Australia: Labor leader Mr. Shorten calls Christians - homophobes
Australian Christian Lobby Managing Director Lyle Shelton said Mr Shorten's backflip on supporting a people's vote meant he could not have it both ways.
"Was Mr Shorten a homophobe three years ago when he told an ACL election forum he supported a plebiscite?
"The use of bullying language to demonise people who simply wish to preserve the definition of marriage must stop,” Mr Shelton said.
"If there is homophobic or bigoted language being used in the marriage debate, Mr Shorten should give examples.
“All of us deplore phobia against our fellow citizens. However, smearing people as bigots with unspecified allegations simply creates a climate of intimidation designed to silence one side of the debate.
"Advocating for traditional marriage to remain between one man and one woman and for the rights of children, wherever possible, to be raised by their mum and dad is not bigotry," Mr Shelton said.
Romans 1:26-32
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
