Live and let live. Don't be a dick. You don't get to pee in someone else's sandbox.

If you think it's a sin, don't do it. Leave other people alone, 'kay??

In response to criticism about his views on LGBTQ rights, Johnson told Fox News on Thursday that people curious about his views should “go pick up a Bible.” Well, Mr. Speaker, I have picked up plenty of Bibles — as a lifelong Christian, as a graduate of Union Theological Seminary, and as a current doctor of ministry student at Iliff School of Theology. Christians disagree about what the Bible says about the dignity of LGBTQ people, but there continues to be a notable shift toward love.

I’ve witnessed the moral arc of the universe shift toward justice in my own life as a gay Christian. I was 13 and growing up in Texas when the Supreme Court ruled sodomy bans unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas. I was 25 when same-sex marriage became the law of the land. I was ordained as a deacon by my Baptist church in Kentucky at 28 and married my husband, a Presbyterian minister, at 29.

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

As an atheist, I feel fortunate to be able to sidestep this debate in most circumstances, which for me boils down to “Does my imaginary friend hate LGBTQ people…or does he love them?” Yes, I realize how disrespectful and dismissive that will seem to some, but it’s like debating how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. Angels are fictional, so what does it matter how many can fit where?

But, for some folks, these sorts of theological debates are real and substantial, so I will approach that debate as such because it has a bearing on the future of America.

Who knew Jesus was a White Conservative Cisgender Heterosexual?

That the GOP has gone full-on extremist should surprise no one who’s been paying attention for the past 50 years. From Richard Nixon to Jerry Falwell to New Gingrich to Pat Buchanan to…well, all the way through to Mike Johnson, Republicans have always been trending in this direction. Johnson is merely the latest and most odious iteration of this evolution.

The GOP has long been a narrow, ignorant, fear-based, hateful cabal that has used Christianity as camouflage for its nativist, xenophobic, racist, and homophobic agenda. Remember, there’s no hate quite like Christian love.

Mike Johnson is merely the newest cherubic, bespectacled face of an unspeakably evil and inhuman party.

What many Americans don’t realize is that many Republicans have openly campaigned for the passage of anti-sodomy laws. Never mind that they’ve never outlined how they’d enforce that against people in the privacy of their own homes, but the thought of such a concept becoming law is chilling.

What the GOP is proposing is the criminalizing of an entire minority class of people simply because of one aspect of their lives. In the eyes of “holier-than-thou” Republicans, some folks don’t fuck “correctly,” which presents a significant threat to their (and, therefore, this nation’s) moral fiber.

Johnson proposed a federal “don’t say gay” bill that restricts any type of LGBTQ content for kindergarten through third-grade classes because the prohibition on “sexually oriented” content is defined as anything related to gender identity or sexual orientation. The Human Rights Campaign has consistently given him zeros on its congressional scorecard.

But even more concerning is what he advocated prior to his election to Congress, when he voiced strong support for the criminalization of gay sex. So-called sodomy laws were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2003.

Because as Justice Anthony Kennedy detailed in his decision on Lawrence v. Texas, people have the right to expect privacy in their homes. There must be a limit to the intrusions that the government can inflict upon Americans. We must, in at least some part of our lives, be free from the influence and control of government.

Of course, that’s the legal aspect of the argument, which, not being a lawyer, I’m far less concerned with. My curiosity lies with the religious aspect of how people who call themselves “Christians” can look at homosexuality and draw two diametrically opposed conclusions. One is borne of hatred and fear, the other of love and acceptance…and yet both claim to be based in Scripture.

For those who reject homosexuality, the most familiar Bible verses to be cited are Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, which state it’s an abomination for a man to lie with another man as he would with a woman. In Romans 1:26-27, the Apostle Paul argues that homosexuality runs contrary to God’s natural order and results from rejecting God.

The Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament and its interpretations in Christianity and Judaism have historically endorsed and affirmed a heteronormative and patriarchal approach towards sexuality. This approach has traditionally exclusively emphasized penetrative vaginal intercourse between a man and a woman within the confines of marriage.

Yet the anti-homosexuality arguments were added to the Old Testament by writers opposed to homosexuality. Was this a biblical law handed down by God? No one can say, but anti-homosexuality Christian Conservatives are undoubtedly prone to treating it that way.

