Televangelist Joel Osteen says homosexuality is a sin but he doesn't "preach" about it and isn't against "anybody" who is gay.
In an interview on Larry King Now available via Hulu, the popular Texas pastor said his views on homosexuality are "the same they've always been.
"I believe that scripture says that it's a sin but I always follow up by saying you know what, we're not against anybody," he added.
King asked how homosexuality can be called a sin, "if we don't know what causes it. You don't know why you're a heterosexual," he added.
"There's a lot of things, Larry, and I don't understand — so I just don't want to preach on it, preach about it," Osteen replied.
Osteen was then asked if gay marriage annoys him.
"It doesn't annoy me," he said. "From a scripture point of view, it's not what my faith would teach, but it doesn't annoy me."
Osteen added that he only talks about homosexuality during interviews, when he's asked about it.
The Huffington Post noted in its report Monday on the interview that it wasn't the first time that Osteen had offered a convoluted answer when asked about his opinion on the subject.
In October, Osteen said on HuffPost Live that
God "absolutely" accepts and approves of homosexuals just like he does everyone else.
"I believe that God's breathed this life into every single person," Osteen said at the time. "We're all on a journey. Nobody's perfect. The Bible says that a sin is pride, a sin is selfish ambition. We tend to pick out these certain things, but I believe that every person is made in the image of God, and you got to accept them as they are, as they're on their journey.
"Again, scripture teaches that the way people are going to know his disciples is by our love for one another," he continued. "So I'm not here, preaching hate, pushing people down. I'm not here to tell everyone what they're doing wrong."
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