“The fact is, the Bible does say that for a man to lie with another man as with a woman is an abomination (Lev. 20:13), that Israel should not suffer a witch to live (Ex. 22:18), that God flooded the entire globe good and wet for their experiments in federally funded genetic splicing (Gen. 6:4), that Christian slaves were instructed to work doubly hard for their Christian masters (1 Tim. 6:2), and that placing women in combat roles was beyond appalling (Deut. 22:5). There is a kind of Christian still out there who believes that exegesis of such passages is not done by licking a finger and holding it up in the breeze.”

Virgins and Volcanoes, p. 40

“This is why, if someone suggests bringing an explicitly religious concern into public policy discussion, the vigor with which he is shouted down exhibits the kind of negative enthusiasm you might reserve for the advocate of releasing 10,000 plague-carrying rats into Central Park.”

Mere Christendom, p. 130

“But evangelicals—babes in the woods when it comes to this kind of thing—have confused the biblical requirement to not be mean with the impossible requirement to never be accused by liars of being mean. Once you accept the latter as your standard, you can always be steered, no matter how nice you are.”

Virgins and Volcanoes, p. 37

“If we are in the fire, and some suggests getting back in the frying pan, it is hardly to the point to suggest that this might lead to us falling into the fire.”

Mere Christendom, p. 128

“The modern evangelical church is effeminate. That is the problem. That is our besetting sin. When the apostle Paul rebuked the malakoi, the soft ones (1 Cor. 6:9), he was talking about the effeminate objects of sodomite lust. But that kind of softness can also trickle into bed with a girl. That kind of softness can remain heterosexual and can get institutionalized in the overarching directive to all faithful evangelicals, which is be nice and don’t be mean.”

Virgins and Volcanoes, p. 36