify against the two people who had engaged
in sodomy. The severest punishment would be capital
punishment. It doesn't mean that has to be the punishment.
PORTEOUS: Now, there was a case a couple of years ago, and I
believe it was Georgia....
DEMAR: It was Georgia.
PORTEOUS: Two men were seen by the police, because the
police came in the house for a different reason, and saw them
having sex, engaging in homosexual activity in bed.
DEMAR: Sodomy.
PORTEOUS: They were arrested. So you're saying that these
two men, according to the Bible, could receive the death
penalty?
DEMAR: Well...
PORTEOUS: Is that what you're saying?
DEMAR: First of all, remember, the Supreme Court upheld
Georgia's law. Second, yes I agree that the Bible lays the
death penalty for two men who are engaged in sodomy in
public.
PORTEOUS: Does the Bible allow the same punishment for an
abortionist?
DEMAR: If abortion were illegal, the question comes down to,
what punishment would there be for someone who performed an
illegal abortion? Now, if the pro-life community is correct,
which I believe it is, that a pre-born individual is in fact
a human being, then the same rights are accorded to the pre-
born child as a born child. Then the same punishment would
occur for the doctor performing the abortion. So, the
pre-born child is in fact a human being therefore the same
punishment prevails. That is, if capital punishment could be
brought on someone who killed a one-day-old chile, then the
same punishment would occur with someone who killed a child
in the womb.
GONZALES: So Gary, you would agree that a doctor performing
an abortion should receive capital punishment?
DEMAR: Obviously, if abortion were illegal, and he performed
an illegal abortion and killed a pre-born baby the same
punishment would apply.
GONZALES: How about adulterers?
DEMAR: Now the law in scriptures concerning adultery means
the innocent party has as [recourse] the toughest penalty
that could be brought on the guilty party--the death penalty.
So, for example, a woman had a husband who was a constant
womanizer, she could bring charges against her husband for
adultery, and the severest penalty could be, according to
scriptures, the death penalty. I want to go back and
underscore something: Most of the laws in the Bible were
designed not so much to be implemented, but to keep people
from practicing particular behavior. When there were laws on
the books that could punish homosexuality, it didn't do away
with homosexuality per se, but kept it hidden. Kept it in
the closet.
Gonzales: If, indeed the Reconstructionist movement ever
made it in America, would you advocate these biblical
principles being carried out: the execution of the adulterer,
the abortionist, and the homosexual?
DEMAR: I'm saying that they could be implemented, yes.
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