LAS MESA, CA – In a recent online interview, Pastor Jim Garlow of the evangelical Skyline Church addressed “Biblical Issues for This Election.” The megachurch pastor, whose weekly congregation numbers around 2,500, told author Wayne Grudem that “sexual orientation” is a “modern phenomenon” and “construct” with no Biblical basis.

“The Bible talks about practices,” Garlow said, “it does not talk about orientation.” He told Grudem that although a person may hold a “pernicious tendency towards same-sex attraction,” he or she doesn’t have to act upon it. By comparison, “every healthy heterosexual male I know has a pernicious tendency towards polygamy,” Garlow told a visibly uncomfortable and notaltogether- convinced Grudem, adding, “but we don’t act out on it.”