In his recent interview with Hot Pressmagazine, Ian Paisley jnr said, "I am pretty repulsed by gay and lesbianism. I think it is wrong." It is hardly surprising that Mr Paisley thinks homosexuality is wrong. As a Free Presbyterian, he and his co-religionists have been taught to believe that gays and lesbians are in direct and deliberate defiance of God's law. Nor are the Free Presbyterians alone in this. It is a central part of the teaching of all the Christian denominations - indeed of all Abrahamic religions - that homosexuality is a grave sin.
Ian Paisley probably feels that he was being measured in his choice of language. Despite all the evidence, the notion that homosexuals were created as such is anathema to Christian belief. Adherents simply cannot afford to concede that responsibility for this "sin" might lie beyond the person who commits it without seriously undermining their faith.
If they were to allow that some people are born unalterably predisposed to same sex fulfilment, not only would they be questioning the Bible's teaching on homosexuality but, far worse, also calling into question the work of the Creator Himself. The idea of God deliberately creating human beings counter to His own diktat who are incapable of being rehabilitated is an obvious contradiction.
Hence, Christian believers are led inexorably to the ludicrous notion that gays and lesbians are, in fact, heterosexuals who freely choose to defy God's will. Some Christians are even prepared to believe that homosexuality is a temporary, curable affliction rather than face up to the realities that pose such a challenge to their faith. Homosexuality, therefore, can only be considered an abominable lifestyle choice.
In order to avoid the awkward theological ramifications of what, to everyone else, are self-evident truths, Christianity opts to address it in the same way as it addresses everything else that it deems to be a serious sin: as something that a few people find tempting but are obligated by God to do everything to resist.
There is, of course, always the promise of salvation for those who do succumb. Just as the thief can be rehabilitated, so too can the repentant homosexual be led back to heterosexuality - but not without the help of the Almighty, of course. Thus the celibate homosexual is in a similar position to the recovering alcoholic: forever obliged to resist temptation. If he can manage that he will stay, just about, on the right side of biblical teaching.
Though it is all so far-fetched it hardly matters, it was notable that Paisley sought to make no distinction between practising and non-practising homosexuals. Perhaps within Free Presbyterian circles, homosexual tendencies, whether fulfilled or not, are enough to guarantee eternal damnation.
It is biblically-inspired wrong-headedness that underpinned everything Paisley said about gays and lesbians in Hot Press. Not least his claim that they cause harm to society and, more worryingly, that they do so "without caring". In other words, if they cared more about society they would desist from harming it by refusing to be homosexual.
But what exactly is the harm that he thinks they cause? Perhaps, wrong-headedly again, he was referring to HIV and Aids. Yet it is just as likely that he was thinking of the temptation that homosexual people put in the way of heterosexuals. That, after all, is the kind of illogicality that stems from a notion that homosexuals are actually heterosexuals who have been tempted to stray into deviance.
Paisley has cited freedom of expression in defence of his remarks on homosexuality. However, he is well aware that, like all other freedoms, this is not absolute and heavy responsibilities go along with it. One of those, particularly in the case of a minister of government, is to refrain from airing a personal viewpoint irrespective of the hurt it may cause.
Mainstream Presbyterianism has also, this week, debated homosexuality. At the Presbyterian General Assembly in Belfast, a new policy on the care of homosexuals was adopted. Encouragingly, the new pastoral guidelines describe homophobic attitudes as unacceptable and the church acknowledges that its past treatment of gay people was wrong. Congregations are now being asked to create an environment where sexuality can be discussed.
The gay community, however, may feel that they cannot rejoice just yet. The Presbyterian Church has reaffirmed that its basic theological viewpoint that homosexuality is wrong remains unchanged. Though it calls for more understanding and acceptance of gay and lesbian people, it also asks that congregations show them "forgiveness".
No one is insisting that committed Christians change their views. If they wish to take guidance from ancient texts of dubious origin, that is their right. But we are entitled to request that they do not attempt to foist those guidelines, never mind sit in judgment, on the rest of us. They should desist from publicly obsessing over people's sexuality and worrying about what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes. In short, they should just mind their own business.