Kirk Franklin believes the church’s treatment of LGBTQ people is wrong.
The gospel star expressed his opinion during a June 3 interview with The Breakfast Club, reports The Christian Post. He believes using scripture to condemn homosexuality isn’t honoring God.
"All Scripture is God-breathed … but what we have to understand also is that the Canon of Scripture still is coming from a place of a loving God,” Franklin explained. “God is not built to hate gay people. The Bible is not a manual on how to hate gay people."
The “Stomp” artist insists embracing the diversity of humanity is part of being a Christian.
"It's all about walking out life with men and women and to see everyone created in God's image and basically no one group of people will ever be monolithic,” he continued. “Everybody has different views even inside of different communities. But it's all about learning how to agree to disagree and still letting love lead the narrative."
Charlamagne Tha God said he saw more "homophobic stuff" than love in the Bible, but Franklin disagreed. He blames faulty interpretations of the Holy Book for the perpetuation of bigotry.
“There's not homophobic stuff in the Bible. What it is, is that there are men and women who have not necessarily been trained to be able to exegete Scripture, to be able to understand the totality of the text,” Franklin clarified. “Because if you are going to call one thing a sin in the Bible you cannot exegete that text and realize that pride, jealousy, envy [are also sins].”
Abortion also came up during Franklin’s interview.
Unsurprisingly, the “I Smile” rapper is pro-life, but there are levels to his opinion. Franklin revealed he was almost aborted and that he encouraged an ex to get an abortion.
“I remember my biological mother telling my adopted mother, ‘I didn’t want him, I wanted an abortion and you wouldn't let me.’ So I lived with that abandonment issue, so yes I am a pro-life person,” he said. “But at the same time, it would be hypocritical to not also tell you that when I was a teenager I paid for an abortion.”
Although Franklin isn’t fond of the procedure, he doesn’t believe abortion should be banned.
"My point is that I am pro-life, but I still believe that I do not have a right to force a woman to do anything with her body, the same way that I can't force somebody to come to Jesus Christ,” Franklin continued.
“There's no way that I can force somebody to believe in my savior. So I hope that I can try to live a life and try to teach my daughters and try to portray what a loving family and loving children can be. At the same time, it's got to be a choice. There's no way that I can force anybody to receive anything.”
Franklin is currently making his rounds to promote his latest project Long Live Love. Billboard reports he is the first artist to top all five of their gospel charts simultaneously. The album topped the Top Gospel Albums chart on June 15. Lead single “Love Theory” came in first on the Gospel Streaming Songs, Gospel Airplay and Hot Gospel Songs. Another song from the album, “OK,” leads the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart.
"I am extremely grateful that after all of these years I still have a chance to reach people with my music," Franklin said of the milestone. "I'm humbled by the historic moment."
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