Among the religious denominations which generally reject these orientations, there are many different types of opposition, ranging from quietly discouraging homosexual activity, explicitly forbidding same-sex sexual practices among their adherents and actively opposing social acceptance of homosexuality, supporting criminal sanctions up to capital punishment, and even to condoning extrajudicial killings. Religious fundamentalism often correlates with anti-homosexual bias.Psychological research has connected religiosity with homophobic attitudes and physical antigay hostility, and has traced religious opposition to gay adoption to collectivistic values (loyalty, authority, purity) and low flexibility in existential issues, rather than to high prosocial inclinations for the weak. Attitudes toward homosexuality have been found to be determined not only by personal religious beliefs, but by the interaction of those beliefs with the predominant national religious context—even for people who are less religious or who do not share their local dominant religious context.Many argue that it is homosexual actions which are sinful, rather than same-sex attraction itself. To this end, some discourage labeling individuals according to sexual orientation. Several organizations assert that conversion therapy can help diminish same-sex attraction.

Some adherents of many religions view homosexuality and bisexuality positively, and some denominations routinely bless same-sex marriages and support LGBT rights, a growing trend as much of the developed world enacts laws supporting LGBT rights.

Those who view homosexuality with acceptance and tolerance counter with the argument that the Scriptural acceptance of homosexuality has been a topic of debate for centuries. There are no Bible verses that explicitly endorse homosexuality or same-sex relationships, but some interpret specific passages as being supportive.

There are four key arguments made by those on this side of the theological divide:

1. The Bible is not a scientific or historical document: Some Christians argue that the Bible is not meant to be taken literally and that it should be interpreted more symbolically or metaphorically. They believe passages condemning homosexuality were the product of a very Conservative time and are no longer applicable to modern society.

2. The Bible is about love and acceptance: Some Christians argue that the core message of the Bible is about love and acceptance. This message should be extended to all people, and it’s not up to humankind to determine who should be exempted from that love and acceptance.

3. The Bible doesn’t condemn committed same-sex relationships: Some argue that the passages in the Bible that condemn homosexuality refer to promiscuous or abusive relationships rather than committed, loving relationships between two consenting adults.

4. Jesus never condemned homosexuality: Some Christians argue that Jesus never explicitly condemned homosexuality, so it can’t be considered a sin.

Who’s right? Who knows? Or, in my case, who cares? What I know is that any time I’m faced with a dilemma, I’m always going to come down on the side of love, acceptance, and tolerance. Because how can I judge how others live their lives?

I have enough trouble managing my life without trying to police how others conduct theirs. And controlling their relationships and who they schtup? Why in the world would I want any part of that?

But Mike Johnson, like many in the GOP, is not nearly so sanguine.

It’s not just same-sex marriage that Rep. Mike Johnson — and the ideologically aligned justices on the court — want to do away with, it’s also consensual gay sex.

These aren’t merely Johnson’s views — they are his life’s work. He worked for multiple far-right legal advocacy groups, including Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the most anti-LGBTQ legal groups in the country. Johnson’s made a career of targeting a small, vulnerable minority in this country for ridicule and exclusion. One part of his career omitted from his official biography is his tenure as dean of a law school (never opened) named after Paul Pressler, the Southern Baptist leader who has been accused of sexually abusing a teen boy and soliciting young men for sex (accusations Pressler has denied).

Johnson’s views on the dignity of LGBTQ Americans could not be more out of step with the American public. A recent Public Religion Research Institute survey found that 80% of Americans favor laws that would protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations and housing; even 66% of Republicans favor such provisions. And 69% of Americans favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, with 49% of Republicans in favor (up from 35% in 2014).

My motto is: DON’T BE A DICK, which can also be translated to LIVE AND LET LIVE. I may not necessarily like or understand your decisions regarding how you live your life, but then I don’t have to…and don’t want to.

You do you…and I’ll do me. If someone comes along and tells me I can’t do something because their Holy Book and their Imaginary Friend says I can’t, I might consider inserting that “Holy Book” into an orifice where it will do them some good.

To those who believe homosexuality is a sin, I’d only say good on you. Don’t engage in same-sex relationships, and you should be just fine, yeah? The problems begin when you start to believe that your morality is the shit and you have the right to force it on everyone.

The truth is that what works for you is good for you…and that’s as far as your authority extends. You don’t get to use fear-based morality to decide what others can or cannot do. LIVE AND LET LIVE. It’s a very straightforward concept. You do you. Worship and live how you choose…and allow others the same courtesy.

If you’re not sure of what to do, I’ve found that it helps to remember four easy words:

DON’T BE A DICK.

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