Sullivan posts an e-mail from an evangelical reader who recently had a friend “come out” to him. The writer straddles the line, or tries to, in saying that he believes homosexuality is wrong, a sin, but that this won’t make him abandon his friend; and indeed, when the writer’s “Christianist” sister demanded to know if he immediately told his friend that homosexuality was wrong, the writer stood up to her.

But it’s fascinating in that the writer obviously agonizes over how “the media” - and really, popular culture as a whole - defines his core beliefs, in Biblical inerrancy, as “hate.” It’s obviously not true in this case, though at the same time the writer notes that eventually he’s going to have to tell his friend point-blank that he believes homosexuality is wrong.

We’ve all got to do what we’ve got to do. But here’s the crux of why I could never, under any circumstances, subscribe to the notion of Biblical inerrancy.

I do not believe, can not believe, that every line in the Bible, every thought, every preposition, was divinely inspired. I believe the book was written by humans - susceptible to human frailties and predjudices no matter how well-intentioned they may have been, influenced by the times in which they lived. I believe there are basic values that do not change and should not change; but as history and as science reveal to us so much more than what ever could have been known then, I believe there are views that should change, that in fact must change.

I’ve always wondered how evangelicals might react were science to prove, definitively, that homosexuality is genetic. Would that change their minds? If they really do believe in Biblical inerrancy, how could it? They would be left to argue that it is science that is somehow wrong. They want to believe even now that homosexuality is a moral choice; that those who come out to either their friends or even themselves have specifically chosen a sybaritic lifestyle, have specifically chosen hedonistic pleasure over what is right.

They have to believe that. If you start with Biblical inerrancy, everything has to fit the mold; you’ve got the conclusion to which you must come, you need only devise the “logic” that gets you there.

It’s just kind of sad, I think. I think I understand, more than many can ever know, how people come to believe this, how they so achingly want to believe in this. I just don’t think you can believe in it; or rather, if you do believe in it, ultimately you’re going to be stuck with the pretzel logic of hating the homosexuality - but somehow trying to assure yourself that the homosexual friend is OK.