Bigot? Hypocrite? Ignorant? All three?

ESPN commentator Chris Broussard does not consider NBA player Jason Collins to be a Christian because he is gay. He declares that Collins is living in “open rebellion” to God and Jesus Christ.

I’m sure that Collins is devastated by Broussard’s declaration. 

The problem is that I’m not sure what to think about Broussard.

A bigot? Probably.

But wait.

Perhaps hypocrite would be a better descriptor? Once you start quoting The Bible as the primary source of your attacks on homosexuality (as Broussard does), you’d better stop wearing clothing woven from two kinds of fiber, eating bacon, or working on Sunday, because all of these sins are identified in The Bible, in the same chapter as the homosexuality reference, as on par with homosexuality.

You can’t only adhere to the laws that support your bigotry and ignore those that inconvenience you. Once you start cherry picking Scripture in order to support your bigotry, I can’t help but label you as a hypocrite, because that is what a hypocrite is. 

Unless Broussard is ignorant. Maybe he hasn’t actually read The Bible and is merely echoing the words of other ignorant or deliberately misleading people. I’m not calling him stupid, mind you (though that is also a possibility). Just ignorant. 

Or perhaps Broussard is all three. It’s possible. Listening to Broussard, I’m inclined to think yes.

Regardless of the designation, I am relatively certain, even as a non-religious person, that Jesus would happily take the side of a gay basketball player over a television commenter who believes that he is qualified to determine who is Christian and who is not.