Readers of a certain age will remember Kirk Cameron as the star of the 80’s sitcom Growing Pains , but it’s no secret that in later years he has embraced Christianity in a big way.
Cameron’s tendencies toward moralizing became an issue for the show in its later seasons, when he began demanding script re-writes to remove any references to things he felt might be untoward. In the intervening years, Cameron has become somewhat of an icon in the evangelical community, but he was back in the mainstream appearing on Piers Morgan this week. Not very surprisingly, when Morgan grilled Cameron on gay marriage, he had some controversial things to say about the issue.
First Cameron explained that gay marriage was, in his estimation, a redefinition of marriage as it was invented by God. He said:
“Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don’t think anyone else should either… So do I support the idea of gay marriage? No, I don’t.”
When asked more generally about homosexuality, Cameron continued:
“I think that it’s… it’s… it’s unnatural. I think that it’s… it’s detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”
Morgan followed up with a question about how Cameron would react if his own son was gay, to which the 80’s heartthrob eventually responded that “just because you feel that way doesn’t mean you have to act on everything you feel.” In response to the comments by Cameron, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) issued the following statement:
“In this interview, Kirk Cameron sounds even more dated than his 1980s TV character. Cameron is out of step with a growing majority of Americans, particularly people of faith who believe that their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters should be loved and accepted based on their character and not condemned because of their sexual orientation.”
In the course of the interview, Cameron also said that he opposes abortion, even in cases of rape, where he feels an abortion “compounds the problem.”