Robertson, as was his want in the late years of his show, began by being slightly dismissive about understanding “all that.” But then he very clearly stated the fact that “there are men who are in a woman's body. It's very rare, but it's true. Or women that are in men's bodies—and they say that they want a sex change. And that is a very permanent thing.” And while Robertson did believe that his understanding of what kinds of medical procedures one might need in order to achieve these goals constituted “a radical procedure,” he also believed it was a real thing: “I don't think there's any sin associated with that. I don't condemn somebody for doing that.”

In fact, while the question was clearly a nuanced and messy one for the Book of Revelations Santa Claus-like Christianity Robertson and broadcasters encourage, Robertson didn’t believe it was the kind of thing one should worry their sensitive little souls about, ending his answer by saying, “It's not for you to decide or to judge. All right.”

There has been homophobia in Judeo-Christian religion for a very long time. The evangelicals and Christian conservatives in our country did not invent it. However, many people whose faith is connected to those books and practices have been able to evolve their understandings of various documents in the Old and New Testaments. They have done this because unlike evangelicals and many Christian conservatives, they have continued to apply context to their religion and its history, while also keeping the concept of metaphor alive.

But that isn’t the problem with evangelicals and Christian conservatives. The problem is those two groups, while pretending to be stoic and unyielding in their beliefs and readings and teachings, continue to change and move the goalposts of their religion as political norms ebb and flow. It is one thing to practice what one preaches, it is another thing to sort of only practice what you preach depending on what political power you believe you may achieve and/or maintain.

One of those things is living based on a worldview and spiritual philosophy you say brings you grace in this life, and the other is just politics. It isn’t a new statement or a rare statement, but it does bare repeating often: Evangelicals and Christian conservatives are simply politicians, and if you follow them you are receiving the same amount of spiritual guidance that you would get from any politician.